Archives for the month of: March, 2015
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Connecticut: Victory! Parents Have Right to Opt Out!

By dianeravitch
March 17, 2015 //
17

Hooray! Jonathan Pelto reports that parents in Connecticut have the right to opt their child out of Common Core testing!

“In a published report today in the CTMirror, the Executive Director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, Joeseph Ciracoulo, has announced that superintendents in Connecticut will now recognize the right of parents to opt their children out of the unfair, inappropriate and discriminatory Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium SBAC Testing AND that students who opt out will be provided with an alternative location where they can read a book, do homework or engage in some other educational activity for the eight to eight and a half hours of the SBAC Testing.”

Eight (8) hours of testing! This is nuts!

Opt out!

Categories Connecticut, Opt Out, Parents, Testing

Jeb Bush’s Dwindling “Chiefs for Change” Seeks a Makeover

By dianeravitch
March 17, 2015 //
11

No sooner did Mercedes Schneider post a blog about the disintegration of Jeb Bush’s “Chiefs for Change,” than the group decided it needed a makeover. After all, as Mercedes pointed out: As of March 10, 2015, it boasts only four members, down from 13 in October 2014. The remaining members are John White of Louisiana, Deborah Gist of Rhode Island, Hannah Skandera of New Mexico, and Mark Murphy of Delaware. And one of the four, Deborah Gist, is on her way to Tulsa to become superintendent. Which brings the “Chiefs” down to only three. The “Chiefs” have been a reliable echo chamber for Jeb Bush’s policies, favoring high-stakes testing, the Common Core, charter schools, evaluation of teachers by test scores, digital learning, and A-F school grades. The new leader of this tiny group of three Chiefs is John White, a big supporter of vouchers, for-profit charters, and the rest of Jeb Bush’s agenda.

 

But now that their number has diminished so dramatically, the group has decided to open its ranks to city superintendents (allowing Gist to remain a member). And now that Jeb Bush is a Presidential candidate, it will strike out on its own, no longer an adjunct to Bush’s “Foundation for Educational Excellence.” The group says it is looking for “bipartisan education leaders” and hopes to have a voice in the debate about the future of No Child Left Behind.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Chiefs for Change, Standardized Testing, VAM (value-added modeling), Virtual Charter Schools, Vouchers

Two Comments I Deleted But Wanted to Share with You

By dianeravitch
March 17, 2015 //
36

I normally delete stuff like this–it is an ad–without thinking twice. But in this case, I thought twice, and I thought the ad was fascinating and worth sharing. This is how low we (the world) have sunk. People advertise their services to enable you to change your grades, to pry into other people’s private correspondence, to listen to private conversations, and to steal from others. There may be other things to say about this service, but right now just color me “appalled.” I deleted the email for reply to the ad.

 

 

Hackers Scientist, is a professional hacking team based in India. We are prefessioners,we get your work done in less than 48hrs . We are the best in the following:

* HACK AND CHANGE UNIVERSITY GRADES
* HACK INTO ANY BANK WEBSITE
* HACK INTO ANY COMPANY WEBSITE
* HACK INTO ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY WEBSITE
* HACK INTO ANY DATA BASE SYSTEM AND GRANT YOU ADMIN PREVELEDGE
* HACK PAYPAL ACCOUNT
* Hack WORDPRESS Blogs
* SERVER CRASHED hack
* Untraceable Ip etc
* We can restore LOST FILES AND DOCUMENTS , no matter how long they have been missing

NOTE
If you refer client to us as a result of the previous job done for you, you will stand a chance of getting any job of your choice hacked for you, free of charge.
We can also teach you how to do the following with our ebook and online tutorials
* Hack and use Credit Card to shop online
* Monitor any phone and email address
* Hack Android & iPhones
* Tap into anybody’s call and monitor their conversation
* Email and Text message interception

 

And here is another offering the same services, with the return email and phone number deleted:

 

 

*University grades changing
*Bank accounts hack
*Twitters hack
*email accounts hack
*Grade Changes hack * load bank account any amounts
*Website crashed hack
*server crashed hack
*Retrieval of lost,gadgets phones , computers and file/documents
*Erase criminal records hack
*Databases hack
*Sales of Dumps cards of all kinds email

 

What kind of strange new world are we entering? No privacy. Everything on records that can be hacked. Our identity open to hackers. Our possessions in bank accounts that can be hacked. What is real and what is fake?

Categories Privacy and Privacy Rights, Technology, Computers

Laura H. Chapman: Drowning in Standards

By dianeravitch
March 17, 2015 //
35

Laura H. Chapman, a retired teacher and curriculum advisor in the arts, posted this comment:

 

 

People who work in the “orphaned subjects” have a long history of playing tag-a-long to subjects deemed to be “core.” There is a persistent hope that writing standards in great detail will somehow get you a bit more curriculum time.
Just published standards in Music, Dance, Theater, Visual Art, and Media Studies (new discipline) seem to have been written in the wild hope that all of the standards will be tested with “authentic” assessments.

 

These standards are grade-specific, starting in Pre-K. The standards come to a screeching halt in high school, with three levels defining studies: Proficient, Accomplished, and Advanced. The writers of the standards wanted a parallel structure for each art form.

 

I have seen the standards for the visual arts and media arts. Each of these art forms has acquired 234 standards. If the writers followed that rule across all of the arts, then students and teachers are facing 1,170 arts standards.

 

I see that a model evaluation for the new Dance standards for grade 2 has nine conventional “knowledge and skills” statements…. (“students will…” ). Then the same assessment guide throws in five references to the CCSS,  four references to “Blooms,” three “21st century Skills,” four DOK’s, and ten “habits of mind.”

 

Some arts educators hoped to hitch their star to STEM subjects. Just transform the acronym into STEAM.

 

Same for those “21st century Skills.” They have been like sticky glue. Most of the skills are not distinct to the 21st century, are modified statements from personnel managers, and came into being by virtue of the political savvy of Ken Kay, a lobbyist for the tech industry (KAY tried twice to get his mixed bag of terms and phrases into federal legislation.)

 

When I entered teaching, there were frequent claims and articles to the effect that arts educators were going to help the nation beat the Russians, win the Space Race because we knew how to educate “creative scientists.”

 

Some readers may recall the standards written under the Goals 2000 Educate America Act (H.R. 1804, 1994). At that time, K-12 standards were written in 14 domains of study, 24 subjects, then parsed into 259 standards, and 4100 grade-level benchmarks.

 

A dispute over the status of history versus social studies ended in no “approved standards” for the latter, but 1,281 grade level standards for history. In those history standards, facts are supposed to matter. Even so, students were (falsely) expected to know that Mary Cassatt was a famous American Regionalist painter. (Wrong. The artist lived in Paris for most of her life, is best known as an Impressionist). Source: Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education, “Process” Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning, (2011), http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks/docs/process.asp

 

Teachers are drowning in standards and the waters keep on getting churned. The tsunami of expectations is just short of asking all of our students to be omniscient. Writers of the CCSS think their version of the 3R’s are just fine and that all teachers should comply even with the ridiculous Lexile Score in ELA.

 

Ohio currently has 3,203 standards on the books, including 1,600 CCSS (counting parts a-e). That’s about 267 per grade level. The arts standards in Ohio were developed and approved at the state level before the NEW arts standards were written. Which ones really matter will be determined by which ones are acceptable for teacher evaluations.

 

If Ohio’s current standards are typical, there has been no crosschecking of the sets of standards for duplications, synergies, contradictory expectations, feasibility, developmental coherence, or simply dead wrong content.

 

The CCSS standards are surrounded with all of the mandatory rhetoric of the day. They are strictly academic. They are rigorous. Students must master them on time, grade-by-grade with no regard for networks of understandings that may later produce unexpected insight and understanding. Not all learning occurs in a tidy progression within or across the grades.

 

Federal officials seem to want national standards for every subject, as if the sum of all the separate standards that can be conjured will make educational sense and favor the development of coherent and feasible curriculum work. They are clueless and learned nothing from the Goals 2000 project.

 

In any case, well-informed work on curriculum does not begin with standards. It begins with a vision of what education is for, and who should be involved in deciding that, especially in a democratic society.

Categories Arts Education, Common Core, Education Reform

BadAss Teachers Association: How to Get Near 100% Passing Rates

By dianeravitch
March 17, 2015 //
17

In this graphic, the BadAss Teachers Association reveals a very important secret: How to get nearly 100% passing on state tests.

 

The secret is a word new to many of us: Backfill. The secret is NOT to backfill.

 

Public schools cannot take advantage of this secret because they have to admit new students as other students leave. They must “backfill,” the term used to describe the process of admitting new students in every grade as they move into the neighborhood or enroll to take empty seats. Charter schools have the luxury of not “backfilling,” which is why many charters have smaller numbers with each passing year.

 

In this interview with Eva Moskowitz, she acknowledges (around 11:55-12:44) that she does not backfill. Many start, few finish. That improves outcomes.

Categories Charter Schools

12 Superintendents in Connecticut: A Manifesto for Real Reform

By dianeravitch
March 17, 2015 //
13

A dozen superintendents in Connecticut issued a manifesto for real reform. It is one that parents and teachers–and students too!–would happily embrace in place of the current stale and test-driven juggernaut that crushes learning and creativity.

They say, in part:

“Our public school landscape is littered with initiatives, while the vision for learning in Connecticut lacks clarity and coherence. In this “vision void” our measures (i.e. test scores) have become our goals, confounding the purpose of schooling and perpetuating yet another round of piecemeal initiatives.

“The path we should avoid taking is the one that implements the NCLB waiver plan as the de facto vision for the education of Connecticut’s children. Instead we should identify a clear and compelling vision for education in our state and employ all of our resources to achieve it. Staying the course of current reform efforts without a deep analysis of the effects in actual classrooms across the state will further cement the system of compliance and “one size fits all” that grips our very diverse school districts like a vise.

“One way to clarify the vision is to answer the direct and simple questions:

“What are the most worthy outcomes of our public education system?

“Are we preparing our students for the world they will enter when they graduate?

“Is our public education system positioned for continuous improvement, as opposed to ranking, sorting and punishing?

“To what extent do our laws increase conformity at the expense of innovation?

“The answers to these questions imply the need to foster the cognitive, social/emotional and interpersonal student capacities for work, citizenship and life. Additionally, they demand a deep analysis of the systemic efforts to continuously improve. Confronting these questions, and others, will require:

“A redefinition of the role of testing,

“An accountability model (mandatory in the NCLB waiver) matched to a clarified vision for 21st Century learning in Connecticut

“Statewide systems that incentivize innovation and a broad sharing of innovative programs…”

“Districts and teachers are suffocating from a “one size fits all”, compliance-based approach to schooling. One size does not fit all in education, no more than it does in medicine, social work or any other endeavor in which human beings are at the core of the enterprise. In an era that rewards and requires innovative thinking to solve complex problems, public schools have endured a stifling of professional autonomy through increased standardization and homogenization. As a result, energy is drained, a passion for teaching and learning evaporates, and many teachers and leaders question the lack of purpose to their work. Some ways to foster innovation include:

“Creating a “Districts of Innovation” program through which the State Department of Education would administer a rigorous process identifying various district approaches to current challenges faced by schools, such as, reducing bullying, improving school climate, evaluating the performance of individual teachers and administrators, etc. These districts would apply for a waiver or modification from state requirements in order to innovate their practices, while analyzing the impact. These districts could be required to partner with a university, commit to sharing their results, and, if successful, serve as a provider of professional development for other districts. The incubation of fresh, innovative ideas, by classroom teachers and administrators would exponentially grow the capacity of educators in the state.

“Working with Regional Education Service Centers (RESC) to develop an “expert in residence” program with area districts. Districts could grant a yearlong sabbatical to individual teachers to share their innovative work and provide professional development to schools across the state.
Pairing schools to work across different districts to collaboratively confront professional challenges. These partnerships could foster such promising practices as “lesson study”, peer to peer observations, and collaborative analysis of student work.”

These are but a few of the good ideas, grounded in experience and research, that these thoughtful superintendents propose. It is a vision for positive reform that should replace the sterile strategy of carrots and sticks.

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Connecticut, Education Reform, Real Education, Standardized Testing, Students

The Waltons Buy a School District and a State Board of Education

By dianeravitch
March 16, 2015 //
90

Who knew that being a billionaire would enable you and your family to buy an entire school district and even the state board of education? It isn’t that difficult, if you have enough money. Do we live in an oligarchy?

 

This letter was published in response to Max Brantley’s article (posted this morning) about the Walton takeover of the Little Rock School District. I am posting it here not because it is Little Rock but because it could be your city, your state.

 

#WAL-MART BUYS A SCHOOL DISTRICT

 

#WAL-MART BUYS A STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

 

August 14, 2014 Wal-Mart and The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation bought a partnership allegiance and loyalty from the Arkansas Department of Education through a partnership because of their $325,000,000 in contributions and payments to various organizations (http://www.arkansased.org/public/userfiles… ). This with Lobbyist Gary Newton, nephew of ADE Board member Diane Zook (Arkansas Learns/Lobbyist #142 on Arkansas Secretary of State Registered Lobbyist Report: http://www.sos.arkansas.gov/elections/Docu… paved the way for the Arkansas State Board of Education to be bought.

 

Below are the Arkansas State Education Board members that voted for the State Takeover of the Little Rock School District. All of their affiliated organizations are funded by Wal-Mart(Walton Family Foundation) and/or The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. It is obvious that these powerful organizations had influence, voting power, and now control. Their goal is to seize control of local school boards and privatize education. After viewing their affiliations, look at the Forward Arkansas Steering Committee that they put together to dictate where local funds should go. This is the epitome of BIG BUSINESS privatizing local funds.

 

These are the members that voted for a state takeover of a School District with 6 of 48 schools in academic distress. Wal-Mart/Rockefeller Connection are as follows:
· Toyce Newton, Phoenix Youth & Family Services Inc.
o Member of the Arkansas State Board of Education
o Former Chair of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation Board (The same Foundation that the board selected to run the LRSD http://www.phoenixyouth.com/about.html
· Vicki Saviers, “She was selected to State Board of Education because of her volunteering and charity.
o Member of the Arkansas State Board of Education
o Member of the Advisory Board for the UA Office for Education Policy
o “The district will be forced to make many difficult decisions in the future, including the removal of staff and closing of schools,” said board member Vicki Saviers, who submitted the takeover motion. (USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/… )
· Diane Zook, Aunt Gary Newton (Head of the Wal-Mart funded Lobby Group, Arkansas Learns.
o Member of the Arkansas State Board of Education
o https://dianeravitch.net/2015/01/29/arkansa…
o http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archi…

 

· Kim Davis, Board Member, Arkansas State Board of Education
o Employment is funded by Wal-mart, Sam’s Club, Tyson, and The Walton Family Foundation http://www.nwacouncil.org/pages/about-us/
o Arkansas State Board of Education Member
o Voted for State Takeover of LRSD (Conflict of Interest?)
o Member of Forward Arkansas Steering Committee (How can he vote for a takeover and have influence on where LRSD funds will be spent?)
o http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archi…
On October 18, 2004 Gary Newton (Arkansas Learns) created a Corporation (Arkansans for Education Reform Foundation) along with Glenn Borkowski, Luther Gordy, William Dillard, Clairborne Deming, Walter Hussman, and (of course…) Jim Walton. (Print media Note)Why does Cynthia Howell with the Dem Gazette reference Gary Newton like he is not a PAID LOBBYIST. Link: http://www.sos.arkansas.gov/corps/search_c…

 

#WAL-MART BUYS A SCHOOL DISTRICT through FORWARD ARKANSAS (will they be the “non-profit” that will run the district)? WOW! Look at the connections!

 

Below is the Steering Committee for The Forward Arkansas Initiative. According to the Forward Arkansas Website (http://www.forwardarkansas.org/forward-tea…) “The steering committee is made up of education, business, government and civil society leaders who share a common goal: improving education in all four corners of the state”. However, they failed to mention, they also share another common bond… Most of their organizations are funded by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and/or the Walton Family Foundation (Wal-Mart). Additionally, four of the five Arkansas Board of Education members that voted to takeover the Little Rock School District are part of organizations that are funded by The Wal-Mart (Walton Family Foundation) or The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. This is a direct conflict of interest. There are NO classroom educators from the LRSD on the Committee and they will face NO OVERSITE or local control. This steering committee is now in control of dictating the future of the LRSD.

 

Jared Henderson, Project manager for the Forward Arkansas Initiative
• Sole person designing Education in the LRSD
• Bio: http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/people/lis…
• He is not from Little Rock?
• Former Senior Vice President for Teach for America
• Teach for America Delta received $4,000,000 from The Walton Family Foundation (link: http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/abou… )
• Teach for America Builds facility in Helena-West Helena (first in nation. could this experiment happen in Little Rock? What happens to teachers not part of this network?): http://www.helena-arkansas.com/article/201…
• Holds an undergraduate degree from UA-Fayetteville in Computer Science and Physics?
• He has never taught in the LRSD
• Served on Board of AR Kids Read
• Look at the Sponsors: http://arkidsread.org/sponsors/ (The majority of the contributors have a representative in the Forward Arkansas Steering Committee. This is NOT DIVERSITY and this DOES NOT INVOLVE THE COMMUNITY)
• $10,000 + contributors include: Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, Fifty for the Future, Arkansas United Way, and Entergy
• $5,000-$9,999 contributors include: Arvest (Wal-Mart Bank), Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods, Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, J.A. Riggs Tractor Company
•

 

Shane Broadway, Director, Arkansas Department of Higher Education
• Member, Benton Chamber of Commerce, present
• Board Member, Bryant Boys and Girls Club, present
• Member, Bryant Chamber of Commerce, present
• Board Member, Central Arkansas Development Council, present
• Member, Entrepreneurial Advisory Committee, Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges
• Board Member, Quality Teaching and Learning Centers, present

 

Toby Daughterey, Lead Recruiter and Outreach Coordinator, The STAND Foundation
• Significant Funding from the Rockefeller Foundation: http://70-40-216-95.bluehost.com/grants/re…

 

Kim Davis, Board Member, Arkansas State Board of Education
• Employment is funded by Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Tyson, and The Walton Family Foundation
• http://www.nwacouncil.org/pages/about-us/
• Arkansas State Board of Education Member
• Voted for State Takeover of LRSD (Conflict of Interest?)

 

Bill Dillard III, Vice President, Dillard’s Inc.
• http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archi…
• Serves on the board at eStem Public Charter Schools
• Serves on the board at The Arkansas Education Reform Foundation (received $7,000,000 from the Walton Family Foundation, link: http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/abou… )

 

Marcy Doderer, President and CEO, Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock

 

Matt Dozier, President and CEO, Environmental and Spatial Technology (EAST) Initiative Bob
• February 2, 2015 EAST received $35K from the Rockefeller’s: http://www.eastinitiative.org/newsopportun…
• Significant Wal-Mart funding: http://www.eastinitiative.org/
• Significant Wal-Mart funding: http://www.eastinitiative.org/newsopportun…
• Significant Wal-Mart funding: http://www.eastinitiative.org/newsopportun…

 

Bob East, Co-Founder, East-Harding Inc.
• Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce

 

Joyce Elliot, Arkansas State Senator
• Chairman, Joint Budget Committee (JBC) – Peer Review
• Chairman, Arkansas Legislative Council (ALC)-Higher Education Subcommittee
• Chairman, Vision 2025 Legislative Commission on the Future of Higher Education
• Chairman, Whole Child-Whole Community Program
• Chairman, Arkansas comprehensive School Improvement Plans

 

Melanie Fox, Co-Founder, J&M Foods
• The Anthony School Board of Trustees: http://www.anthonyschool.org/BoardofTruste…
• What makes her qualified?

 

Diana Gonzales Worthen, Director, Project RISE at University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
• Conducted Study funded through the Rockefeller Foundation

 

Lavina Grandon, Founder and President, Rural Community Alliance
• A partner Organization of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
• Links: http://thenewrural.org/?x=0&y=0&s=rockefel…

 

Tom Kimbrell, Superintendent, Bryant Public Schools
• http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2015/feb/04/…

 

Ginny Kurrus, Former State President, Arkansas PTA
• http://www.usgbcar.org/about-us/staff/
• Rockefeller connection: http://www.woodlandsedge.com/winthrop-poin…
• Member of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce

 

Michele Linch, Executive Director, Arkansas State Teachers Association
• http://www.astapro.org/index.php/contact-u…
• Former Director of Arkansas Leadership Academy’s Teacher Leadership Institute (Viki Saviers, who supported LRSD State takeover is on the board of this organization)

 

Hugh McDonald, President and CEO, Entergy Arkansas Inc.
• Arkansas Chamber of Commerce member
• Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce Member
• Arkansas Research Alliance Board member (Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation Board Member Jerry Adams is the President of the Arkansas Research Alliance, link: http://www.wrfoundation.org/who-we-are/lea…)

 

Justin Minkel, Elementary School Teacher, Jones Elementary School in Springdale
• Teach for America alumnus
• Page 23 Teach for America Link: http://files.givewell.org/files/unitedstat…
• Walton Family gives $49,000,000 (estimated $100,000,000 by now) to Teach for America: http://waltonfamilyfoundation.org/mediacen…
• Springdale, Arkansas Teacher

 

David Rainey, Assistant State Director, JBHM Education Group
• Bio: http://stc.arkansas.gov/itleaders/stcmembe…
• Jackson, MS Article: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2009/…

 

John Riggs IV, President, J.A. Riggs Tractor Company

 

Scott Shirey, Founder and Executive Director, KIPP Delta Public Schools
• KIPP: Delta’s significant contributions include the following:
• Walton Family Foundation $100,000+
• Helena Public Facilities Board $25,000—$99,000 (why is public funding privately ran entities)
• Wal-Mart Stores $10,000+
• Mr. and Mrs. Randy Zook $1,000-$4,999
• Mr. Garry Newton
• An additional $8,800,000 from the Walton Family Foundation according the 2013 Grant Report http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/abou…
• KIPP Delta School Directors (Principals) ALL come from teach for America (They have do not have the same Teaching Certificate Requirements as required by the state. Link: http://www.kippdelta.org/our-leadership-te…
• Walton Family gives $49,000,000 (estimated $100,000,000 by now) to Teach for America: http://waltonfamilyfoundation.org/mediacen…
• Look at the Privatized District: http://www.kippdelta.org/our-team-staff-di…
• No Community Input/No Accountability/No Diversity in Leadership
• Board of Directors Chair is the husband of member of the Arkansas State Board of Education that voted for LRSD takeover. Link: http://www.kippdelta.org/board-directors Link: http://www.arkansased.org/state-board/memb…

 

Ray Simon, Former Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Education
• Member of the B & D Educational Consulting team (Washington DC) Link: http://www.faegrebdc.com/18052
• This firm also specializes in K-12 Education Consulting. The first line item on K-12 Education Consulting page offers strategies on TERMINATION OF TENURED and TENURED-TRACK EMPLOYEES. Link: http://www.faegrebd.com/K-12-Education

 

Kathy Smith, Senior Program Officer, Walton Family Foundation
• The K-12 Education link on the Walton Family Foundation promotes PUBLIC CHARTERS (meaning the public will pay for the creation of private schools. The schools and administration are not accountable to anyone. NO FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT because it is private, but they will spend public funds. Additionally, these schools will most likely be ran by TEACH FOR AMERICA, not LRSD teachers that live and have a vested interest in the community. Who will get the food service contract? who will get facilities contracts? Who will be on vendor list? Who ensures equitability? Who will you see in the community advocating for students and parents? Link: http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/gran…
• Article “The Walton’s want to Fix Public Education in America” link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/201…
• Look at the Walton Family Foundation 2013 Grant Report. They invested $14,500,000 in a non profit investing firm that specializes in investing in Charter School Operations (Charter Funds Inc.!!!! http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/p… )
• Walton Family Foundation 2013 Grant Report http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/abou…

 

LaDonna Spain, School Improvement Specialist, Arkansas Department of Education
• link: http://arkansas-employees.findthedata.com/…
• Served as Gifted and Talented and Advanced Placement Coordinator in the McGehee School District
• Taught in the Tiller School District
• Taught in Delta Special School District
• Taught in McGehee School District

 

Bob Watson, Former Superintendent, El Dorado Public Schools
• Board Member of Economics Arkansas. Link: http://www.economicsarkansas.org/about_us/…
• Economics Arkansas has received significant contributions from the following:
• Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club Foundation, Bentonville, AR
• Walton Family Foundation, Bentonville, AR

 

Sherece West-Scantlebury, President and CEO, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
• Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation Board, link: http://www.wrfoundation.org/who-we-are/lea…
• Board Member Vicki Saviers also serves on the Arkansas Board of Education (Is it a conflict of interest to vote to have the LRSD dissolve and serve on the Board of the entity that will dictate its fate?)
• GREAT LINK: http://badassteachers.blogspot.com/2015/01…
• previously served as CEO at the Foundation for Louisiana

 

Darrin Williams, CEO, Southern Bancorp Inc.
• link: https://banksouthern.com/news/southern-ban…
• Southern Bank Corp received $1.6 million from Walton Family Foundation (link: http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/abou… )

 

Kenya Williams, Co-Chair, Strong-Community Leadership Alliance
• Key Partners with the Leadership Alliance…of course Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, link: http://arpanel.org/coalitions/opportunity-…

 

 

Questions:

1. Has there been lessons learned from other school districts that have been taken over by the state?
2. How will citizens of Little Rock have a valued voice if they are not part of Wal-Mart of or the Rockefellers?
3. What will keep citizens from being disenfranchised?
4. Who is in control of transparency…Wal-Mart?
5. If the citizens of the community do not like the direction that the state is taken, how can they gain back control?
6. With the Superintendent and the Education Commissioner in charge, who can citizens turn to for “due process hearings”, local concerns?
7. If the powers that be decide to close a school in a non-valued neighborhood…Who do they turn to?
8. What kinds of accountability will the state be held to?
9. Arkansas Forward is promoting online surveys… How will concern citizens provide input if they don’t have a computer, car, sight, and does this comply with ADA.
10. It appears that Wal-Mart is investing heavily in Teach for America, how will teachers who are certified through the state compete with privately ran schools?
11. As noted, in 2013, Wal-Mart invested $14,500,000 in Charter Fund, Inc., http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/abou… and http://chartergrowthfund.org/invest-with-u… . These are Private Equity Funds that yield returns based on profits. It appears Wal-Mart just bought a School District.

 

 

 

 

Categories Arkansas, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Walton Foundation

Tennessee Enacts Vouchers, But Won’t Fund Them: UPDATE

By dianeravitch
March 16, 2015 //
4

Tennessee is the latest state considering vouchers, euphemistically calling them “opportunity scholarships.” The Senate Education Committee passed them. They will be considered by the House on Tuesday.

Why not be honest and call them what they are: vouchers. If the experience of other states is a guide, low-income students will have the “opportunity” to attend religious schools that have a meager curriculum and uncertified teachers, and students will learn creationism. The students will likely have lower test scores than their peers in the schools they left.

Funding is up to the districts, which are mandated to participate.

What a waste of children’s lives and taxpayer dollars.

Categories Funding, Separation of church and state, Tennessee, Vouchers

Are You Complicit in “Soul Murder”?

By dianeravitch
March 16, 2015 //
27

Joyce Murdock Feilke, a child psychologist, warns of the harm our society is doing to children by subjecting them to 10-12 hours of high-stakes testing. This stress does nothing positive for them. By the time the scores are returned, the children have a new teacher. The teacher is not allowed to see what they got wrong. The tests have no diagnostic value. The only beneficiaries are the testing corporations.

Feilke writes:

“The reformers have created a machine that is turning our children into emotionally desensitized functional robots via spiritual annihilation, and good teachers with moral courage are refusing to participate in “soul murder”.

Dr Shengold, clinical professor of psychiatry at the NY University School of Medicine, describes “soul murder” in his book:

SOUL MURDER: The Effects of Childhood Abuse and Deprivation”.

“To abuse or neglect a child, to deprive the child of his or her own identity and ability to experience joy in life, is to commit soul murder. Soul murder is the perpetration of brutal or subtle acts against children that result in their emotional bondage to the abuser and, finally, in their psychic and spiritual annihilation. In his compelling, disturbing, and superbly readable book, Dr. Shengold explores the devastating psychological effects of this trauma inflicted on a shocking number of children.

Every parent needs to be able to recognize “the subtle acts against children that result in their emotional bondage to their abusers”. Spiritual annihilation is what is happening to children captive in this dark environment of authoritarianism that has reared its ugly head in schools from mainstream society. Adults who remain silent and allow this to happen to our nation’s children are participating in “Soul Murder”:

Can you recognize this guise in your child’s school? It looks pretty on the outside but it’s dark inside. The only way you can see it is to be able to recognize the signs of traumatic stress in your children (regression, dissociation, anxiety, depression), and when those signs appear, the damage has been done. Stop it Now: Opt Out!”

Categories Standardized Testing, Students

“A Perfect Storm: The Takeover of New Orleans Public Schools”

By dianeravitch
March 16, 2015 //
5

The resisters in New Orleans have created a five-minute video about what they call the “corporate takeover of public education in New Orleans.”

 

This is an instance of what Naomi Klein describes as an application of the Shock Doctrine, or “disaster capitalism.”

 

When the New Orleans school system was battered by Hurricane Katrina, that was an opportune moment for politicians at the state and federal levels to take control of the district, eliminate most public schools, fire all the teachers, eliminate the union, and install charter schools and Teach for America.

 

This video is the beginning of a series created by residents who want a democratically controlled school system rather than a free market in education.

Categories New Orleans
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