Mercedes Schneider read an appeal for help from Peter Cunningham, the editor or CEO of a blog called Education Post.
Peter was Assistant Secretary for Communications (or something like that) on behalf of Arne Duncan during the first term of the Obama administration. When he left, as Mercedes shows, Eli Broad asked him to start a blog to rebut all those pro-public education bloggers out there who were dominating social media So, Broad gathered a few other 1%-ers (Bloomberg and Walton), and together they chipped in $12 million for the new blog to promote charter schools, merit pay, high-stakes testing, and other tenets of the “reform” movement led by Arne Duncan.
Read this story in the Washington Post announcing the new blog, but read the comments too. They are hilarious. You can see that the blog had a problem from the get-go and needed some masterful PR.
But it appears that the message is not getting through. Even with $12 million, social media is still dominated by bloggers like Mercedes, Peter Greene, Anthony Cody, EduShyster, Jersey Jazzman, Jonathan Pelto, Mother Crusader, Paul Thomas, Julian Vasquez Heilig, and lots of others who aren’t paid. They write with passion and conviction because they are filled with passion and conviction.
These bloggers prove what Daniel Pink, Dan Ariely, Edward Deci, and other cognitive psychologists have written about motivation. Idealism and autonomy beat rewards every time.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I guess I would read it if there were some kind of monetary profit in it for me.
I think they should understand that, since they understand nothing else.
More Birds of a Feather eye openers…
Bruce Reed who now runs Broad Academy, was Joe Biden’s Chief of Staff, and was head of Democratic Leadership Council.
Antonio Villaraigosa, former LA mayor and now candidate for Governor of California, a huge Broad and charter supporter, is leading the Advisory Board of Eucation Post…so the DFERs are united behind this PR event…and even Biden’s name appears.
All in this Washington Post article. WOW !!!
That news needs to be spread around.
The point of Cunningham’s blog is not to get readers, it’s a legal way to pay him for services rendered.
The only readers Eli Broad cares about are the current education officials. This money losing website is a huge billboard ad for payola, saying DOE officials can get $10 million bonuses after they leave office.
After all, Campbell Brown is running a much more extensive website for about $4 million. All that extra is showered onto Cunningham in a big revolving door. Schneider and Ravitch know that running a website costs less than $300 per year. So all this “compensation” is simply legal bribery.
Oh gosh!
😱
Are you saying that this is another rheephorm jobs program for adults?
Then again, riffing off their foundational Marxist philosophy, it makes perfect ₵ent¢:
“Rheephorm is a parked taxi with the meter running.”
Groucho. Today. Tomorrow. Forever.
😎
Wait, but these people say it’s all about the kids!
Brilliant assessment, Jake….never thought of that. Payola in a creative form !!!
One more scam of the domineering Broad mindset. I will now watch for this payoff scheme in all other areas. Thanks, Jake.
They all leave the Obama Administration and go right into ed reform orgs.
I don’t think there was any real division between “The Obama Administration” and “ed reform orgs”, really.
Chiara…. sadly, from both parties, they also go straight to lobbying, never stopping for GO To JAIL for breaking the law.
Cunningham must have a few friends:
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/10/12/parents-support-testing-but-think-theres-too-much?int=95ce08
This story is linked as the lead story on today’s ASCD “SmartBrief.” SMH.
Idea for similarly popular blog, The grass is blue and the sky is green blog.
I’m sure the new blog will promote a few facts – maybe even some that are true – but they will
never waste their time with all of the available evidence.
Thank you so much Diane.
We who follow this site find wonderful link to the many voices out there, as I did this week when I went to the blog of Linda McSpadden McNeil, and found her wonderful essays on Messy Learning. http://educatingallourchildren.blogspot.com
Conversations which are positive, which offer solutions, and which show WITTT, (my acronym for WHAT IT TAKES TO TEACH) are greatly appreciated.
But there are other conversations and some voices that are not as measured, but nonetheless very powerful, voices that FRAME THE CONVERSATION in the context of the betrayal— the corruption of the system by those at the top, whom we trust to support us and discover are supporting the corporate entities who profit from robbing the taxpayers, and who aid the oligarchs in ending democracy… which depends on the shared knowledge of a country, and the dissemination of the truth.
There is a blog, which I never see featured here, one that I link to often, which I have followed for over a decade.
It is very special. This voice of this teacher, who was betrayed by the people he trusted when he blew the whistle on social promotion in the second largest school system of the 15,880 that make up our public education.
His voice is an angry one, but it offers the facts and chronicles the debacle and demise of the LAUSD school system, while framing the conversation in a way that leaves no doubt as to the underlying corruption. Just as Diane has defined the effort of the BILLIONAIRE’S BOYS CLUB ( her name for the oligarchs) he has put the truth ‘OUT THERE’ for a decade and the public still is unaware of the enormity of this war on public education! I listen to his disgust and fury, when he calls, and I hear a true and important voice.
I hope you will go to this blog, to hear what he has to say.. in the CONTEXT of the BETRAYAL and what we need to do.
Here is the link to the latest one. I am posting the entire piece here, because, I feel that you need to hear this brilliant, erudite person FRAME THE CONVERSATION.
THE TITLE: HOW TO SUCCEED IN CHARTING THE DIFFICULT COURSE AWAY FROM CHARTER SCHOOLS http://www.perdaily.com/2015/10/charting-a-course-away-from-charters.html
“Let me attempt to educate liberals and conservatives about the reality of the American political system of government and the economics it controls as opposed to their respective dillusions as to what this country is about. The liberal believes that government and the economic system should reflect the needs and will of the majority of people, something it has never done. While conservatives generally share this view, they take exception when it comes to the role of government in accomplishing this goal and believe that less government and more free enterprise will do the trick.
“What neither liberal nor conservative understands is that government has never reflected the will of the people, but rather the will of that small and now corporate organized segment of our society that really calls the shots, while using the media that it owns lock, stock, and barrel to continue diluding the people- Left, Right, and in between- in this country into believing they have any say in how things are run, when clearly they don’t.
“While I don’t much like this reality, given the power arrayed against me, I have no desire to waste the waning years of my life by expending my rapidly diminishing energy in fighting a monster that I can only beat in fairy tales. I somehow can make peace with a well-organized corporate big brother that must get its pound of flesh on every commercial transaction that takes place in this country and abroad.
“What I still have difficult with is when this incredible fallible monolithic corporate owner of our society makes bad decisions, but continues to double down on these decisions, when it is clear that they don’t work. The problem is that since corporate think only rewards conformity, it seems unable to pragmatically examine a policy or decision it has made and choose an alternate course, no made how clearly failed the iniitial course of action is.
“The reason it gets away with it is that in a world with the Citizens United decision being the law of the land that gives unlimited “free speech” to the uber rich, there is no effective way to make corporations change course in Iraq or Afghanistan or in their decision to privatize public education to get their hands on the 40% of the close to $2 trillion we now spend every year on public education, once the corporation has made a decision to go in that direction. The objective efficacy of any program is never at issue.
“What exclusively drives corporate policy is not the efficacy of that policy, but rather how much money corporate interests can make in the short run fiscal year, even if they have to continue rigging the game. So a Halliburton can continue to charge $40 for ever meal it serves to American troops around the world, when such function could and has been performed for far less money in the past.
“Likewise, corporations can continue building charter schools, when there is not one iota of evidence that shows they are any more effective than the public schools they continue to bleed into bankruptcy, while ignoring their needs.
“Actually, the leading Stanford study ignored by the corporate dominated media says charters do worse than public schools. http://www.perdaily.com/2013/02/lausd–if-charters-dont-work-just-lie-and-say-they-do.html
“All one needs to do to bring this point home is to drive around Los Angeles and see the brand new charter schools built at a cost of millions- usually at a cost several times their fair market value. The first thought that comes to mind in seeing this charter school empire is that there is no way that the for profit corporations behind these nominally non-profit charters cash cows are ever going to allow them to be closed, no matter how objectively inefficient they are and how destructive they are to any real public school reform.
So let me make just one peace offering to the corporate interests behind charters: Why not convert all existing charter school with API scores of less that 800- which is the majority- into homeless housing with job training and drug abuse programs to get people off the street? Whether its charter schools or homeless housing and job training, corporations can continue to gouge huge sums of money from both the state and federal governments in addressing these critical social needs.
“I think the only possible flaw with my proposal is that it might succeed in overcoming the minority poor programmed instability so necessary in maintaining racism in our society. Unlike Sweden, America is not about being as good as your fellow citizens, it’s about being better, even if it means sending America down the same path of previously failed empires, whose downfall began when they openly contradicted their supposed core values.
“As Jimmy Carter recently said- which was ignored by the corporate media- ‘America is no longer a democracy, but rather an oligarchy.’ Sadly, most public educated Americans no longer understand what an oligarchy is.”
Wow…I looked over the list of reformers on Education Post’s blog and it was revolting. I know first hand, seeing some of the names I have carried on discussions with on Facebook and other media. They are like little babies that when confronted with actual evidence of the failures of vouchers, pay-for-performance, and testing, alongside the mediocrity of charters, they stick their fingers in their ears and cry like babies. And drop you from their groups and silence you.
I think it’s a real “tell” on how the Obama Administration ed dept operated that there are so few mentions of public schools.
It’s all testing and charter promotion, which is also true of the Obama Administration.
It’s an exclusive club.
I noticed the comments are closed. Interesting WaPo would close an article that would potentially draw a large # of responses since click numbers are used to attract advertisement $s.
The insiders will need to come up with another propaganda strategy since co-opting news sites & reporters doesn’t fool the us any longer.
Just for the record, Daniel Pink is not a cognitive psychologist by training. He is a gifted writer with a law degree, a former speechwriter for Al Gore. His reputation has been built on writing books that appeal to CEOs and others who want to increase the productivity of workers with “soft strategies.” It is true that some of those strategies come from psychology as well as behavioral economics.
There are so many well-funded propaganda machines that the loss of Peter Cunningham’s blog is probably not going to make much difference in the outflow of “news and opinion” designed to honor free market education, much of it coming from think tanks that function as wholly owned subsidiaries of foundations.
And, of course, you, Diane (you modest person!)
And Chicago-based blogger Fred Klonsky has a national readership, & has surpassed 3 million hits.
And–since so many people are reading THIS blog, don’t forget ro watch the Democratic Debates tomorrow night. Bernie 2016!
Blogging is fine, and I am happy to do it, BUT just imagine how much more the defenders of public education could accomplish if they also took full advantage of newspaper and magazine letters to editors columns. We need to flood the New York Times, the Washington Post, Education Week and a zillion other papers and magazines with comments on the charter, voucher, Common Core and other sleazy fifth-column efforts to undermine public education. I have been getting letters on this published for over 60 years (uncounted hundreds of them, not to mention several hundred regular magazine columns), but I get tired of not seeing the names of other defenders. With well over 4 million people getting paid to work in public education, we need to make our voices heard. — Edd Doerr (arlinc.org)
YES, Ed…Joining Forces for Education has a letter writing team comprised of retired educators who continuously bombard the print media exposing the Rheeformers and supporting public schools.
Ellen Lubic: How dos one connect with Joining Forces for Education?
Edd Doerr –arlinc@verizon.net (arlinc.org)
Ed…you can reach me at
joiningforces4ed@aol.com
Ellen (and thank you, Edd Doerr), I promise that, my next vacation from the all consuming occupation, Dad and I will flood your inbox with letters, I know, 150 characters or less for the LA Times.
and you imagine that these print media’ have not ben indicated with mail telling them. I have a file of letters going back a decade.
You do know who owns all of the media in this naiton>
We need a film or series of viral videos that SHOW THE BETRAYAL, the fraud and the death of our public schools.
This generation prefers IMAGES to sentence on paper. They use 500 words as an average, and hear 3000…compare that to the Elizabethans who recognized 54,000.
We need to develop a “reformer” database that follows the money, exposes reformers’ front men/women and uncovers federal policies that are written by insiders and passed to get the tax funds into the reformers’ hands, defame teachers, hire frauds, and seize control from states and local school boards.
YOU bet! Let’s get that money out of the hands of the charlatans with their magic elixirs. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Magic-Elixir-No-Evidence-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-130312-433.html
Lenny isenberg has a good idea, too
He reminds us that the decision of the uber rich to privatize public education was to get their hands on the 40%of the almost $2 trillion we now spend every year on public education, and then once the the objective efficacy of any program is never at issue.”
Like I said no evidence required to make the common core crap the mandate .
“All one needs to do to bring this point home is to drive around Los Angeles and see the brand new charter schools built at a cost of millions- usually at a cost several times their fair market value. The first thought that comes to mind in seeing this charter school empire is that there is no way that the for profit corporations behind these nominally non-profit charters cash cows are ever going to allow them to be closed, no matter how objectively inefficient they are and how destructive they are to any real public school reform.”
“So let me make just one peace offering to the corporate interests behind charters: Why not convert all existing charter school with API scores of less that 800- which is the majority- into homeless housing with job training and drug abuse programs to get people off the street? Whether its charter schools or homeless housing and job training, corporations can continue to gouge huge sums of money from both the state and federal governments in addressing these critical social needs.”
Another good idea… now how do we put ideas into action.
I fully agree with your idea! A “reformer” database that follows the money and exposes other crimes of the privatizers is essential.
Now, please do it! Unless all of us begin to just take matters into our own hands, and just make it happen, instead of waiting for others to act on our good ideas, we’ll be stuck complaining in the future instead of looking back on our victories in stopping the privatization of public schools.
Good luck to you and we’ll support you in any way we can!
Just Do It!
Ohio lawmakers caved to charter lobbyists on the for-profit online schools ratings:
“But ODE did not follow previous rules this year in its first evaluations and left out F grades for online schools, inflating the rating of the schools’ sponsors.
Part of why the e-schools were left out is that their large enrollments would dominate the ratings, if they were weighted by the number of students.
The compromise gives e-schools part of what they want — to be counted just as a school, not weighted by enrollment — but not exactly. Schools will now be counted both ways.
The new rules call for the academic rating of sponsors to be partly done by counting each school as a single unit and partly by weighting the rating by enrollments of each school.
Colleen Grady, the main education advisor for the House and a key player in the adjustments to the bill, said the bill does not spell out the percentages that each way will count, leaving that up to ODE.”
I hope their donors make a lot of money off those kids when these for-profit charters are awarded artificially inflated scores. We were told last week that lawmakers “reformed” charter schools. Why are they still handing out gifts to charter lobbyists? Why are they still promoting these terrible online schools? How much in campaign donations did they take in exchange for this?
http://www.jointhefuture.org/1716-hb2-legalizes-tipping-scales-in-favor-of-awful-e-schools
Thanks for the laugh of the day – Brother, can you spare a reader?
Those of us, like Diane, who work our asses off every day (and night) for readers can both laugh and shake our heads.
They just don’t get it.
Cunningham, in his desire for civil discussions, should read the May 2015 issue of Entrepreneur, in which Microsoft Canada’s director of Partners in Learning, “has a tough message for teachers skeptical about ..technology in the classroom, ‘Shift or get off the pot’ “. Partner in Learning? The Director’s linked-in profile indicates the same amount of teaching experience as Bill Gates- zero. These people are too crude, self-serving and wrong to be anywhere near children.
Here’s a great comment from the actual site: A look at the funding (the Broad Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Walton Family Foundation), the Duncan-linked organization’s leader, and its three-pronged agenda make clear that this is a group that aims to undermine traditional public education. Only time, coupled with explicit, sustained, impartial actions consistent with the best research and belief in democratic rather than plutocratic decision-making will demonstrate if I’m wrong. And an anonymous donor? It screams BEWARE.”
People can really see for themselves where the focus was in the Obama Administration:
https://twitter.com/PCunningham57?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Charter and testing, charters and testing, charters and testing
It’s all they talk about.
The blog is funded by oligarchs, now. But, let’s surmise, in the future, it will be funded like TFA, with grants from state and national departments of education.
Funny how all of the comments that follow everything associated with education reform, are overwhelmingly negative. Yet, the originating articles and proposals keep presenting it as a silk purse.
The market for reformy products is artificially high. Hedge funds and Silicon Valley are propping it up with paid spokespersons in the media and astroturf groups in communities.
Without the disguised advertising and without paid-for political clout, the market would be zilch.
I’m curious about what the reformers on Education Post’s blog have to say the failure of Amplify/Wireless Generation.
Don’t school districts deserve a refund for false statements made by vendors that misrepresent the educational value of their products? Murdoch’s Amplify negatively affected thousands of students, parents and taxpayers who are stuck with devices that are not needed.
News Corp. Sells Amplify to Joel Klein, Other Executives
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/10/07/news-corp-sells-amplify-to-joel-klein.html
Taxpayers are royally fleeced by hedge funds and Silicon Valley.