Andrew Rotherham, a key figure in the corporate reform movement, once worked in the Clinton White House. He has since gone on to found a consulting firm, Bellwether Education Partners, that represents many of the leading corporate reform groups.
Rotherham writes here that “education reform” (charter schools, high-stakes testing, and evaluation of teachers by test scores) is not dead. He writes to reassure his friends and allies in the corporate reform movement that Hillary will not abandon their ideas. No matter what the platform says, no matter what she told the AFT and the NEA, he says, you gotta believe that she still loves her friends in the corporate reform world.
The subtext is fear. Is she really going to expect charters to serve children with disabilities and English language learners, the charters wonder. Is she really going to listen to the hated teachers’ unions on the subject of education? Is she going to slow down the drive to privatize public schools? Is she going to stop closing schools in poor black and Hispanic neighborhoods?
Never mind that all the reformers’ pet priorities have failed. Never mind that growing numbers of parents are opting their children out of state tests. Never mind that VAM has improved no school anywhere. Never mind that charters seldom outperform public schools and have often provided a platform for theft, fraud, and greed, whether they operate for profit or not-for-profit. Never mind that the Obama “reform” policies have helped to create teacher shortages in many states.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Rotherham, who knows Hillary well, is no more worried about her talk of regulating charters than her banker and corporate friends, who also know her well, are worried about business/banking regulations. They all know what she really means.
Maybe it’s time for Marc Tucker to write another Dear Hillary letter:
As you probably remember, I wrote you a letter a while back to
“to remold the entire American [school] system” into “a seamless [tangled, sticky] web that literally extends from cradle to grave and is the same system for everyone”
I would just like to confirm that you are still on board the sinking ship.
— Yours in all things Reformy,
Marc Tucker
I agree Dienne. Don’t expect any change in education. Corporations and Wall Street own her. She tells you what you want to hear and is not to be trusted.
Just as with Clinton’s alleged opposition to the TPP, she’ll say she’s against edu-reform until she isn’t.
I agree with Dienne as well. I think the best read of Rotherham is the straight read. He is telling the truth. No need to read more into it than that. He knows Clinton and he is saying, pretty clearly, the facts of the matter. There will be no meaningful charter “reform” from Clinton. There will be no curbing of the reform/privatizing agenda under her admin. Period. Frickin Cory Booker made her VP short list!!!! (As if we need more evidence than that!)
The real issue here is that the reform/privatizer side has never once been unclear or anything but loud and fully legible. They broadcast their ideas and agenda quite clearly, almost always. There should never have been any shocks or moments of complete befuddlement on our side. Had we read them straight, from the beginning, we wouldn’t be constantly on our heels.
So, this piece by Rotherham is a great case study moment. Lets read him straight, so in a years time we won’t be shocked and horrified that the reformers are still moving full steam ahead with the blessing from the White House.
Only Weingarten and many union heads will be the ones stumbling and stammering at that point.
Stumbling to the bank.
The Weingarten performance fools few of those who read political scripts carefully.
The fact that Weingarten is still head of AFT despite all her support for Common Core, VAM etc and acceptance of money from Bill Gates indicates that most members of the AFT don’t pay any attention.
The Weingarten”
The wine is very nice
In garden, with some ice
And rubbing elbows too
Is what I like to do
My sentiments exactly. We can complain all we’d like about Hillary and would-be politicians and repeatedly put the blame for educational policy on their shoulders, but year after year we have allowed our very own paid-for-by us teachers’ union leaders to sell us out…
Many charters serve students with disabilities and students who do not speak English as a first language. In fact, some charters have been started by parents of youngsters with disabilities and/or parents who do not speak English as their first language. The situation varies from community to community, state to state.
As Hilary explained at the NEA, she wants to learn from the most effective schools, whether district or charter. We’ve done that here, and some other communities have do so too. Both district & charter educators have great ideas.
Could you enlighten us on what those charters have brought to the table? What “great ideas” have they had that public schools weren’t already doing?
Thanks for the question, Dienne. Please remember that the context was both district & charter educators have things to share and things to learn. Here is an example of what you requested from Minnesota, where I live and work.
Some charters have organized themselves as coops, with the teachers in the schools being the majority of the members of the board of directors. This is in part because some of these folks had parents who were members of farm coops.
So rather than a school board, supt, district administration and principal telling teachers what they have to do (and in some cases how to do it), or having this negotiated between the school board and union, the teachers in the school make up the majority of the group that is making key decisions about everything from how much teachers are paid, to what their working conditions are, to what the curriculum will be, how the day is organized for learning, etc. etc.
This has led to teachers all over the country being interested in teacher gov schools. Hundreds of district & charter educators attended a meeting last year on this, and another is planned in LA for next year.
Minnesota also passed legislation this year, with support from district & charter leaders, that provides startup funds to district schools that are “teacher led.” More info here:
http://www.teacherpowered.org/
All great (legitimately great) ideas should be sent, for vetting, to America’s most important common good- local public schools. Return to sender, amateur ideas from Silicon Valley exploiters, Wall Street looters and discount retailing poverty generators.
So, Joe, your example is remarkably similar to the original vision of a charter school as outlined by Albert Shanker. I think it’s an interesting model. But I don’t hold out hope for its widespread proliferation. It will likely be little more than a niche governance model or a boutique school.
Because, from where I live and work, Michigan’s charter school movement is owned by the for-profits and the DeVos family. The for-profits (led by NHA) have the ability to crowd out all challengers due to the massive financial support of billionaire donors who also contribute massively to lobbying efforts. I can see the spread of already existing chains consistently increasing in a way similar to chains and franchises.
Such enterprises will find that model highly unappealing. It doesn’t generate profits or have an appointed board that can do the bidding of the management company. It gives those dastardly, untrustworthy teachers too much authority and decision-making power.
I’m not saying that there isn’t value in the model you described. But it’s difficult to envision that model being anything other than the equivalent of a mom-and-pop in a Walmart world. Minnesota is more progressive than most places.
Steve, you may be right that the teacher led approach will not spread widely. When the charter approach was approved in Minnesota, we had no idea that it would spread so far or fast. So this approach to creating schools might spread widely too.
It depends in part of what unions do. Some union presidents here now say they made a mistake when chartering was approved. They should have done what some of us suggested, which is work with innovative teacher and concerned parents to start charters. Teachers and parents could have used the expertise that many unions have. Instead after a few years of NEA helping teachers start charters, both NEA and AFT decided to oppose the idea (this was well before “for profits” got involved).
The teacher led model is NOT what Shanker had in mind. Shanker’s approach preserved the traditional school board/union relationship.
The teacher led approach literally makes teachers working in a school the majority of those who are on the school’s board of directors.There is still an important role for unions – which several teacher union presidents understand. That’s why they worked hard and successful to help convince legislators to adopt the $500K start up funds.
Most charters do not invite community participation. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Many are corporate owned, profit driven entities, and as such, they seek to quash democratic governance.
Joe, I went to the linked website. I have to say that the governance models are not quite what you described. I went to the Michigan examples specifically. They weren’t really teacher led. In one case, it noted that decisions were made through the good will of a school director.
It appears that these schools abide by a central consensus of curriculum and delivery as agreed upon by their teachers. While I agree that such autonomy is great, it really is barely different from a well-run district.
For example, my working class district has a traditional hierarchy. But our administration does not micromanage. They entrust classroom decisions to PLCS while the leadership focuses on big picture issues. All decisions are done through research, committee and collaboration work. It isn’t just lip service.
I would say that the models of the “innovative” schools that public districts would be more like that without the excessive unfunded mandates from state and federal governments. So, yeah, it’s fresh on a micro level but because public school teachers aren’t trusted by the well-funded elites, we don’t have the chance to do this in a traditional district.
Nice that teachers are heavily involved in decision-making but publics won’t be afforded that degree of input. People on this page have asked why teachers are ignored. 90 schools nationally is a nice start but I think you’ve identified an outlier. Policymakers will never place this much trust in teachers.
Steve, thanks for taking a look at the website. These ideas are applied in various ways, from state to state and community to community. In Mn, state legislators are ok with public school teachers setting their salary and working conditions, as well as designed the way the school works with educators.
Another great example is Massachusetts. The Boston Pilot Schools are district schools that in many cases have been created by groups of district teachers. Their working conditions vary, depending on the kind of waivers they have requested from the local district/union contract.
It’s encouraging to see more examples of places where policy-makers are giving teachers – district and charter – the opportunity to use their ideas, creativity and knowledge to create the kind of schools that will help more students succeed.
As far as education goes, it’s a wash, sadly. In my NJ, Christie has been the most anti-public education, anti-teacher, anti-union governor in my memory. He’s been vicious, toxic and unrelenting. Cory Booker is a corporate Dem who is a charter cheerleader though he has not attacked teachers or the unions as Christie has done, the lesser evil. Booker has been well financed by the billionaire boys’ club. Sometimes it seems that there are no politicians who are in favor of the actual public schools. The GOP and Trump/Pence are probably even worse on education.
All that being said, education is not the only issue.
Rotherham and Company need not worry. Clinton knows which side her bread is buttered on.
The article reminded of Donald Trump Jr.’s speech the other night. I’m afraid that I have very little confidence that Hillary will be any more of a friend to public schools, teachers and students than President Obama has been. From what I see, the Reformers never run scared. Their jobs and lifestyles are secure. They never face any accountability when their ideas end up doing harm. Bolstered by rich and powerful backers, they never see any need to give any ground. One positive feature of the article is that it didn’t allow comments (or is this common at USN&WR?). My gut is that there was concern of thoughtful dissent.
the Reformers never run scared. Their jobs and lifestyles are secure. They never face any accountability when their ideas end up doing harm. ”
Precisely. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain by continuing to do what they have been doing.
Education “Reform” is actually a career — a lifestyle even — for these people. There is even a college major for it at many universities and entire schools (set up by folks like Eli Broad) devoted to it.
asking a “Reformer” to quit doing what he or she is doing is like asking a snake oil salesman to quit selling snake oil. It ain’t going to happen.
“The Upward Failure of Reform”
Reformer’s never scared.
His job and life secured
His failure’s never bared
Promotion is assured
Never Mind that none of the education reformers cared about children, teachers, learning, schools, parents, communities…ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS ….THE MONEY!
The MONEY is still rolling in, a new school year will start, two new candidates LOVE MONEY & the BILLIONAIRES who fund them, speak their corporate language, share their vision of exploitation of America’s children.
Damn the torpedos, sharpen the #2 pencils, duct tape crying children to toxic tests…
MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN…Public Schools are on the chopping block with either candidate.
Oh, let the Türks, come marching in…🎼🎧🎤🎹🏃🏿🏃🏿🏃🏿🏃🏿👼🏽
“Are the Democrats done with education reform?” Well, either the Democrats are done with education “reform” or their progressive base, heartily given voice by Bernie Sanders, is done with the Democrats. Let’s call it choice.
Perhaps it would be most accurate to simply say that “the Democrats are done” and leave it at that.
Reblogged this on Politicians Are Poody Heads and commented:
I don’t believe that Hillary Clinton will regulate charters and corporate education “reform,” any more than I believed that Barack Obama would include a “robust, affordable public option” in the Affordable Care Act (which he also “promised”).
Come on, it’s all about the Benjamins, and who can make money from this.
Candidates promise a lot, but at the end of the day, they are beholden to the wealthy corporate interests.
Hillary, yelp, she’s a liberal. A Neoliberal.
It is as it is if people are like Trump who is very proud of being anti-republican belief in practice, like cheating and bullying the lesser from the advantage of being rich. However, Trump perfectly talks like a parrot with all anti- democracy that is expected by republican policy = money is above humanity and civilization.
I admire Hillary because she is diplomatic and skillful politician. If reformers know her well, there would not be any concern among “low class” reformers or distrusting followers, or gullible protesters.
Trump and his children try to be TYPICALLY political gangster. Good luck on voting Trump. There is NO scary tactic in dealing with a con-artist who is proud of being a maniac bully; who loves to threaten the opposite with force; as well as who breaks all rules and regulation to be a trustworthy, respectable and noble leader.
People love to play with fire, they will get burn. There is no doubt about it. Back2basic.
And now–surprise, surprise!–mental health facilities are being–privatized! (As per an article I just read the other day in, I believe, the Business Section of The Chicago Tribune.) From military-industrial complex to education-industrial complex to mental health-industrial complex.
As in Chicago & LA (under Jindal, whose political aspirations are now–hopefully–in the toilet), the mass closing of mental health clinics have lead to more poverty, more homelessness, more everything that the richest country in the world should not be.
I have a friend that works for a private company subcontractor that decides if someone is disabled and eligible for disability benefits. She is a Ph.D. and a retired school psychologist. The amount of time she can see a person and how many cases she must handle a day are all predetermined by the company. This is the brave new world of the factory model applied to every area in which corporations can squeeze a profit.
What will happen is that the public schools will end up being special Ed and ell schools because charter schools and religious schools will not be required to educate all. Talk about promoting segregation of all groups.
What is Hillary’s plan to wrestle the U.S. Dept. of Education away from the grasp of the Aspen Instiitute? (David Koch’s photo was removed from the Aspen Board array a few weeks ago).
Vote for Trump and create real disruption. Let’s repeat 2007-2008. Then repeal the $15.00 wage. Build the wall and then block the tunnels. Hire Americans to pick the food and provide HB1 visas to the Indians, South East Asians and Pacific Islanders, and just about anyone who speaks some English and wants to visit America (The Great) to write programs and teach in private and public schools for their year abroad. If you’re a Bill Gates or a Walton you can spend your summers in Norway and your winters in Costa Rica. Ideal.
I’d love to talk to you. Rotherham and William Hansen were just appointed to Youngkins “new” VDOE. With Aimee Guidera as our Sec Ed and Jillian Balow as our state superintendent- no one will listen regarding this globalist governor is going to put the nail in the coffin Northam and Lane started.
VAFCF.org