Since I posted this without the link yesterday, I am re-posting so readers have the opportunity to read Tom’s post in full.
Tom Ultican, a teacher of high school math and physics in San Diego, accepted an invitation to attend a Gates-funded conference for teachers last week. Having attended the bare-bones Network for Public Education, Ultican immediately spotted the differences in meals, facilities, staff, and other provisions.
He writes:
“On Friday, July 29, National University hosted the San Diego “Better Together California Teacher’s Summit.” I like National University and have nothing but praise for the wonderful job Dr. Judy Mantel and her excellent staff did. However, the conference underwriter was the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. That gave the proceedings a darker hue.
“During the 2016 NPE conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, Diane Ravitch mentioned how much easier it would be if we got a deep pocket sponsor for our movement, but she jokingly lamented that Anthony Cody would not stand for it. When I arrived at the Town and Country Convention Center in San Diego’s hotel circle, I saw what she meant. They had breakfast prepared for all 700 of us. The ballroom was plushly appointed and there appeared to be hotel staff everywhere. Twenty event staff were already on duty when I arrived.”
“Unfortunately, I had not read the agenda closely enough and had already eaten. I was only hoping for free coffee.”
Actually, I would be very happy to find a non-conformist billionaire or two to help NPE fight for public education and the public interest. Where Anthony and I disagreed publicly was on the wisdom of accepting corporate sponsorship. I would gladly take money from corporations to help us out and sponsor our conference. Anthony would not. Since we operate by consensus, NPE has no corporate sponsors and a tiny budget.
Not so with the conference, Tom Ultican attended. Common Core and testing were mentioned often and positively.
“Better TogetherVideo link connected us with a simultaneous event being held at California State University, Fullerton. Three massive screens projected keynote speaker, Ernie Hudson who was in Fullerton. Besides being a popular actor, Hudson is a wonderful speaker. His speech was moving and entertaining.
“However, I wondered if an accomplished professional educator speaking would have been more appropriate. For example, I will never forget the address Professor Yong Zhao gave at NPE Chicago but then he didn’t blame teachers for his son’s problems and he doesn’t support standards based testing. Hard to imagine Gates’ money being spent on a speaker that does not support Gates’ ideology.
“The Sponsors
“The money came mainly from the Gates Foundation, however, the official sponsors were AICCU, the California State University and the New Teacher Center. The sponsors page of the Better Together California web presence lists many corporate supports including: TFA, The S.D. Bechtel Foundation, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, the California Charter Schools Association, Chevron….
“The New Teachers Center seemed to be the key organization overall in charge. Their funders page lists the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as $10,000,000 plus patrons. Thirty listed entities are credited with donating between $1,000,000 and $9,999,999 including: Carnegie Corporation of New York; The Joyce Foundation; The David and Lucile Packard Foundation; SeaChange Capital Partners; The Goldman Sachs Foundation; Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust; National Education Association; and NewSchools Venture Fund.
“In addition to New Teacher’s Foundation, Edcamp was another major force present at the summit. Started by the George Lucas Foundation Edcamp has a small presence in communities across the country. There are two Edcamp groups in San Diego County according to the Edcamp representative from Baltimore.
“On his Edutopia internet page Lucas is quoted, “When I was in high school, I felt like I was in a vacuum, biding time. I was curious, but bored. It was not an atmosphere conducive to learning. Once I had the means to effect change in this arena, it became my passion to do so.” Sounds like another rich guy education “expert” with no training or experience, but he has a boat load of money so his opinion is important.
“On the good side, Edutopia and George Lucas do not appear to have a pecuniary interests in privatizing public education.
“I realize many people may wonder why I am not pleased that all of these rich people love kids so much. There is an insidious side. For example, instead of questioning the idea of adding engineering standards to basic science education, the conversation is shaped so all we discuss is how to best implement engineering principles into science education.
“Before students reach approximately their junior year in college, they are not ready to study engineering. I am for shop class, cooking and pottery projects, but these are not engineering. There is no useful purpose in confusing teachers and students by larding a bunch of inappropriate engineering standers onto seventh graders. Unfortunately, there appears to be no room for dialog that does not support the philosophy of the wealthy CEO that demanded engineering standards.”
You will enjoy Tom’s reflections on this high-powered gathering. I would love to know what the budget was.
There probably wasn’t a budget. Just get it done and sent Gates the Bill. Spare not one penny to impress and influence.
So how do you think those House and Senate Staffers who shape policy are treated when they are approached by these forces . Then one wonders in the previous post why Democrats have adopted Republican ideology on education. The Republicans only oppose the reform agenda because they see a political advantage to pin this TALE on the Donkey.
What are the usual tactics used by highly paid lobbyists: gifts, trips, lavish campaign donation, misleading propaganda, threats, etc.
https://www.opensecrets.org/influence/
Last year Mercedes Schneider alerted us that the Bill Gates foundation had earmarked several millions of dollars to support CCSS. I believe the budget for this came out of that buy. A friend told me the Better Together California Teacher’s Summit (such a nice word) had a $2,000,000 budget, but I could not confirm that.
It’s has become obvious to me that Bill Gates doesn’t like to lose just like Donald Trump. Wrong or right, they have to win. I think that comes with being a psychopath.
Here’s the link to the article about which this thread deals:
https://tultican.wordpress.com/2016/08/02/better-together-corporate-teachers-summit/
Ultican hits some important points,
ULTICAN:
“The charter industry has developed into a demonic tool used to purloin public education dollars and destroy the public education system. As this trend continues to worsen, quality charter schools like Einstein Academy will be crushed right along with public schools. It is becoming clear that the market competition that would make schools improve is not a competition to better educate; it’s a competition to better market. Mom and pop charter schools will never survive that battle.”
” … ”
“CUE, originally a sincere organization, has been corrupted. The personalized learnSDCCU Tech Fair Partnersing they call for is competency based education (CBE) delivered by computers and scored by a corporations. Instead of credits, students will earn badges from testing giants like Pearson Corporation. This graphic is from their web page.
“Emily Talmage’s warnings about the CBE threat to the teaching profession, America’s culture and good education is well founded.
“From her latest post on this subject:
– – – – – – – – – – –
EMILY TALMADGE:
“Knowledgeworks recently described the new learning system as an ‘ecosystem,’ in which THE ROLE OF THE TRADITIONAL TEACHER WILL SOON BE OBSOLETE.
“With major investments from Wall Street, leaders in the online learning, ed-tech, and student loan industries, and even celebrity billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Reed Hastings of Netflix, the transformation has recently been picking up speed. Meanwhile, political groups on both the left and right are moving the system forward by lobbying for ‘personalized,’ competency-based policies and “innovative” assessment systems.
“(The American Legislative Exchange Council and the major teacher’s unions and their associated networks are encouraging states join the innovative assessment pilot program designed by the International Association of K-12 Online Learning and the Gates-funded Knowledgeworks Foundation and now allowed by the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.)”
– – – – – – – – – – –
ULTICAN:
“This is a real and present danger to the teaching profession, quality public education and democracy in America. As enjoyable as lunch paid for by Bill Gates and conversations with fellow educators was, I feel the hidden purpose behind the Better Together California Teacher’s Summit was the end of the teaching profession and public education as we know it. That is not a good thing!”
I appreciate Utican’s comments on how teaching engineering is inappropriate in high school. Ditto for computer science. Sure, as an elective for those kids who have already been programming on their own but not as a core subject. To be a good engineer or a good programmer, one must have an excellent foundation in math. A high school education of math is only the beginning. Post-secondary education and preferably a master’s or a ph.d is key to actually doing good engineering or programming work.
Unfortunately, many of the tech companies don’t understand this and they follow the anti-intellectual dogma of their often uneducated founders/CEOs. It is important to understand what is developmentally appropriate at which ages and stages of education. Pushing engineering or computer science onto high schoolers is simply a way to create cheaper workers who push out products (not good products, just products) that can be sold in a market in which there is little to no competition.
As for George Lucas being “bored in school,” it sounds like a personal problem. It also sounds like the majority of teenagers that I’ve taught. How many teenagers actually admit to enjoying school? It certainly doesn’t sound like Lucas’ boredom in school prevented him from achieving his goals in life and being extremely successful in his career. So where’s the logic? What’s the complaint exactly? Why does he pick on schools when he works in an industry that is rampantly racist and misogynistic and, in my opinion, lavishly wastes money on products that don’t serve much of a purpose? It’s not like he’s building libraries. It’s great for him if he’s achieved personal fulfillment, but I don’t see his career as having much meaning or value for anyone else besides himself and the people who profit from working on/with his films.
Exactly, Laura! I come from a family of engineers, and they’ve done just fine–with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering. Why do these Silicon Valley types want to push engineering into high schools, instead of getting the engineers the old fashioned way–through universities (this is a rhetoric question–I know the answer)?
I so agree with you Laura. We need a sound liberal arts education first. Then we can study engineering and computer science.
Why is the NEA sponsoring this event? And in the 1 to 10 million $ range. Is that where my dues are going????
YES. And we keep blaming the politicians, not the unions.
I am not understanding what the conference was about but plenty of money is flowing to conferences for California teachers, just from the Gates foundation.
California adopted the Common Core in 2010.
In May 2015, and again in June 2016, Gates poured money into one-day regional conferences to “generate momentum (sell) a large number of California teachers on their role in promoting college and career readiness and to expose them to “materials, resources and strategies for Common Core implementation.“
The New Teacher Center received $3,066,403 for this purpose;
Loyola Marymount University received $3,195,581; and
California State University Fullerton Auxiliary Services Corporation received $3,257,526
These conferences, for a total of $9,519,500 were designed to market selected instructional materials and implementation strategies for the Common Core. This investment had no obvious coordination with the generous allocation of the California State Board of Education for Common Core implementation $1.25 billion in 2013-2014, in 2015 $450 million more, and 3.5 billion more for 2015-2016 for a total of $5.25 billion (roughly $361.00 per teacher).
In addition to all of that money in California, John King is following Obama’s lead is steering the curriculum and in sharply focusing K-12 education on career prep for STEM.
John King has written a dear Colleague letter pushing STEM as part of ESSA’s “well-rounded education suggestions.” King has also rewritten ESSA, deleted specific mention of the arts.
The FY2017 Budget for USDE includes these investments in K-12 STEM.
$500 million for Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants to assist school districts in delivering a well-rounded education to their students through a range of locally determined activities, including support for STEM education and opportunities in an April 13 “guidance letter letter.”http://www2.ed.gov/programs/promiseneighborhoods/stemdearcolleagueltr.pdf
$80 million competitive grant program for Next-Generation High Schools–laboratories for cutting-edge STEM teaching and learning…in order to better prepare students for their futures.
$115 million from Title I for magnet schools (rationalized under STEM proposals)
$350 million from Title I for charter schools (rationalized under STEM proposals)
$180 million for ED’s Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program, the successor to the Investing in Innovation (i3) program for scaling up education interventions that meet ESSA requirements emphasizing the use of such interventions wherever possible (rationalized under STEM proposals with a portion of these funds for the proposed Advanced Research Projects Agency – Education [ARPA-ED]).
The STEM initiative is supposed to be enhanced by sending money from USDE to other agencies.
$83 million to support National Science Foundation’s Discovery Research PreK-12, which invests in research and development on STEM teaching and learning.
$17 million for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to invest in the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program, leveraging the expertise of the biomedical research community to support innovative curricula in K-12 schools
$4 million for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to invest in environmental-education grants.
$11 for the Department of Defense budget to expand STEM programs for children of military families.
$175 million in STEM-focused five-year grants under the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant program, which will support more than 11,000 new teachers in high-need schools.
$125 million for a Teacher and Principals Pathways program to create or expand high quality ( and alternative) pathways into the teaching profession, particularly into high-need schools and high-need subjects such as STEM.
$61 million for the Robert Noyce Scholarship program to prepare new STEM teachers.
$10 million for a STEM Master Teacher Corps, “to enlist America’s best and brightest science and mathematics teachers to improve STEM education.”
The federal government is deeply involved in using money as the bait to assert:
what education is for, what the curriculum should emphasize, who should teach STEM,
how STEM should be taught, and with a conspicuous omission to STEAM, the effort of arts educators to become attached to this flow of money.
Imagine that such investments on such a grand scale were made in studies in the arts and in the humanities, not just the sciences. If there is a gold standard for education, it is a balanced program of studies in the arts, sciences, and humanities free of obligations to chart a career pathway from Kindergarten.
Source:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/stem_fact_sheet_2017_budget_final.pdf and
Thank you Diane. Here is the url for the original article https://tultican.wordpress.com/2016/08/02/better-together-corporate-teachers-summit/
I was struck by the George Lucas comment because I have heard it for so long. Students complain about boredom constantly, especially if their vocabulary limits them to one word. My daughter is limited to the word bored by her fourth grade vocabulary. Lucas should be able to better that a bit.
It strikes me that perhaps school school should be able to challenge kids like the young George, who was probably pretty bright. To do this, however, requires way more funding than we have now. It requires teachers with far fewer students and far more independence when development of curriculum is considered. Having programs in school to challenge the bright kids and the average kids requires people who care about kids and develop positive relationships with them.
It is sometimes hard to help kids like Lucas when he is actually just one in 150 children you see every day (that is where my student numbers are right now). Is anyone willing to fund a cap on student numbers? Is Lucas willing to go to congress and argue for smaller and more classes? That would be my Edutopia.
I’d vehemently disagree with your description of the NPE conference as bare-bones, Diane! We had the luxury of the companionship of the best and most dedicated warriors for public education, led by the moral exhortations of the Reverend William Barber. Even all Gates’ cash cannot buy that.
Christine,
What you say about the NPE conference is true.
For very little money, our conference was rich in ideas, rich in passion, rich in ways that Gates’ money can’t buy. Enthusiasm is our fuel.
Where is the next NPE?
The next NPE CONFERENCE IS SCHEDULED FOR 2017 in Oakland! I don’t know dates yet.
Damn, I was hoping for Seattle!
Guess I just have to drive up to Seattle after the conference!