Perhaps you don’t know who Peter Cunningham is. I didn’t know until he went to Washington as Arne Duncan’s chief PR guy (Assistant Secretary for Communications). I met Peter a few times, and I thought he was charming. We always disagreed with a smile or a laugh. He knew he would never persuade me, and I knew I would never get him to admit that Race to the Top was all wrong.
I recall a discussion of testing. I tried to persuade him that the most important things in life can’t be measured. He replied, “You measure what you treasure.” I of course responded, “what you really treasure can never be measured.” What about your children? Your spouse? Your parents? Your pets? Come on! I love certain paintings, certain music, certain movies. How much? I don’t know. What difference?
Mike Klonsky has been arguing on Twitter with Peter.
Peter has decided that it’s too late to worry about racial segregation. Apparently he thinks that talking about poverty is a distraction from school reform. Peter has become the voice of corporate reformers. They have controlled the narrative for at least 15 years. Where are the success stories?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Help! And a huge OMG. PC sure is a corporate mouthpiece.
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The zealots put on their blinders and stick to the corporate script. Then, it is easy to overlook segregation, especially if you are a privileged white guy. Frankly, I don’t see how it is legal to use public money to create more segregated schools.
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They have been successful misleading and fooling a lot of people.
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They have the money but we have the votes. It only works though if all of us vote in every single election, at every level, not just once in 4 years.
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YES!
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Some teachers spend hundreds — or thousands in some instances — in out-of-pocket expenses for their students. It’s a week-and-a-half in, and I’m way into triple digits myself.
You’d think Cunningham would appreciate that sacrifice on behalf of teachers and leave it at that.
Nope, like George W.’s campaign advisers going after John Kerry’s war record, Cunningham mocks and ridicules this claim on Twitter. A couple weeks ago, he made a derogatory reference to “tenure. LIFO. Pensions. ‘Sick’ Days. Summer’s off”, then sarcastically throws in “Paying supplies out of your own pockets”.
https://twitter.com/PCunningham57/status/762761705164185600
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Peter Cunningham: “Tenure. LIFO. Pensions. ‘Sick’ days. Summers off. Paying for supplies out of your own pockets. … (later tweet) Oops, I forgot: lifelong employment and pension with little to no real accountability. Pretty good.”
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A teacher named “audhilly” takes umbrage at this:
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Audhilly: “Life-long commitment to children reframed (by Cunningham) as a cushy do-nothing, hang-out don’t-give-a-crap (occupation).” #hatchetjob
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There’s more. Peter denies being a shill for corporate interests, and claims that we he does now is “public service”, so audhilly lets fly with this zinger:
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audhilly: “I would consider it a ‘public service’ if you would stop saying that there is no accountability (for unionized teachers). It is untrue.”
Peter Cunningham: “Whatever (accountability for teachers) there is — is because we have fought for it against every effort by (teachers) to water it down.”
audhilly: “That’s untrue. Your hate for teachers is disheartening.”
Peter Cunningham: ” ‘hate’? C’mon. I have no hate for anyone.”
audhilly: “It sure sounds like hate.”
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That back and forth is here:
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Reading this douche Cunningham’s tweets is indeed “disheartening.” Sometimes, it appears he hates unionized teachers like Nazis hate Jews.
As for accountability, where do I begin?
What is required through monitoring of an LAUSD teacher? What mandated tasks must be undertaken by a teacher on a regular basis during a teacher’s his first year of teaching, or 2 years, or 5, 10, 20, 30, etc., so that teacher can remain on the job?
What are some of the requirements that he must perform, or else, if he fails to do so, will get written up and eventually fired?
Well, let’s examine that.
Principals and other administrators come through our classes all the ding-dong day, followed by criticisms, e-mails and / or “conference memos” which demand and get immediate action.
Parents can be equally demanding, as evidenced during the scheduled parent-teacher conferences during the school year, and those unscheduled conferences resulting from a problem the parent demands that the teacher MUST address.
The students’ results on quarterly assessments—and annual standardized tests—in Language and Math are scrutinized to a fair-thee-well.
Accompanying these analyses are demands to address the needs of those students who are falling behind., and administrative monitoring as to whether we as teachers have done so. (And this is apart from the annual or bi-annual “Stull” evaluation that teachers go through)
Here’s more of what a teacher does:
— detailed report cards (Don’t even think about half-assing or skipping over the open response portions of a “progress report”;
— lesson planning or all subjects (with a detailed lesson plan book with precisely stated objectives, methodology, etc— present and visible at all times);
— endless, constant grading & gradebook record-keeping that would tax any accountant;
— meticulously decorated and designed walls and bulletin boards ( with graded & finished student work corresponding to California Standards posted both in the classroom and in the hallway, and which must be changed regularly);
— mandated classroom environment with required centers (library, listening center, etc.); constant photocopying / prep for the upcoming lessons);
— I.E.P meetings for certain children with issues (with detailed documentation, writing, pre-planning, and execution of the I.E.P. plan itself);
— after-school “homework” clubs / tutoring that most teachers offer (unpaid and off-the-clock mind you … Board Member Monica Ratliff — on leave from teaching to serve on the LAUSD School Boiard — did this for years.. again, unpaid.);
— the grading of students’ writing (a very labor-intensive job by itself ) followed by individual one-on-one writing conferences with each student; regular after-school teacher meetings;
— intervening in and counseling regarding bullying, fights, or the often toxic dynamics of cliques; grade-level meetings;
— meetings of the entire faculty;
— after-school professional development meetings;
— the newly-mandated prep for the standardized tests;
— constant intervention with misbehaving children involving phone calls / meetings with parents; home visits;
— unpaid and emotionally-draining social work for children from distressed, impoverished homes with often-horrific personal situations;
— constant organizing and cleaning of the classroom itself;
— planning and executing of on-going projects;
— purchasing out-of-pocket supplies;
— the focused, on-your-feet performance of directed instruction itself; attending to children with special needs; and on and on…
I’m just scratching the surface here. That’s only a PARTIAL list of what we are required to do.
And then I have to read Cunningham’s ivory tower condescending and baseless insults about “lifelong employment and pension with little to no real accountability. Pretty good.”
And all along, he’s being paid by Eli Broad to spout this union-busting tripe.
Billionaire school privatizer Eli Broad gives Peter Cunningham — former P.R. man for the pro-privatization Secretary of Ed. Arne Duncan —- $12 million dollars annually to start and run a pro-privatization, and union-buting propaganda website, which Cunninhgam named “Education Post.”
Mercedes Schneider had to do a lot of detective work to find Cunningham’s Education Post salary, as Education Post was nowhere to be found in the database of non-profit groups tax forms. This was because the Education Post tax info was actually listed in the tax forms of another, virtually unknown corporate ed reform group called “Results in Education (RIE) Foundation.
After much on-line probing, Mercedes found out that Cunningham pulls down an annual salary of $190,700 as the top dog at Education Post.
TWO CLICHES:
That which one hides (i.e. an obscene corporate ed reform-paid salary) is that of which one is ashamed.
He (Eli Broad) who pays the piper (Cunningham) calls the tune (played by Eli’s toady Peter Cunningham).
You can read that whole story here:
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A lot of people who work in health care are miserable.
They say their profession has been taken over by MBA’s and “data people” and there’s no joy or humanity left in it.
They have a lot in common with teachers.
Jamming everything into a business model box isn’t limited to education. It’s everywhere.
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If Cunningham had to face 5 classes of 25+ 7th grade students a day, every day, for 180 days, he would immediately stop using the bullshit term “accountability”.
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When they say “accountable” they mean “able to be summarily dismissed”. The fact that not a lot of teachers are getting fired does not mean that powerful levers of accountability aren’t strongly influencing teachers. Grade level teams can exert peer pressure. Principals usually get teachers to morph in directions they want. Kids are the huge accountability force: bad lessons get punished by misbehavior and spreading of a bad reputation. The reformers’ talking point that teachers aren’t accountable is very misleading. They should just say “not easy to fire”. But even that’s not true in the many right-to-work-for-peanuts states.
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Funny, but I just watched a portion of the tremendous documentary (the part in which Diane speaks!) “Education, Inc!” that was released a little over a year ago. (It was on RT, & they have a habit of showing a portion of a doc, then having another program on,
Also, their schedule is often incorrect & confusing on the Comcast guide–hmmm–why is that, do you suppose?) Anyway, it is, of course, about school privatization, starting with Douglas County, Colorado, where our usual villainthropists (Kochs, Bloomberg, etc.) are pouring $$$ into that school board election. Then parent & award-winning (6x Emmy-award winner) Brian Malone decides he needs to travel around the country to find out if this is widespread–he starts in Chicago (&–darn!–that’s where the doc. cut off). Anyway, the DVD can be purchased (I plan to)–I know there were screenings last year (& somehow all of this flew right by me, even though Diane had a post about it last July), but you, like I, might have missed it. Therefore, look up “Education, Inc.!” & you’ll be able to get all the info, you need.
It deserves to be screened this year, as well, in as many communities as possible.
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I think school reform is a distraction to keep from addressing poverty!
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Nicole–spot-on comment: well-stated in just one sentence.
It could even be a rallying cry:
“School reform is a distraction to keep from addressing poverty.”
I think LBJ would be turning over in his grave (about this & voter rights).
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“Apparently he thinks that talking about poverty is a distraction from school reform.”
In their defense this isn’t what most ed reformers say. I read quite a few of them. They say “plus/and”. They say they can work on poverty in communities AND promote testing and charters.
I just think that’s a fairy tale. Priorities are lists. There’s a 1 and a 2 and a 3. If they prioritize 1 and 2 they never get to 3. You can’t have everything on your list ranked equally importantly. That’s a fantasy. People have to make choices on what they value. Ed reformers value testing and charters most. The priority focus is actually in RttT. It’s choice and accountability. One and two. Charters and testing.
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In reading ed reformers generally, I think the worst thing they do is categorize public schools as either “wealthy suburban” or “poor and failing”. I understand they’re national so they would tend to see things that way, and I agree with the idea that the poorest places should get the most effort/attention, but there are a lot of solid schools in the middle. Not everyone lives in places with these rigidly set income lines. You can live in the best ranked public school district in this county (test scores) for 500 dollars a month in rent and there are lots of rental properties. Everyone DOESN’T want to live there although obviously the schools are a plus, but it’s not like people are flocking in there for the schools. They live where they live for all kinds of reasons.
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You know, I don’t mind that the President’s team had a clear policy agenda to promote fewer public schools and more charter schools and fewer labor union members in schools. They believe what they believe and they promote what they promote. Presumably they believe fewer public schools and fewer labor union members are good things.
I mind that they didn’t run on it and continue to deny it.
It’s ludicrous to insist that charter schools don’t replace public schools in a given geographical area. Of course they do. If there are X number of students in public schools in Y area and the Obama Administration opens X number of charter schools in Y area, there will be fewer public schools in that area.
We’re not idiots. We can count.
Rahm Emanuel flat-out lied. If he closes 50 public schools and opens 30 charter schools it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what he’s doing. If the State of Ohio adds mandates to public schools and cuts funding while increasing funding to charter schools and holding week-long charter school promotion events it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what THEY’RE doing. We live in these places. We see these policies up close.
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That’s right. So right. The best policy? Honesty.
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At the heart of the privatization movement, there was a lie. Phrases were used to mean the opposite. “Reform” means privatization. Improving public schools means closing them. Personalized learning means less contact with a teacher, more with a computer.
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Ohio’s much- publicized charter school reforms have been put on hold by GOP legislators who were lobbied heavily by charter operators:
“COLUMBUS, Ohio –Ohio’s plan to add some quality controls for charter schools is delayed yet again, after Republican legislators on Monday blamed the Ohio Department of Education for mishandling evaluations of charter oversight organizations known as “sponsors” and blocked them from going forward.”
The sad part is most people won’t know. They held big splashy press conferences to announce the reforms and now they’re quietly dropping it in August.
By the time they actually put this thing in it will be so weak it will be useless. Meanwhile, state employees are pouring funding into more charter schools and holding week-long publicly funded charter school marketing events.
“This is a clear case of Republican charter school industry allies doing everything in their power to derail, disrupt and delay new reforms that would help hold charter schools to a reasonable standard of achievement,” Johnson said.
State Sen. Peggy Lehner, the Kettering Republican who chairs the Senate Education Committee, joined the Democrats in being “baffled” by the vote.”
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/08/ohios_charter_school_quality_e.html
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Yesterday, the Ohio Democratic Party sent out a petition, for the public to sign. It’s a statement of opposition to for-profit charter schools. The Party and Sherrod Brown still like privatization but, they belatedly recognized that the for-profits were funding state Republicans. There’s no doubt that the petition is about raising voter donations to the Party while not, cutting off a supply of money, from the indistinguishable, non-profit charter operators.
The Ohio Democratic Party described Cory Booker as the future of the Party, a couple of weeks ago, i.e. the future is domination by the financial sector.
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The corporate reformers want to talk about accountability? I’d love for some deep pocketed billionaire to give me $12 million to start up a fake “grass roots” education reform “news” website, and then squander that money by writing a bunch of cheerleader posts that no one reads, no one comments on, and never get picked up by the real media.
Peter and the Education Post have been around for 2 years now, and haven’t budged the needle in the education sector conversation–and his little “website that couldn’t” is still trudging along, spewing their hateful bile, all under the banner of “a better and more respectful conversation.”
Considering that he was an assistant secretary of education under Arne Duncan, it shouldn’t be surprising that Peter has such negative feelings about teachers–but given his apparent determination to generate a more respectful, fact-based conversation around education, it still feels incongruent when he shows his true colors.
He’s also astoundingly thin-skinned for a guy who grew up in the public spotlight. His rabbit ears respond to every perceived criticism or slight–and the longer the exchange goes on, the snottier and less “fact-based” he gets.
If there was “accountability” for Peter Cunningham and the Education Post, the doors would have been shut a long time ago, and Peter would be peddling his brand of anti-teacher venom someplace else. But Pete has the ultimate “job security” in our current educational climate: he’s got the veneer of credibility by dint of serving in DC under a Democratic administration, and is willing to say nasty things about kids and teachers…for the right price. It’s the magic combination: faux liberal meets true conservative.
So long as you are ok with selling your soul for Broad/Walton/Gates cash, you’ve got a job for life. The irony is rich–the way to get “tenure” is by attacking “tenure.” As long as you can look yourself in the mirror, that is.
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Bravo!
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Peter Cunningham is giving up on connections to truth, reason and reality.
Many deformers have. They subsist on a diet of money, coercion and spin.
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Truth and Cunningham don’t occupy the same space. Rationales for education profit-taking and Cunningham occupy the same space.
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Segregation is a distraction and an issue that is beyond the reach of schools, teachers, reformers, and even politicians. It is a societal issue that is ingrained on a scale that is for all intents and purposes, insurmountable. Here is a link to a NYT article; please take the time to read the comment section. Integration (desegregation) will never solve the problems associated with generational poverty, nor will integrating every school in America help the struggling learners who come from impoverished families. If you asked a black parent what they want for their children, an “integrated school” would not even be on their radar screen. Here’s the link; the title of the article is very misleading.
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Diane, Cunningham obviously misspoke when he was debating you.
In so-called education reform, it’s not “You measure what you treasure.”
No, it’s “You measure the treasure (that you’ve extracted, finagled, defrauded and looted) from the public).”
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“You measure what you treasure” is not true, unless you are a devout narcissist or harbor a mania to do so.
You measure threats to security, safety and health. You don’t create metrics or limits for what you truly treasure.
Deformers must harbor manias about their bank accounts, and assume everyone does.
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Yes, “measure what you treasure” has been adopted as a truism among the reformers. They take its truth as given and have built their whole apparatus on it. But what if it’s not true? Then the whole apparatus is flawed.
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“You measure what you treasure”
Sound bytes. Platitudes.
I once met a famous songwriter/performer exile exiting a classical concert. I asked him when he started writing songs.
“From the moment I could speak”, he said.
“No…really: do you remember how old you were when you wrote your first song?”, I asked.
“I was thirteen”, he curtly replied as he walked away.
Get real, Peter. You’re effecting the lives of millions of people. We deserve better than a clever quip that rhymes.
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I bet all the oligarchs/reformers/public officials who send their kids to private schools believe in the ridiculous Cunningham statement, “You measure what you treasure.”
Once again, this applies only to “other people’s children.”
And, BTW,Diane, about your description of Peter as “charming”–so he probably is, bamboozling whoever. Yet another snake-oil-salesman-carpetbagger. His last name spells it out–“Cunning” & “ham.” Strange coincidence, that!
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