Kellyanne Conway may go down in American history for coining the term “alternative facts,” which apparently means that “facts” are whatever you think they are; that if someone says that 2+2=4, there are “alternative” ways to reach a different conclusion. For example, 2+2 might actually equally 3 or 7 or 41, depending on what the meaning of “facts” is. Some people believe that “alternative facts” is actually a synonym for falsehoods. Or, lies.

 

EduShyster  delved deeply into Michigan politics and discovered that Betsy DeVos, on track to become Trump’s Secretary of Education (another of Trump’s little jokes) has her own “alternative facts.” 

 

DeVos has said that if confirmed, she will not give up her financial stake in a company called Neurocore, because–well, Trump didn’t release his tax returns and didn’t end his conflicts of interest, so why should she?

 

But apparently she believes in this company. EduShyster reviews its claims, which are amazing but then learns that this brain retraining is costly.

 

Now for the bad news: brain retraining doesn’t come cheap. Collecting qEEG data to identify neurological weakness, developing a personalized brain performance plan and restoring the brain to optimal functionality, all the while being monitored in a brain room will set you back $2200—which may or may not be covered by insurance. That’s bad news if you’ve got a stodgy insurer who insists on dated data metrics, like peer-reviewed studies (yawn). But wait—good news: Neurocore is now partnering with Prosper Healthcare Lending to assist clients with program financing. Also, be sure to ask a Neurocore team member about the Neurocore Scholarship Program.

 

Seeing green
As I read more about Neurocore, I felt the part of my brain that houses my recollections about Michigan education scandals light up. Had I not just encountered an expensive and, um, experimental miracle cure that claimed to make students smarter? Indeed, I had. I speak, of course, of Integrated Visual Learning, the brain-child of one Steve Ingersoll, the optometrist turnedMitten state edupreneur who was recently sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for tax evasion. While Neurocore is laser focused on the brain’s *neuroplasticity,* Integrated Visual Learning or IVL trained its sights on the gateway to the brain: the ocular orbs. Students at Ingersoll’s charter schools were hooked up to a machine to see if their eyes zigged and zagged across a page of text from the usual left to right. If not, expensive *therapy* was in order. Like Neurocore, IVL posted impressive results as self-reported on its website. At Ingersoll’s charter schools, Ritalin prescriptions were dropping and test scores were rising as throngs of students made the transition to *visual learning.*

 

Say what?
Imagine my surprise, then, when on my travels through Michigan last month, I found myself in the offices of a charter school lobbying org, listening to a lobbyist explain that Ingersoll’s schools were actually shining stars in Michigan’s charter landscape. My own eyes zigged and zagged in response. *But the guy just got sent to jail!* I responded. But as was patiently explained to me, I’d been looking at the matter upside down. Ingersoll’s sentencing was proof that the system works—*checks and balances*—while the fact that kids at the charter schools continued to excel even as the founder of the Excel Institute was being led away in handcuffs, well, that was what we should be talking about…

 

Scams, frauds, cons, coming to your state soon. And just think, the Secretary of Education will own a piece of the action and be able to promote it at the same time!