Jeb Bush is a seminal person in the privatization movement. He developed high-stakes testing and accountability, A-F school grades, so as to produce a steady supply of failing schools every year, ripe for privatization. He and his friends in the Florida legislature are alert to every opportunity to demean the teaching profession and to shovel public money to private interests.
Today begins the annual conference of His Foundation for Educational Excellence [for none]. Betsy DeVos was a member of the board but stepped down when she became Secretary of Education.
Review the agenda, and you will see who is on the train (it includes Clay Christensen, advocate of disruption, and Patrick Wolf of the University of Arkansas, independent evaluator of vouchers in Milwaukee and D.C.).
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yes, “word choice is crucial.” Words also highlight the nature of delusion and intent from these snake oil salesmen. This conference is full of high minded rhetoric to disguise the true intention of the profiteers in attendance. The conference purports to promote equity and “parent driven” options. However, with school “choice” there is less equity, and there are no parent drivers. Those leading the privatization parade are corporations, conservative foundations and billionaires. For a conference that pretends to represent the interests of parents, there are no sessions specifically for parents.
The fact that ESSA is on the program is disturbing. ESSA will most likely be a corporate feeding frenzy in which they will use more young people as guinea pigs. Based on past performance, I think most of the funding will be wasted in the same manner that billions have been wasted on various privatization schemes.
The only mention of poverty is regard to the teacher shortage. With panel members including TFA, we can assume that their “solution” includes deprofessionalizing teachers and watering down the requirements for perspective teachers. More motives become clearer as they also offer a session on depersonalized learning. Less and cheap are two goals of the “reinvention” of teaching spearheaded by corporate shills.
I hope parents, teachers and social justice groups are prepared for another round in the education wars. We and are allies are the only people standing between our young people and a hostile takeover of public education from those that would commodify our young people.
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Correction: our
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Last evening I was finally able attend the screening of Backpack Full of Cash at CU-Boulder.
WOW, the lies and marketing ploys surrounding charters and vouchers are right there for all to see.
Do bring this screening to your community. It matters A LOT, A LOT!
The LIES used to “market charters and vouchers” are right there to be studied. OY!
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“With panel members including TFA, we can assume that their “solution” includes deprofessionalizing teachers and watering down the requirements for perspective teachers.”
Kind of like the edudeformer conference put on by the regressive right “libertarian” think tank The Show Me Institute back in May in KC. Title of conference “Failures to Fixes”. Those who proposed and demanded implementation of those “failed policies” are then to be the ones who “fix” the failures. Right, and I’ve got some great white sand beach ocean front property over at Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri for sale cheap!!
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Meant to be a response to retiredteacher.
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Public schools and public school advocates are completely excluded, of course.
Heaven forbid the Best and Brightest should have to hear from the unfashionable public school sector.
How much does it cost taxpayers to send DeVos to these anti-public school rallies?
Shouldn’t she pay for that herself?
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Does anyone in government work for public school families anymore?
Do we really need to pay thousands of people to promote charter and private schools?
Can’t they conduct these marketing/lobbying activities on their own time?
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In a way it doesn’t matter
when ed reform abandoned the 90% of kids who attend public schools, ed reform became irrelevant to 90% of people.
What they do or don’t do means absolutely nothing to 90% of kids and families in this country.
I hope they stay out of my district. We have enough problems.
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So sad that Jeb Bush has nothing better to do all day.
I’m expecting someone on our side will get in, acting a a fly on the wall.
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Thought about doing that, but with the hip being replaced early next week and my overall lack of mobility at the moment, I decided against doing so. Really wanted to though. It’s not that far from here.
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