Michigan has a major problem. Test scores on NAEP and state exams have fallen signicantly over the past decade for every demographic, the state spends $1 Billion on charter schools with no accountability, Detroit is the worst performing city in the nation on NAEP.
The leaders of the state’s business community looked at the crisis and decided that the state needs to stick to its current policies and do more of the same. but with greater intensity.
Clearly, the business elite decided to ignore studies such as this one by Professor David Arsen of Michigan State University, which concluded that state policies promoting competition and choice were causing fiscal stress and instability in traditional districts. Even a small parasite can do terrible damage to a large body.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Titanic Deform”
Deform is like Titanic
With iceberg in the sight
It’s “Full speed!” and “Don’t panic!”
“The ship is water tight”.
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“Test scores on NAEP and state exams have fallen signicantly over the past decade for every demographic…”
“Testing is not a substitute for curriculum and instruction. Good education cannot be achieved by a strategy of testing children, shaming educators, and closing schools.”
“One problem with test-based accountability, as currently defined and used, is that it removes all responsibility from students and their families for the students’ academic performance. NCLB neglected to acknowledge that students share in the responsibility for their academic performance and that they are merely passive recipients of their teachers’ influence.”
“What matters most is for the school, the district, and the state to be able to say that more students have reached “proficiency.” This sort of fraud ignores the students’ interests while promoting the interests of adults who take credit for nonexistent improvements.”
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Michigan’s business leaders are the parasite in Michigan’s educational destruction. Their connections to DeVos and the Slackofjaw Center (Mackinaw Center) are the reason they wish to contonue the course with vigor.
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One mosquito or flea — with the wrong virus in their system — feeding on one victim can unleash an epidemic and cause millions of deaths.
Greed is one of those malignant viruses.
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Every time I read something about the current state of Michigan public schools, I take a knee–and thank Leeds and Margaret Bird. They were two of the best teachers ever created.
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You really cannot make this up as the entire state of Michigan is one big stinkin joke regarding their educational system. The people responsible for blowing up the education in the state is Ms. Devos and her Amway husband.
So now what. happens you say? Ms Devos gets to be secretary of education of the United States. And, the want to implement this educational model for the rest of the country ??
As I said, you really cannot make this up. Our country is upside down and we better watch out otherwise we may not wind up landing on our feet.
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