Marin Levine writes in NonProfit Quarterly about Bill Gates’ determination to reshape the nation’s schools. He has gone from failure to failure without changing course. The only time he admitted he was wrong was when he gave up his small schools initiative. Small schools are not a bad idea, but they can’t be stamped out in a cookie cutter fashion. Gates never understood that to succeed, they need to have a guiding spirit. Smallness all alone is not Reform.
On to charter schools, the Common Core and teacher evaluation. Failures. None delivered the Revolution he sought.
Now he is “helping” states with their ESSA plans, which means he is telling them what to do.
If only he could find a new idea, a new toy, a new hobby.
Give it up, Bill! You don’t know how to redesign American education. You never will, unless you made it your mission to give every child the same education you and your children had at Lakeside Academy.
Otherwise, he and Melinda are rich dilettantes playing with the lives of other people’s children.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
” “ensuring that all students graduate from high school prepared for college and have an opportunity to earn a post-secondary degree with labor-market value. ”
Implications:
Education without any clear labor market value is worthless.
Kids are economic assets and that is the first and foremost thing to remember.
Computing machines can and should replace teachers because computers can deliver the lectures and lessons of the world’s greatest teachers.
Laura: Yes, but there is also this from Gates’ site (my emphasis): “A great K-12 education and a college degree or job-training credential is a bridge to opportunity like no other when it comes to good jobs and career paths, and personal growth and fulfillment.
To be fair, and though I wonder if it bears the weight it should in the Gates’ view of things, we really should give devils their due, so to speak. Thanks. CBK
I cannot find that quote about personal growth and fulfillment. This is on the website now…https://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/US-Program/Postsecondary-Success
If Gates is a compulsive gambler, then we are the victms of his disease. Gam-Anon encourages us “To welcome and give assistance and comfort to those affected by someone else’s gambling problem.”
Rather than calling what Gates does “philanthropy,” I would call what Gates tries to do is use his wealth to impose his top down vision on education. He has weaponized his wealth to gain access to the nation’s schools. His interest in ESSA plans reflects more of Gates’ self interests that usually include data collection and technology. There is not a shred of evidence showing that either of these initiatives have any impact on the quality of education. In fact, there is growing evidence of the opposite.
” A primary focus of the Foundation has been “ensuring that all students graduate from high school prepared for college and have an opportunity to earn a post-secondary degree with labor-market value.”
Not all college degrees lead to lucrative careers. I remember when NYS came out with the slogan “All roads lead to the Regents,” an aspiration rather than a reality; it was more of a ploy to raise standards than a realistic goal. There are many careers that provide “labor-market value” that do not require a college degree, or these careers may require only an associate’s degree. We are in need of skilled workers such as electricians, plumbers, welders, mechanics, carpenters and many others. We need to accept the fact that people have many different talents that may or may not require a college diploma.
It’s time to regulate foundations to ensure they are philanthropic, not tax-incentivized, dark money, political and investment apparatuses. The Gates Foundation continues to make that abundantly clear.
Lots of highly political organizations are allowed by IRS to claim they are charities, allowing them to get tax deductible contributions. ALEC is one.
Diane and LeftCoastTeacher: The other question is whether “philanthropists” are deliberately trying to destroy democracy and public-anything by privatizing heretofore public institutions. Motivations matters: all of the false hoopla about “failed public schools” and “wonderful charter schools” is underpinned by “darker” pursuits of those who, in fact, hate democracy and so have more in common with Russia than with anything “US,” our founders, or our principles. CBK
If billionaires genuinely wanted to do something of real impact on improving public education, as well as eliminating our nation’s morally corrosive racism, they should form a real estate group, fund it with $20 billion for starters, and then use it to buy homes for non-white families in all-white neighborhoods and suburbs. Back in 1971 when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered busing to end de facto segregation in the schools, the Court was recognizing that non-integrated neighborhoods are at the root of racial inequality and racial distrust — because the races really don’t know each other as a result of living in segregated neighborhoods and suburbs. Integration of neighborhoods and suburbs would initially result in anger and some conflict, but in the long run it’s the only path to genuine integration, understanding, and to educational improvement for millions of children.
Too many billionaires are delusional: They have accumulated not only great wealth, but also phalanxes of sycophants who tell them they are geniuses. These sycophant-surrounded billionaires come to believe that they alone are responsible for the wealth they have accumulated; they rationalize away the key and essential roles played by others in the success of their businesses. In their delusional minds they see their “genius” as being applicable to other areas, such as government and public education, notwithstanding the fact that they have no experience or expertise in these areas. So what we have today are billionaires with no governmental experience who think they know best who our elected officials should be, what government should and should not do, and exactly what “reforms” are needed in public education. And, of course, what’s needed in public schools is the charter school business model because the “business model” is the only thing the billionaires know even a bit about.
I agree. We are getting the type of government the 1% believe we should have. That’s why we need to have free ourselves from Citizens United, and pass laws to limit the amount of money in politics.
Agree, but how do you do that with a bought Congress?
Vote them out. Your vote counts the same as Bill Gates.
Ay,there’s the rub. The only way is to vote the wing out, and for that we need a groundswell of voters tired of being abused, used and marginalized.
I agree. He could partner up with Jimmy Carter and build houses for people!
GO AWAY, Bill Gates! You have done enough damage to this country. Your ideas benefit yourself, NOT our country and our young.
Hello Diane: On Gates–here are aspects of a note I posted here earlier–appropriate to this discussion. The snippets, I think, are telling. Also, their new initiative’s RFI is calling for ideas from anyone in the fields who wants to offer them.
The below link is to Gates speaking on October 19, 2017. Snippets/my emphases:
“A great K-12 education and a college degree or job-training credential is a bridge to opportunity like no other when it comes to good jobs and career paths, and personal growth and fulfillment. Thanks to the leadership of educators, policymakers, and others, tremendous gains have been made over the …”
“. . . The K-12 website empowers leaders who are dedicated to making America’s public schools exceptional by sharing resources and key learnings gained through our collective work. . . ”
“. . . Over time, we realized that what made the most successful schools successful – large or small – was their teachers, their relationships with students, and their high expectations of student achievement. . . .”
Frankly, I like what he has to say for many reasons. But I also think the Gateses are rightly accused of being dilettantes, though still well-meaning in many regards. Education is not like eradicating a physical disease. In his note, he charts his and Melinda’s learning process over the last 18 years.
One question I had when reading it, however, (which was reflected in some of the “comments” following the talk on his blog), was whether or not he understands the vast political and moral problems that come from what he (seemingly) sees as an innocuous relationship between public education (which he refers to positively in his talk and in other pages on his site) and charter schools.
Politically, Gates doesn’t seem to understand that the present neo-liberal movement (code for rich, arrogant, and ignorant, e.g., ALEC, Devos, etc.) . . . to break with PUBLIC education is the camel’s-nose-under-the-tent for a wholesale break with democratic institutions and truly PUBLIC oversight and private (or pseudo-public) accountability. What Gates SAYS is not what’s ACTUALLY happening for other oligarchs working outside of his apparently good vision, as set out in his talk.
Gates also apparently has great respect for Abraham Lincoln; but seems to be tone-deaf about the systematic loss of Lincoln’s breath flowing into today’s politics, and that of a long-line of others’ who understand the import of democracy’s institutions (most assuredly education), and their ideas about the intimate relationship between all-things-public, all persons in the re-public, and the good of a country’s democratic political system.
Morally: Gates also seems to ignore the socio-MORAL issues accompanying a release-from-accountability (self-regulation? . . . you mean: neo-liberal freedom, like our banks and corporations self-regulate?) that many charter-owners are calling for; though he is (rightly, I think) attentive to well-gathered and well-mediated evidence for that same accountability in educational programs. (Go figure.)
Though I believe that there is nothing inherently wrong with the IDEA of charter education (like Montessori and many others), politically, the neo-charters stand-on and exploit a foundational fissure that, by inviting omissions, can easily erupt into the body-politic. Morally it invites capitalism’s principles to overtake educational principles and opens the door to the application and preservation of all sorts of biases against you-name-it.
I do wish that I could see some evidence that such a powerful person would understand these deeper issues that will be so influenced by his well-meaning initiatives. See link below: CBK
http://k12education.gatesfoundation.org/our-work-going-forward/
Our Work Going Forward – K-12 Education
Thanks for the citation “A great K-12 education and a college degree or job-training credential is a bridge to opportunity like no other when it comes to good jobs and career paths, and personal growth and fulfillment. …I did not find that last phrase on the current website.
I think that the bottom line with Gates is control (I am right and everyone else is wrong) and profits, including the use of the foundation to push computer-delivery of instruction with benefits for Microsoft. He also wants to control what other non-profits do with their money. Under the banner of collective impact, he is a frequent collaborator with the Walton, Dell, Hewlett, Helmsley, and other foundations engaged in undermining public education.
Hello Laura: The quotation is in the first paragraph of the below link. (I have copied the whole letter below.)
But I think “yes” to your charge of “control.” I think it resonates with Betsy’s view that (paraphrased), when asked about the relationship of her donations to her appointment as Education secretary: Well, I think I should expect to get SOMETHING. But still, I don’t think Gates is so extreme or as ideological as Betsy. I think HIS failure is not so much control as lack of professional experience and education. But here is that quotation in full: CBK
http://k12education.gatesfoundation.org/our-work-going-forward/
ALL QUOTED BELOW FROM GATES’ SITE
Our Work Going Forward – K-12 Education
k12education.gatesfoundation.org
“A great K-12 education and a college degree or job-training credential is a bridge to opportunity like no other when it comes to good jobs and career paths, and personal growth and fulfillment. Thanks to the leadership of educators, policymakers, and others, tremendous gains have been made over the …
A great K-12 education and a college degree or job-training credential is a bridge to opportunity like no other when it comes to good jobs and career paths, and personal growth and fulfillment.
“Thanks to the leadership of educators, policymakers, and others, tremendous gains have been made over the past decade. High school graduation rates have gone up in cities like Charlotte, Austin, and Fresno, and achievement is also on the rise—fourth-grade reading and math scores in large city schools increased at almost double the rate of public schools nationally, and 8th grade scores are even better.
“Yet, graduation rates for Black, Latino, and low-income students lag behind the national average and are lower than for white students. And the percentage of high school graduates enrolled in postsecondary institutions has remained flat.
“There is so much more that we can accomplish together for our students.
“Our goal is to significantly increase the number of Black, Latino, and low-income students who earn a diploma, enroll in a postsecondary institution, and are on track in their first year to obtain a credential with labor-market value. Previous investments have helped us make tremendous gains over the past decade, and we have learned a vast amount from our partners and grantees. We look forward to applying those lessons—and learning new ones—as we continue our commitment to ensure all students receive a great public education so they have the skills and knowledge to succeed.
“We have learned a lot over the years about the challenges of improving student outcomes.
“From our work creating small schools to increase high school graduation and college-readiness rates, we saw how small schools could be responsive to their students’ needs. While the results in places like New York City, Los Angeles, and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas were encouraging, we realized that districts were reluctant to scale small schools because of the financial and political costs of closing existing schools and starting new ones.
“Our investments in the Measures of Effective Teaching provided important knowledge about how to observe teachers at their craft, rate their performance fairly, and give them actionable feedback. While these insights have been helpful to the field, we saw that differentiating teachers by performance, and in turn by pay scale, wasn’t enough to solve the problem alone.
“We were also supportive of Common Core because we believed, and still believe, that all students—no matter where they go to school—should graduate with the skills and knowledge to succeed after high school. Educators and state leaders have spoken on the standards, but we continue to see that teachers need aligned curricula and professional development to fulfill the promise of the standards in their classrooms.
“Our next chapter will be driven by a direct focus on schools, because that’s where the action of teaching and learning happens. Excellent schools—led by leaders who focus on continuous improvement grounded in data and evidence—are what help students succeed most.
“We will focus our grantmaking on supporting schools in their work to improve student outcomes—particularly for Black, Latino, and low-income students—by partnering with middle and high schools and identifying new approaches that are effective and that could be replicated in other schools.
“We will do this by investing in networks of schools to solve common problems schools face by using evidence-based interventions that best fit their needs, and data-driven continuous learning. We will also invest in ensuring that teachers and leaders have what they need to be successful—high-quality preparation, standards-aligned curriculum and tools, accompanied by professional learning opportunities. And we’ll keep our eyes on the horizon, advancing research and development in support of new innovations that will help our education system keep pace with our rapidly changing world.”
By this logic, whenever one fails one must abandon his ideas or change course. If everyone did that, we would still live in caves and wear animal fur.
Diane, as recently as 2010 you supported the idea of national curriculum. Then, instead of helping to steer the efforts of Gates and other Common Core advocates, you bailed out. Look at the situation from his point of view: legally, USED cannot require states to accept a particular curriculum or a set of exams. So, the states must be coerced by other means, which is what his foundation is doing. This is the main function of all the different foundations and think tanks in this country: to push certain policies that cannot be pushed directly by the government. If anything, this is the result of weak central government. If the central government was a single unified source of all the efforts concerning public and the country at large, the foundations would be transformed into committees of the Congress.
One cannot oppose strong federal government and at the same time oppose efforts of private foundations.
I have admitted I was wrong. Gates never has.
I have to laugh when you say I could have steered Gates to a different path. Haha. Gates has never listened to me and has repeatedly refused to meet me when I reached out. How was I supposed to steer him?
I was invited to the White House in 2010 to talk to top Obama officials. They wanted to hear my views on Common Core. I urged them to commit to 5 years of field trials and see how it works. They ignored my advice.
You can’t steer people who refuse to meet you or people who meet and refuse to listen.
dianeravitch: I join in your laughter.
How else to respond to a well-constructed non sequitur?
Thank you for keeping it real.
Not rheeal.
😎
Diane: My guess is that you have more good influence than you know.
Up to retired teacher’s “Rather than calling what Bill Gates does ‘philanthropy’…”
Right.
I call it villainthropy. (& please feel free to use this word; put it into “The Deformers’ Dictionary,” as well.)
And so frustratingly, the nation now has come to into a sort of blase comfort zone with the modern terms being pushed: philantrhocapitalism and venture philanthropy. BOTH terms speak only of top-down social engineering disguised as “caring.”
Oh, & YES to what Diane said, “Vote them (bought off legislators) out. Your vote counts the same as Bill Gates’.”
& do a bit more–volunteer for an election integrity group (that watches/keeps tabs on rampant election fraud–NOT voter fraud {rare}, but ELECTION fraud; it happens ALL over the country). Make certain that your votes are protected. &…vote on the actual election day, because only then can you obtain paper ballots, & “paper is safer.”
Finally, do your due diligence: find out which of your legislators belong to ALEC, & VOTE THEM OUT. Find out where their donations come from—if large ones from bad players (Big Pharma, Stand on Children PAC, NRA) VOTE THEM OUT. &–inform EVERYONE you know about the fake candidates who pretend to stand for something (&, actually, they do: something BAD, such as Cory Booker, who’s been quoted by some “progressive” group to get people to send money to that group; what kind of “progressive” group touts Cory Booker, Big Pharma money-taker, public schools money-waster, etc.?)
People, only “we the people” can get this done. Yes, WE can…yes, WE have…& YES, YES WE WILL!
(BTW, did you all hear that, at the NY Dem Convention, HRC endorsed Cuomo {& “ignored [Cynthia] Nixon?”} Source: Chicago Sun-Times.)
Didn’t Madeline Albright say, “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t support women?”
Marie Jana Korbelová is not a woman, she is a political functionary, and they have no gender: “But if we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation.”
Cynthia Nixon is the real progressive in the race. She scares Cuomo. He lined up the entire Democratic party establishment to testify to his greatness. The subject of education came up. He has been worse than a Republican governor in his devotion to charter schools, high-stakes testing, VAM, tax credits (AKA vouchers)….and his smears of public schools and teachers.
Yes, she is! This time we say, “Vote Nixon!”
DNC Chairman Tom Perez has already endorsed Cuomo before the primary, after saying just a couple months ago that it was a bad idea for party leaders to “annoint” candidates in primaries.
Nixon obviously terrifies Perez and other DINO’s.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
If the only tool you have is a computer every problem can be solved with an algorithm
“Titanic Deform”
Deform is like Titanic
With iceberg in it’s sight
It’s “Full speed!” and “don’t panic!”
“The ship is water tight!”
“Deformotto”
Double down on standards
Double down on test
Double down on man-years
Prepping for a mess
Double down on Duncan
Double down on Gates
Double down on sunken
Ships and broken fates
Double down on flailing
Double down on rot
Double down on failing
Failing’s all they got
Bill Gates is the most sophisticated two bit, sleazy used car salesman on the face of the Earth. Zuckerberg and the rest of them too. My apologies to used car salesmen for comparing them to Bill Gates and Mark Zucks. I need to cry, but I can’t. Too angry. I will write here instead. This is my therapy. I just sat through “professional development” in which an outsider presenter essentially spouted the “iPads are the Civil Rights of the 21st century” line for an hour and change. Here’s how it goes, that if you’re white, and you’re not using the web in class for everything, you’re a racist, nonchalant bad apple of a teacher:
First, black parents can’t see their children’s work if you send it home in a portfolio, but only if you post it to Google Docs. (Nevermind privacy or security; that doesn’t matter.) Second, you can’t give feedback by walking the classroom, talking about and writing on students’ work, but only by adding comments and corrections on Google Docs in “real time”. (The present isn’t “real” unless it’s on the web. And again, forget privacy and security, doesn’t matter.) Third, since kids take selfies on Instagram, join them by taking selfies on Instagram and making selfies part of your assignments. (Don’t worry about winding up in teacher jail for communicating with students on social networks. It’s all part of the fun of being part of witch hunts.) Fourth, instead of having your students write, have them make videos and post them to Google’s YouTube. Black people need to create fun videos, not thoughtful essays. (Huh?) Fifth, do not encourage reduction of class size. Encourage spending all available site funds on Chromebooks and technical advisors instead. That is equity. (No.) Finally, the only jobs available today are tech jobs, so using tech is the only thing you need to teach. (No, wrong, and no.)
Why are states and districts so gullible? I will never understand why. Get lost, Silicon Valley salesmen. Get out of the way. Let me teach.
“Silicon Snakes”
Silicon snake oil
Silicon tools
Silicon snakes spoil
Public schools
PC and tablet sales have hit a plateau.
That explains the push by companies like Apple and Microsoft to sell their silicon snake oil in the schools.
They see schools as a captive “sure thing” market worth hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade alone.
All it takes is one Broadie to create a bunch of out-of-classroom positions that will sell the snake oil for Gates et al. To err is human, to forgive divine, and to profit by harming children — disgusting.
Turns out the presenter I described is part of the district, a full time administrative position, going from school to school convincing teachers they’re racist if they haven’t centered instruction on gadgets and the web.