Jan Resseger reviews Jeff Bryant’s article about the failure of the unaccredited Broad Academy and the meteoric rise of its graduates, whose primary qualification is their network. Being connected is more valuable, it turns out, than achieving results.
The most important thing to know about the Broad Academy is that its “graduates” are central to the Disruption Movement, that they specialize in closing schools, that they promote privatization, and that their big ventures (e.g., the Education Achievement Authority in Michigan) have collapsed in failure.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Broad hasn’t failed.
People who value universal free public education simply fail to grasp Broad’s goals.
Beat me to it. We must stop this “failure” mentality. Broad has succeeded extraordinarily well at what he set out to do.
Exactly.
It’s like saying war is a failure because of all the bombed-out buildings and cities.
They are not his buildings, not his cities. That is his objection to them. He is building his buildings, his cities out of our rubble. And they’ll run on his rules.
Gates hasn’t failed either. Despite the name changes by states, the vast majority (even Massachusetts) still use the Common Core, which is now virtually impossible to eliminate, since states and the US Secretary of Ed don’t even admit it exists.
These people fail all the way to the bank.
Gates is now, again, the richest man in the world after a fall in the Amazon share price.
well said: Broad’s goals are transparent to those willing to see them, but stubborn blindness keeps so much of the nation indoctrinated and inactive
Eli Broad should brand his minions– give them uniforms so they can easily be identified.
LOL. This reminds me of the meme in which Senators and Representatives wear NASCAR-like suits with the names, on them, of the corporations that contribute to their election campaigns and PACs.
In the early days of the Academy’s online presence (I’m talking 2006-7ish), I recall checking the site. Anyone could access anything at that time (no user name or passwords required) and I found a page titled “tools” for Academy participants. One of the “tools” was titled “How to Close a School and Reconvert it to a Charter”. It was obvious and blatant back then. That was always the plan. Reporting it to state officials did no good as our CA State School Board was top-heavy with charter operators and investors under then Governor Schwarzenegger. Speaking to their board at that time regarding the issues of disabled students was Kabuki Theater.
Broad once said that he doesn’t hand out checks, he makes investments. This is key to understand his motivations. He believes you can help minority kids learn AND make fabulous profits while doing it. Owning and Monetizing data is the name of the game for these plutocrats.
Well, he believes he can convince other people that you can help minority kids and make fabulous profits while doing it. Whether or not you can actually help minority kids learn isn’t something he cares about.
When a Broad superintend arrives, democracy is evicted.
Graduates of Broad’s academy should not be allowed to be superintendents of school districts. This practice highlights another false assumption of reform. Public school superintendents are educational managers, but they are also responsible for safety of the entire school system. Leading a school district is not the same as leading a corporation. School superintendents must understand and abide by many laws that states enact including the health, safety and rights of students. An error by a superintendent could lead to multiple lawsuits. Hiring a Broadie to lead a district is like setting off a stick of dynamite in the local school system. The district will gain nothing more than waste and destruction. Public schools are a key public asset of any community. It makes no sense that a community would willingly destroy its own public asset, and they generally do not. Broadies are generally top down appointments of corrupt politicians.
Myth is a peculiar thing. Like the symbolic language, out of which it is built, seems to be
the “GPS” of antecedent belief.
When HASN’T the “bosses’ mythology” enabled the few to rule over the many?
Paint the bosses’ myths the colors
(exceptional, republic, liberty, freedom, DEMOCRACY, yadda, yadda) they give you. Shout them, when the results betray the myths.
Pitching unity or solidarity, while dividing by institutional catagorization (classism)???
Use endless servicable scapegoats… the “other” is to blame???
Reduce the conflict to a language/funding/deformer/choice/test score issue, feeding
endless debate, a BOURGEOIS TRAP, that gets us NOWHERE.
Oh but wait, THIS time, the political saviors, are telling the truth…