The Coalition for Student Privacy writes here about a new book by Dianne Tavenner, who leads the Chan-Zuckerberg-funded Summit Charter Schools. The Summit approach is based heavily on screen time, and it has encountered student and parent protests in numerous cities.
Tavenner’s new book is called Prepared: What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life.
The book will be launched at an event funded by the far-right Walton Family Foundation in New York City, where Tavenner will have a dialogue with Angela Duckworth, she of “Grit” fame. If you are in the area, why not drop in for free food and drinks on the Walton dime?
The Summit charters have had some little problems with their teachers, some of whom want to form a union. That’s a sure way to lose Walton funding!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
At least one of the Bay Area Summit charter schools, the low-profile Shasta Summit in Daly City, Calif., is a beneficiary of Laurene Powell Jobs’ XQ project bounty — apparently $10 million. So they have no need to worry about funding for now, till Jobs pulls the plug.
(That funding was going to go to a much-hyped charter school in Oakland that collapsed before it opened, so it had to be redirected somewhere.)
In our district it feels as if that style of “redirecting money” is endless: whenever one program or invasion is proven problematic, the push is simply to find any sudden alternative — including paying the salary of many “reform” ordered management/coach/facilitator employees who have no experience in education. The money creates the insanity simply by being available.
All propaganda designed to mislead and disrupt the Constitutional Republic and its democracy:
“Waiting for Superman” – propaganda masquerading as a documentary
“Won’t Back Down” – propaganda masquerading as a film
And now: “What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life” – more propaganda masquerading as a book.
What kids NEED for a fulfilled life is a good education through a transparent public school with professional teachers and growing up without living in poverty and being victimized by people like Suckerberg and his wife, the Walton family, Bill Gates, Eli Broad and all the other corrupted billionaires that need a good whacking with Lizzie Borden’s ax.
Lloyd,
LOVE you last paragraph. AMEN!
You sure are smart.
Strange bedfellows, and sad to see this at the Barnes and Noble website for sales of the book. The book is a trump of PR for public funding of tech-dependent and a privatized “platform” for education. Sad to see this.
“Prepared is the conversation we should be having as a nation. In this book, Diane Tavenner shows us how authentic, real-world learning and the essential skills of self-direction, collaboration, and reflection can be nurtured both inside and outside of the classroom, giving all parents a valuable guide for helping their children to successfully take on life’s challenges.” —Linda Darling-Hammond, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University and President, Learning Policy Institute
“Prepared tackles the question so many of us parents and educators are grappling with—how do we grow and develop our children and young people so that they can shape a better future for themselves and for all of us? This immensely readable book pulls us along through Diane’s story as a student, parent, and educator who has built some of the most acclaimed schools in the world. It serves as a powerful resource for all of us.” —Wendy Kopp, Co-founder and CEO of Teach for All
Sometimes I wonder about LDH.
Ever since her advocacy for EdTPA, I always wonder about LDH. I think we missed a speeding bullet when Obama hired his b-ball buddy Arne instead of Linda.
Before you admonish B&N for listing “this” MISLEADING book on its site for sale, check all the other sites to see if the rest of them are also listing that book.
I checked and found the book listed on Amazon, Goodreads, Walmart, booksamillion, Apple Books, Kobo, and a lot more.
Listing a book through these retailers is easy. However, getting readers to pay attention is not so easy.
Right now, Amazon shows a 4.8 reader review average with 12 ratings. You can bet that the reviews are written by people that work for the GREED worshiping DPEI (Destroy Public Education industry) for-profit and power.
If you want to help destroy that average, buy the kindle, read it and then post a well thought out 25 words or less 1-star review. Amazon reviews that show you bought the book carry more power than those that do not.
Shouldn’t the title be: “Prepared: What rich people insist other people’s kids should have for a fulfilled life while their own kids get something totally different and superior.”
And I am sure that she will make the rounds with lazy journalists fawning all over themselves to ask the questions they got from the publisher’s press release and dutifully reporting the answers as gospel truth.
It’s really amazingly bland, generic “advice”- it’s basically “set goals and talk to your kids”. If you’ve ever attended a start of year school open house you’ve heard it.
They always oversell this stuff, ed reformers. It’s like how “personalized learning” ended up being sitting in front of a screen taking short standardized tests over and over again.
I don’t know why they feel the need to add so much puffery to everything. It’s like this “movement” consists entirely of marketing and product placement. It really IS market-based. It’s one big advertisement.
While I applaud the many benefactors who have attempted to start or fund schools, as I appreciate them bringing the state of education into the discussion of local, state, and federal policy, and I will presume good intent by the benefactors, creating schools which use tax dollars with no elected accountability and little to no transparency about how those dollars are spent is a road down which we should not travel. It removes democracy and the electorate from the process, and we should never walk that path.
I would much rather see those benefactors raise the issues of inequitable funding for all children, raise issues associated with lack of healthcare and housing, and thus, and raise up the education of all children, not just those who attend the schools they are choosing to fund.
Democracy demands that we work to save the whole, not just the few. I would rather see benefactors press legislators to make changes so that all children succeed.
That they don’t, says either that the gains that one can make by starting a school have far greater benefits than the altruism one sees on the surface, or that the democratic process is so unresponsive that even those with money and influence cannot make it work for the children of our country.
“The book will be launched at an event funded by the far-right Walton Family Foundation in New York City,”
They should disclose who is funding this on the website.
Amusing that the Waltons and Zuckerberg have branched out from taking over public schools and are now attempting to train parents.
I don’t know- is it possible these people could get more arrogant? They really believe they both can and should train parents? Why? Because they’re very, very wealthy?
https://preparedforsuccess.org/about-us/
“In Prepared, author Diane Tavenner shares her journey as an educator, mother, and leader of one of America’s most innovative public-school networks. She gives parents a roadmap to prepare their children to succeed in college, thrive in today’s workplace, and lead secure and fulfilled lives.”
Wow. That must be some advice book. Buy this book and follow it and not only will your child succeed in college but they will lead fulfilled lives. A “roadmap” for their whole lives, no less.
There are religions with millions of adherents who don’t promise as much as this one charter school chain.
Ha!
Karma would dictate her own kids will end up doing something to horrify her. Really good karma would be if they became public school advocates and teachers’ union leaders.
It’s Monday morning…it’s dark…it’s cold and the darn clocks were moved back, wacking out lots of people, and now here’s another school reform tome, this one entitled, “Prepared”. Ha, ha, ha,ha. Yeah.
Funny, thing is I’d love to see how “prepared” Zuckerberg or Chan or whoever the reformy know-it-all is to walk into a high school classroom this morning and actually teach. And, then do it with consistency day after early morning day.
I don’ t think most of them would have….the “grit”.
Have a great one.
P.S. Oh, and on a lighter note…. anyone else notice how EARLY all the Christmas/holiday sales stuff is going on this year? I know the “shopping season” is a bit shorter on the calendar this time around, but, wow…
Next thing you know Valentine’s Day candy will be out on the shelves as soon as December hits and Arbor Day will kick off in late February. You’ll need a shovel to get through the snow to plant a tree. (Not that the tree’s chances of survival are that good these days….wildfires, drought, the resurgent air pollution of the Trump Era.)
Yes, Corporate America strives onward to destroy our public schools. Meanwhile CEOs like Zuckerberg and his ilk speed up our lives. Maybe some of us will be too busy to notice all the crap going on? Gotta get to that sale….
Fast forward those children: Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Tik Tok… (How fitting that Tik Tok, the newest internet fad which features fast-paced film clips, is named after the sound of a good, old fashioned clock. Of course.)
And, impeachment…..have to speed up those proceedings, too. Can’t lose the attention of some of the….adults.
So cheery today, John!
😉
Left when it was dark….got home when it was dark. Feels like winter is here, Christine. Stay warm!
When I was schoolteacher, and later a superintendent at too schools, I emphasized the learning that most interested students and then brought on the less interesting subjects. That may sound strange or even wasteful to many parents, but it worked very well for us. When I taught reading and writing we started the days with singing, a letter game, or exercises and then moved on to reading or writing. And I still tried to keep those things more fun than misery for my students. We emphasized jobs, like planting and taking care of vegetables and flowers in our school garden, delivering materials to classrooms, serving food to others at lunchtime, or clearing up afterward. The time alowed for all students jobs was never more than 30 minuts a day, and they earned points for there work which they could use when we had a party at the end of the school year. Many of the prizes we offered were very desirable, but some of them were small ones for students who had earned fewer points. That event turned out to be the most exciting day of the year, and many of the young students who were attending it saw that as a future prize for themselves. Over each school year my teachers and I devised many activities to make school fun and meaningful for all students. In addition students learned a lot they would be able lo use successfully in the future.