Audrey Watters reminds us of Rahm Emanuel’s immortal words, “Never allow a good crisis to go to waste.”
And she see the enthusiasts of the ed-tech industry ready to pounce and take advantage of the current crisis. She lives in Seattle, possibly the epicenter of the crisis.
She writes:
Some schools in the Seattle area — both K-12 and colleges — have closed, and there has been intense pressure on administrators to shut everything down and move instruction online. (Governor Inslee has just announced the state is considering “mandatory measures” to combat the spread of the illness, so we shall see what exactly that means.) I’ve heard lots of local tech workers complain angrily that, in a region that’s home to Microsoft and Amazon, there is really no excuse for schools staying open. Digital learning, they argue, is already preferable. And now, they say, it’s necessary.
But that just strikes me as wildly uninformed — although that’s never stopped the tech industry from intervening in education before. It’s an assertion that rests on the assumption that ed-tech is good, that it can replicate at home what happens in the classroom. “This may be our moment,” ed-tech folks exclaim, giddily sharing lists of their favorite digital learning tools (with little concern, it seems for questions of accessibility, privacy, or security) and tips for quickly moving “to the cloud.” Of course, education technology — as a field, an industry, a discipline, a solution, what have you — has had decades and decades and decades to get this right. It still hasn’t. So when you hear “this is our moment,” you should recall perhaps the thesis of Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine. What we’re poised to see in response to the coronavirus — and not just in education, to be fair — is more disaster capitalism, and “disaster capitalists share this same inability to distinguish between creation and destruction, between hurting and healing.”
People are hurting and people are frightened right now. And thanks to the utter incompetence of the Trump Administration, there’s surely still more to worry about; still more people are going to suffer. This isn’t the time to be triumphant about ed-tech’s possibilities. This isn’t the time to prove anything about ed-tech, quite frankly. This an emergency response to a crisis.
Do all students have access to high-speed broadband at home? K-12 or otherwise? Nope. Do all students have access to laptops at home? Nope. Schools know this, and it’s part of the calculation they make whether or not to move everything online. But closure isn’t just about classes. The function of schools extends well beyond instruction. This is particularly true in K-12 schools, which also serve for many students and families as childcare, community centers, health care providers, disability support services, and places to eat breakfast and lunch. To close the doors to a school shifts the burden of all these services onto individual families.
Spare me the techno-solutionism. Let’s talk about big structural change. (But let’s not act like we’re gonna implement that tomorrow morning, ok?)
She’s so smart 🙂
Here’s Education Next, an outlet that seems to exist to push product, selling ed tech product for the crisis:
“For shorter periods of interruption, schools might consider online curriculum options such as LearnZillion, Zearn, Kiddom, Duolingo, Outschool, Tutor.com, and Khan Academy. Video conferencing has also advanced over the last ten years with services such as Zoom, Google Hangout, and Microsoft Teams that can be used to offer low-cost, real-time instruction. And online platforms such as Google Classroom, Canvas and Blackboard can help facilitate instruction and communication among teachers and students.
Some closures might last for more than a month, in which case schools might turn to online courses through providers such as Coursera, and ASU Digital Prep or state-sponsored options such as the Florida Virtual School or Louisiana’s course choice catalog.”
Ed reform’s motto! Always Be Selling.
https://www.educationnext.org/closing-schools-to-slow-a-pandemic-coronavirus-covid-19-public-health/
The big testing companies will take a huge hit if they close schools……makes me smile. Sorry, not wishing coronavirus on anyone but I would love to see the testing industry come to a crashing halt.
“Faced with low academic results at online schools across the country, supporters often defend virtual education because it provides a haven for struggling students.
But a new study in Indiana found that students fell further behind after transferring to virtual charter schools. The findings suggest that online schools post low outcomes not simply because the students they serve face challenges, but because of problems with how online learning works — and the shortfalls of not having a physical classroom.”
Using ed reform’s OWN measure, test scores, online learning actually harms students yet they cheerlead it mindlessly and sell it constantly.
What’s that about? Anyone know? Is it because it’s a 9 billion dollar industry, as Arne Duncan so helpfully told us when he was acting as a salesperson for these entities for 8 years?
Let’s just be honest about this- this stuff is cheaper than hiring human beings. That’s the attraction. Jeb Bush used to say it, then he dropped that part of the pitch, recognizing that it wasn’t politically palatable to tell public school families he had a cheap replacement for their schools in the works.
https://chalkbeat.org/posts/in/2020/03/09/indiana-virtual-charter-schools-linked-to-a-decline-in-student-test-scores-a-new-study-shows/
falling further behind….the less educated the nation’s citizens become, the more they can be politically manipulated
You know, I can’t wait to reach the pinnacle of ed reform success, when children have NO community at all and are all “exercising choice” alone, in their respective homes, free from the conflict and compromise that comes with exposure to other people.
Because everyone knows the best thing one can do for human beings is isolate them into little pure silos where they never have to encounter anyone who disagrees with them or with whom they have to compromise.
What a strange, grim and joyless educational philosophy – no one has anything to learn from other people. Just the student and the “material” and the test at the end.
It would be like Lord of the Flies!
…Brave New World and 1984… I don’t usually read science fiction, but dystopian edu-science fiction might have to be my next project.
This expands and intensifies the need for internets access to be regulated as a public utility and provided to everyone as an essential service. Currently we do not have universal access to on-line learning options no matter what format for all students. The result will be a deepening of the achievement gap and rural areas will feel a greater impact.
Exactly. The main reason students don’t have Internet at home is the prohibitive cost. For example, here in Memphis, we have only 2 choices, AT&T or xfinity, and there is no internet access under $50/mo.
Silicon Valley is eager to see a shift to on-line learning. Some colleges have already started allowing students to finish the rest of the semester in distance mode. I believe most students will find the experience a inadequate substitute for traditional social learning. When my son got his bachelor’s degree, he had both traditional courses and on-line classes. He felt he learned more from the interactions that occurred in the classroom because the exchange of ideas contributed to his overall understanding.
We are a country with a large poor population. As this post points out, it is the poor students that will suffer the most since many of the families do not have access to technology at home.
Finland has also been hit by the coronavirus. The Finnish government is actually paying people to stay in quarantine. In this country where low wage employees lack health care, and many families are one pay check away from homelessness, do we really believe that many low wage service employees can afford to self quarantine for at least two weeks? If anything, this crisis shows our need for universal health care.
I took a couple online teaching classes through UCLA Extension in 1999. Easy ‘A’s, both. I learned nothing. Wastes of time, for which I received credits.
“He felt he learned more from the interactions that occurred in the classroom because the exchange of ideas contributed to his overall understanding.” Thanks, retired teacher. It should be in all caps. This is common sense that is obvious to anyone involved in teaching, but somehow escapes much of the public.
Maybe we should let them go virtual so parents can see it is really awful.
Epic Charter Grads Less Likely to Enroll in College
At Epic, Waldon said she easily raised her grades from Cs and Fs to As and Bs. She said she did so with little interaction with her teacher, spending long days clicking through the curriculum. “There were days I asked my teacher for help. But mostly, I just figured it out,” Waldon said.
She was able to fast-track her remaining credits, finishing in one year what would have taken two in a traditional school. She was one of 2,500 students in Epic’s class of 2019.
That’s when she discovered she wasn’t prepared for college, she said. On the ACT exam, she “failed, majorly.” She has put her dream of becoming a kindergarten teacher on hold.
https://oklahomawatch.org/2020/02/27/epic-charter-grads-less-likely-to-enroll-in-college/
The below newsletter is from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The pictures and internal links didn’t transfer, but the main site gives a good warning when you go to the link to read further about their placing cookies in your computer if you press “I agree.”
Also, see the Quick Takes below the letter. CBK
“Dear friends,
“At the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we believe every student deserves a great education, and we’re taking a step forward to support students with mild and moderate disabilities in charter schools.
“We are investing over $10 million to launch the Charter Students with Disabilities Pilot Community — a cohort of 10 charter management organizations (CMO) that will work together with a common aim of improving the systems, learning experiences, and outcomes for their middle and high school students with disabilities. These grantees join additional partners who work on behalf of students in special education like the National Center for Learning Disabilities, Eye to Eye, The Center for Special Education in Charter Schools, among others. You can learn more about the Pilot Community here.
“In this initial phase, we will focus on charter schools. We believe that the charter sector — with its origins as innovators for the education field — can leverage its autonomy, flexibility, and commitment to equity to address this challenge. This is a small part of our larger portfolio across all sectors designed to identify, implement, and adapt evidence-based practices that positively move the needle and ensure ALL students are successful.
“I’m excited to learn from our grantees — and to move closer to the day when students with disabilities get the education they deserve.”
Regards, Bob Hughes @BobHughesK12=”
“Quick Takes
“Do You Have Five Minutes?
“Are you a teacher, principal, or district staff member? Ever wish researchers and decision makers were more closely aligned to your everyday challenges? We want to hear from you! Please complete our confidential short survey (~5-10 minutes) to do just that.
“A Matchmaker for Students
“One of our Networks for School Improvement, Achieve Atlanta, with Atlanta Public Schools, launched the Match & Fit List Builder, a first-of-its-kind online college advising tool. It’s designed to put students in the driver’s seat to “match” with varied postsecondary options so they choose the best “fit” for them.
“An Update on Networks for School Improvement
“Check out what’s been happening with the Networks for School Improvement strategy from launch until now, as well as what is next in building out this work with partners.
“Principals Need More Support to Help Students with Disabilities
“The American Educator Panels analyzed survey results from 1,679 principals and found most of them — especially those serving primarily students of color — believe that their schools could do a better job supporting students with disabilities — of which there are 6.7 million in the U.S.
“All People Are Math People
“Recent exam results show U.S. teens rank 31st in the world in math literacy. These results feed into the common refrain heard everywhere: “I’m not a math person.” Why do people say this? Our K-12 team talked to students, teachers, parents, researchers and policy makers to address this question.
“What We’re Reading
“Why We Swing for the Fences: Bill and Melinda Gates’ 2020 Annual Letter
Subscribe to our newsletter or forward to a friend.
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“We believe that the charter sector — with its origins as innovators for the education field — can leverage its autonomy, flexibility, and commitment to equity to address this challenge.”
Bill and Melinda, why don’t you list all those charter innovations? How can you claim that charters have a commitment to equity, when charter schools are more segregated than public schools? You must also be unaware of the the lawsuits against charter schools for failure to meet the needs of classified students? Why do all your educational endeavors lead to a way for you to make more money for yourselves?
Thank you so much for this. You expressed what I have been thinking. And thank you for referring to Naomi Klein’s book, which could be subtitled “What Happened in New Orleans.”
Not sure why “ed tech” is even necessary for distance learning. Don’t you just need plain old “tech”? Video conference software is getting increasingly sophisticated and is used in business all the time.
It is of monumental importance that business people understand that what works in business does not necessarily work in education. Merit pay, standardization, competition, long distance communication, data analytics… not for schools. Fundamentally important.
It will be interesting to see what happens when the children of privilege get a taste of ed tech.
Harvard University is sending all its students home and the remainder of the year all classes will be taught online. I’m sure the students and their parents will rave about how wonderful their experience is.
Or maybe not.
always be selling. Yes. And call it innovative. Take a look at the most “innovative” education companies for 20202.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90457826/education-most-innovative-companies-2020
Will a wild bear crap in the woods?
Not if Donald Trump, Jr. shoots it first!
Well, having just finished John Carreyrou’s (“Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup”) estimable book on the Theranos ripoff, I am skeptical of the general level of integrity and scrupulousness in the tech industry (not to mention Enron, WorldCom, and other “tech” businesses).
So yeah, I think the tech industry will exploit this budding pandemic….
Audrey Watters is not the only person to think or to say this. I am betting that every (except for maybe Teaching Economist) reader/commenter on this blog has thought or said the same thing. &–hey–IQ45 just pardon Michael Milken(sp.-?), junk bond king who has been barred from that financial world, so went on to create money maker K-12 Virtual Learning. So he’d sold it, I think, but guessing he’ll get right back in the biz (or that he owns a large share of its stock).
Was catching up on reading, & this top-of-the-page article in the 2/2/20 *Chicago Sun-Times: “Trump’s Commerce Chief: Virus Could Bring Jobs Back to the United States,”
w/a picture of the evil (& malignant, himself) Wilbur Ross, stating, “says he ‘doesn’t want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease.'”
No, he “doesn’t,” but he did. Because he is malignant…
*Correct spelling should be “Milkus.”
https://kia723.wordpress.com/2020/03/10/which-tech-firms-are-booming-under-coronavirus/
I am so glad to see this post. So glad my union asked me to report anyone suggesting I would have my classes be online. Keep writing about it, please. I do not want to have to dumb down my classes by putting them online. The thought shivers me timbers.
Bill Gates infected the nation with the Core-ona virus (Common Core) and now wants to spread it with online school.
SDP, good one!
The Common Core-ona virus
Core-ona virus
Common Core
Test and tire us
Nothing more
Yeah, the COVID-08 virus has still been infecting kids, teachers, parents, grand parents.
Social distancing and PPE are the most protective methods of COVID-19. We should work together during this pandemic situation.