Chris Saldana of the National Education Policy Center interviewed Frank Adamson on privatization of education in an international context. If you have 30 minutes in your busy day, this is definitely worth listening to.
BOULDER, CO (May 19, 2020) – In this month’s NEPC Education Interview of the Month, NEPC Researcher Christopher Saldaña interviews Frank Adamson, Assistant Professor of Education Leadership and Policy Studies at California State University, Sacramento. Adamson is an expert in education privatization in the United States and international contexts and the editor of Global Education Reform: How Privatization and Public Investment Influence Education Outcomes.
Adamson argues that the foundation for privatizing schools has been laid over many decades through federal policies such as No Child Left Behind. He points out that with this foundation in place, crises have been used to promote privatization in cities such as Oakland and New Orleans, just as the COVID-19 pandemic is now being used to promote the use of virtual education and private digital platforms in public schools.
He notes that alternatives to privatization exist. The Abidjan Principles, developed by experts in law, human rights, and education, for example, outline the responsibility of countries to provide high-quality, free public education to all children. According to Adamson, if policymakers were guided by these principles, they could craft policies that fostered a more equitable educational system in the United States and other international contexts.
It is important, Adamson argues, that community members inform themselves and engage in educational policy discussions in their communities, especially because the decentralized system of public education in the United States requires an engaged and informed public to ensure that students receive the best possible public education.
A new NEPC Education Interview of the Month, hosted by NEPC Researcher Christopher Saldaña, will be released each month from September through June.
Don’t worry if you miss a month. All NEPC Education Interview of the Month podcasts are archived on the NEPC website and can be found here.
Frank Adamson was a co-author of the most devastating critique of the privatization of the New Orleans public schools that I have ever read.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
C-19 is not the only “GERM” we have to worry about in this crisis. It is time for Cuomo to get a reality check. He is not going to get sound advice from billionaire computer salesmen. These people only want to sell more of their products. Two billionaire salesmen do not have the skill set to “reinvent” education.
Parents need to understand that online instruction has been tried in many other parts of the world, and there is zero evidence that is has real value. Does Cuomo want to be known as the governor that turned New York state public education into Sweden or Chile? Cuomo should be looking at other sources of revenue to adequately fund public education.
Billionaire Computer Salesmen. Three words to make it all so clear.