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The Most Important Education Vote Yesterday

By dianeravitch
November 7, 2012 //
17

The most important education vote yesterday occurred in Indiana.

As the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette pointed out in its editorial, this election has national implications.

Tony Bennett had become the face of rightwing reform in America.

His mission was to bring the ALEC agenda to life in the Hoosier State.

He was head of Jeb Bush’s Chiefs for Change, the group of state superintendents that were most eager to privatize public education, expand charters and vouchers, turn children over to for-profit corporations, and reduce the status of teachers.

He was honored by the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute as the “reformiest” state superintendent in the nation.

The Wall Street hedge fund managers and assorted billionaires pumped $1.5 million into his campaign for re-election.

He was soundly defeated by veteran teacher Glenda Ritz.

Ritz raised $325,000 for her campaign to restore public education in Indiana.

Ritz won over Bennett by a comfortable margin of 53-47.

She got 1.3 million votes, almost 100,000 more votes than Mike Pence, the Republican running for governor, who barely eked out a victory.

Make no mistake: The people of Indiana said “no” to Tony Bennett’s radical plans to turn public education into a free-market of choice and competition, based on high-stakes testing.

The people of Indiana elected Glenda Ritz to rebuild their public school system and to wipe away the misguided, mean-spirited “reforms” imposed by Bennett.

This is a victory for the parents, citizens and educators of Indiana.

Most important, it is a victory for the children of the state of Indiana.

Now, they will have a chance to have a good education, not to be consumers in a vast shopping mall of test-based choices, not to be data points for corporations bent on turning a profit.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, ALEC, Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Chiefs for Change, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Indiana, Privatization, Vouchers

Who Tried to Buy School Elections?

By dianeravitch
November 7, 2012 //
6

Robert Valiant has launched a website to gather information about who funded campaigns for charters and vouchers and against teachers, unions and public education.

If you have links to newspaper articles or other reliable sources, please post them to this website.

I hope that a law firm or investigative journalist will find out where Rhee collected money and which races she supported. She certainly influenced the legislature in Tennessee, where she helped Republucans gain a super-majority, enabling her ex-husband TFA State Commissioner Kevin Huffman to impose the full rightwing reform agenda.

http://dumpduncan.org/forum/discussion/42/registry-of-attempts-to-buy-education-elections-by-prizatizers.

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, Broad Foundation, Bush, Jeb, California, Charter Schools, Connecticut, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Industry, For-Profit, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Indiana, Klein, Joel, Los Angeles, Louisiana, Luna, Tom, Merit pay, Privatization, US Education, Walton Foundation

UPSET: Tony Bennett Loses in Indiana!

By dianeravitch
November 6, 2012 //
26

Tony Bennett has conceded.

Bennett is the quintessential reformer: pro-charter, pro-voucher, pro-privatization. Anti-union, anti-teacher, surrounded in state education department by 11 TFA staff.

Head of Jeb Bush’s rightwing Chiefs for Change.

Rumor in Florida is that the state board of education wants Tony Bennet as state commissioner to implement the rightwing agenda in that state.

Congratulations to the educators in Indiana! Time to reform and rehabilitate your state’s education system.

Congratulations to Glenda Ritz, a genuine educator!

Categories Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Chiefs for Change, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Indiana, Privatization, Vouchers

Breaking News: Indiana DOE Stonewalls FOIA about Big $$$

By dianeravitch
November 3, 2012 //
10

In the Public Interest, a nonpartisan public policy group in DC, filed a Freedom of Information Act request for communications between Tony Bennett, the far-right Indiana State Superintendent of Education in Indiana, and certain individuals–specifically Jeb Bush and Joel Klein.

The question of interest is whether certain parties with a financial interest might be influencing Bennett’s decisions. Bush and Klein are both selling technology; Klein works for Rupert Murdoch and is a member of Bush’s board. Bush’s organization is funded by high-tech corporations and online for-profits.

The Indiana DOE is stalling on releasing the requested material, presumably until after Tuesday’s election, when Bennett faces challenger Glenda Ritz.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Chiefs for Change, Indiana, Klein, Joel

How to Spot Propaganda

By dianeravitch
October 17, 2012 //
7

A reader sent us a useful description of propaganda techniques:

“How to Identify Propaganda Techniques”

(So many parallels to the “reform agenda”.)

1
Look for the use of “glittering” generalities in the form of catchphrases, sweeping and vague statements. Slogans using positive and uplifting concepts such as love, honor, family, peace and freedom are often the tools used by propagandists because they appeal to the masses .

2
Watch for the use of symbols that are attached to authority or things most people respect. The Nazi swastika is an example of a symbol used to elicit an emotional response from the public such as, intimidation or fear. A respectful symbol, such as the American flag is used during the Pledge of Allegiance to unify people’s patriotism, reinforce their belief in God and loyalty to the country. This is the transference technique used to appeal to people’s emotions and get them on the propagandists’ bandwagon.

3
Be alert to name-calling. Propagandists will often make negative statements against groups or institutions they are attempting to denounce rather than positively tout the merits of their own proposals and concepts.

4
Be leery of testimonials by those who might garner respect from the public. Testimonials may be presented by a person who really doesn’t have the authority to gauge the value of the product or concept being presented, but is respected in the community. The “expert” may also have a vested interest in backing the propagandists’ agenda.

5
Be on the lookout for “plain folks.” Propagandists will often use spokesmen who claim to be from humble beginnings to gain the respect and trust of the crowd.

6
Watch for suggestions that if you’re not on board with the concept or product being hyped, you will be left out. Propagandists try to get followers on the “bandwagon” to avoid feelings of isolation and loneliness.

7
Be alert to strong, one-sided facts that support the propagandists’ case. “Card-stacking” is the most difficult propaganda technique to identify, GMU points out. The propagandists will stack the cards in their favor, only using facts and arguments that support their agenda, ignoring evidence that contradicts or invalidates their point of view.

How to Identify Propaganda Techniques | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_10061890_identify-propaganda-techniques.html#ixzz27d7iJU8k

Categories ALEC, Bush, Jeb, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Privatization

Florida School Boards Resist Aggressive Expansion of Virtual Charters

By dianeravitch
October 10, 2012 //
6

The online for-profit corporation K12 wants to grow its business in Florida but school boards are opposing it. The online charters poach students and funding from public schools while providing a poor quality of education.

They do, however, have one big political advantage. They have the fervent support of former Governor Jeb Bush, who is a political powerhouse in the state.

Independent studies have found high dropout rates, low test scores, low graduation rates, and inflated billing at the virtual charters. K12 is under investigation in Florida. But it is so profitable that it is undeterred by little issues like poor results and the harmful effects on the entire structure of public education. These guys are corporate raiders of the public purse. A “school” that recruits only 10,000-15,000 students will draw $100 million in revenues while having no maintenance costs, no nurses, no social workers, no library, nothing like the fixed costs of real schools. And what profits!

Categories ALEC, Bush, Jeb, Education Industry, Education Reform, Florida, For-Profit, Privatization

The Next Targets of Corporate Reform

By dianeravitch
October 9, 2012 //
21

Mike Petrilli of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute summarizes “What’s Next” for reformers (some prefer to call them privatizers).

Race to the Top was a great coup for the privatizers/reformers.

Now they plan to follow up with a direct assault on schools of education, abetted by NCTQ’s forthcoming rankings, to be published by US News. NCTQ was created by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation a dozen years ago, and saved at the outset by a $5 million grant from Secretary of Education Rod Paige. In 2005, it got caught up in a federal investigation for taking money from the Department to speak well of NCLB. Read here to learn more about NCTQ.

The privatizers intend to move on principal evaluation, to make it more like teacher evaluation (test scores matter).

Pension reform will be high on their agenda.

Privatizers will promote digital learning by removing seat time requirements and following the guidance of former Governor Jeb Bush on this subject. No mention is made of the negative evaluations of cyber charters, both by Stanford’s CREDO and the National Education Policy Center, or of exposes that appeared in the New York Times and the Washington Post about the awful performance of cyber charters.

Gird your loins, folks, the privatizers are flush with victories in Wisconsin, Louisiana, Ohio, Michigan, Maine, Florida, and other states, and they are coming back to do some more reforming.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Alternate Route To Certification, Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Common Core, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Louisiana, Pensions, Principals, Privatization, Race to the Top, Teacher Evaluations, Technology, Computers, Testing, US Education

A Marketplace for Schools?

By dianeravitch
October 8, 2012 //
68

Corporate reform privatizers like Joel Klein, Jeb Bush, Michael Bloomberg, and Mitt Romney like to boast of the glories of a marketplace for schools. They want parents to be consumers, armed with test scores and school report cards and grades. In that great come-and-get-it-day, all schools will be excellent when they compete. That’s why all those programs on all those channels on your TV dial are excellent, and why every product in the marketplace is excellent. Ah, the glories of deregulation!

This teacher describes the new marketplace:

I just spent this past weekend in the Berkshires in Massachusetts. Visiting several Autumn festivals I noticed private and charter schools had set up tents in every festival/fair I attended. Right next to the honey and jewelry dealers these ‘privateers’ were peddling their wares. I even saw one at a tag sale!

The good news is that they all were sitting there with no one at their tent.

Wonder if they were unionized Mitt?

What does it say when you need to sit in a tent and peddle the virtue of your school?

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, Bush, Jeb, Education Reform, Klein, Joel, NYC, Romney, Mitt

Fact-Checking Jeb Bush and the Florida Miracle

By dianeravitch
September 27, 2012 //
0

We have often heard of the Florida miracle, as recounted by former Governor Jeb Bush.

Remember the Tezas miracle?

I know there was no Texas miracle.

This reader says there was no Florida miracle.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Florida

What’s Wrong with This Picture?

By dianeravitch
September 25, 2012 //
16

A reader watched Jeb Bush on television today. She reports:

I am watching Jeb Bush talk on msnbc…he says to give teachers the deal that if students learn more you get paid more. He says it is complicated but it is doable, particularly with new assessment tools that exist. He says you should get paid more if your students make better gains than the teacher who has like type kids next door, paid more if you work in a more difficult school, paid more if you are teaching science and math, and that differentiated pay was part of issue in Chicago. Joe asks why teachers resist it and Jeb says that is why it is called collective bargaining. The union most represents the teachers who have been in the system longer. LIFO is protected by the union to protect the teachers who pay more dues.

He ends by saying that middle class families think they are doing ok because they are benchmarking themselves to the inner city. They are not (doing ok). He says we need to benchmark ourselves to the best of the world. This should be something that is a national purpose. The relatively exciting thing, he says, though he isn’t naive about this…”This is a place where there is not as much partisan fighting either. This is almost Switzerland.”

So the Republicans have co-opted the “caring for the poor inner city child and the power of knowledge” message, and the Democrats are letting the privatizers take over a bastion of our democracy. And my own children are sick of being tested instead of learning. Maybe we could just MOVE to Switzerland…or Finland.

Categories Bush, Jeb
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