Archives for category: Corporate Reformers
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State-Appointed Superintendent of Camden: I Represent the People of Camden

By dianeravitch
May 1, 2014 //
14

Professor Stephen Danley of Rutgers has been attending the school board meetings in Camden. Camden has been under state control for many years. Its new, young, inexperienced Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard wants to turn Camden’s public schools into charter schools. There is no evidence that the people of Camden want him to give their children and schools to charter corporations, but no one can stop him because he was appointed by Governor Chris Christie.

Paymon is under the delusion that he represents the people of Camden, but in reality he represents the Governor and does his bidding.

Why is it that these fake reformers never pay attention to niceties like democracy or evidence? They are blinded by their arrogance.

Do they believe their own press releases?

Categories Corporate Reformers, New Jersey

Jersey Jazzman: New Jersey Sends Bradford to New York

By dianeravitch
May 1, 2014 //
7

New Jersey is sharing its riches. Darrell Bradford, formerly of a billionaire-funded group called B4Kids, will move to New York to become CEO of NYCan. This is another of those fake “reform” groups that advocates for privatization as the cure for poverty and the surefire way to get rid of unions.

Jersey Jazzman knows him well and describes his role in advocating for vouchers.

The origin of these CAN groups is Connecticut, where Jonathan Sackler, a billionaire leader in the pharmaceutical industry (see Leonie Haimson’s comments below) and various hedge fund managers organized to advocate for privatization, mayoral control (to speed the pace of privatization), and anti-teacher legislation.

In the psychiatric literature, CAN is an acronym that stands for “child abuse abuse and neglect.”

Welcome to New York, Darrell. If you can make it here, you’ll make it anywhere, it’s up to you, New York, New York.

 

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, New Jersey, New York, Privatization

Mercedes Schneider’s New Book on Corporate Reform Now Available

By dianeravitch
April 30, 2014 //
13

Mercedes Schneider’s new book on corporate reform is now available.

Its title is “A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Public Education.”

This is the description on amazon:

“”Corporate reform” is not reform at all. Instead, it is the systematic destruction of the foundational American institution of public education. The primary motivation behind this destruction is greed. Public education in America is worth almost a trillion dollars a year. Whereas American public education is a democratic institution, its destruction is being choreographed by a few wealthy, well-positioned individuals and organizations. This book investigates and exposes the handful of people and institutions that are often working together to become the driving force behind destroying the community public school.”

Gene Glass, eminent researcher at Arizona State University, posted this review:

“Schneider has exposed the corruption, greed and entangling of self-interests that underlie the attempt of the mega-corporations to grab billions of tax-payer dollars that are appropriated for America’s K-12 public schools. She puts the names and faces on the movement that Diane Ravitch documented in “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools.” There are no “must reads” anymore. There are just a handful of “should reads”: “A Chronicle of Echoes” is at the head of that list.”

Categories Corporate Reformers

Peter Greene Explains Why Cami Hates Democracy

By dianeravitch
April 30, 2014 //
16

Peter Greene, a man of infinite patience, watched a video in which Cami Anderson explains why she has the right to tell everyone in Newark what to do without listening to their opinions.

She compares herself to her sister, who is a surgeon. Her sister doesn’t ask the opinion of nobodies; she does what she has to do to save the patient’s life.

Greene points out to Cami that her sister is a highly trained professional who spent years learning her profession, whereas Cami’s five weeks of training in TFA is hardly equivalent. Furthermore, her sister operates with the consent of the patient and the patient’s family, and was not given consent to cut up the patient by Chris Christie.

The bottom line, Greene sees, is this:

“Democracy is stupid.

“Look, say the Reformistas. We are just better than you are. We are wiser, smarter, and just plain righter than the rest of you. So you should stop getting in our way. All of you lesser humans should stop insisting that you’re entitled to some sort of voice– you aren’t. Shut up, sit down, and let the superior humans take care of these difficult matters.”

Greene is not sure where Cami is, other than noting she is at Arizona State University/GSV. A few days ago, I wrote about the education “gold rush.” Cami is speaking to 2,000 entrepreneurs, hedge fund managers, and investors who are looking to make profits in education with the Next Big Thing. They paid $1,000-2,000 each to meet at the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale. The meeting was co-sponsored by Global Silicon Valley, which leads the way in monetizing and privatizing education.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, New Jersey, Teach for America

Politico: Rightwing Authors Warn: Watch Out for Teachers, They Are Obstacles to Our Reforms

By dianeravitch
April 28, 2014 //
126

Politico reports this morning:

“WATCH OUT FOR TEACHERS: Harvard professor Paul E. Peterson is out with a new book urging Americans not to be lulled into thinking of teachers as regular folk. On the contrary, he writes in “Teachers versus the Public,” they’re part of a large and powerful special interest group — and their interests often diverge from the public’s. “We tend to think of teachers as sort of like our second cousins or our neighbors and not as another group that has its own interests as an occupation,” Peterson told Morning Education. His book, co-written with Michael Henderson and Martin R. West, is crammed with poll data showing that teachers are far less likely than the public to support reform strategies such as banning tenure or introducing merit pay. They’re also far less likely to back school choice options such as vouchers and charter schools. The group Teach Plus has found that younger teachers are more likely to back reforms than veterans, but Peterson has not seen such a split in years of polling. “Their results are flatly wrong,” he said.

— The book’s findings will be aired at a forum Tuesday featuring former New Jersey Education Commissioner Chris Cerf and the incoming president of the National Education Association, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, among others. The noon event will be aired live on the Hoover Institution’s Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/1tKLNG2”

Imagine that! Teachers are opposed to vouchers! They don’t think they should abandon due process rights!

Please note that the book was written by professors who have not just due process, but LIFETIME tenure. I have no idea what Paul Peterson’s salary is, but I am willing to bet that it is at least TRIPLE the salary of the average teacher. His junior authors undoubtedly also have lifetime tenure and are paid more than teachers while carrying a burdensome nine hours a week of teaching.

Peterson of Harvard is one of the nation’s academic proponents of vouchers.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Vouchers

Will Jonathan Pelto Run for Governor of Connecticut?

By dianeravitch
April 28, 2014 //
11

On issues related to education, Connecticut’s Governor Dannell Malloy is one of the worst governors in the nation.

Jonathan Pelto, who served in the state legislature, is considering a run against Malloy. Pelto knows that Malloy has repeatedly let down students, parents, teachers, and communities. Malloy has followed the money–the hedge fund money–which supports charter schools for the few.

Pelto would also challenge Malloy’s corporate tax breaks and his failed economic development policies.

Win, lose, or draw, Pelto’s candidacy would be a breath of fresh air for Connecticut. It would force Malloy to defend his giveaway of public education to private corporations.

Categories Charter Schools, Closing schools, Connecticut, Corporate Reformers

Michael Fiorillo: Reformers’ Game Plan

By dianeravitch
April 27, 2014 //
158

Reader Michael Fiorillo deciphers the corporate reformers’ game plan:

The Final Solution to the Teacher Question:

– Proclaim austerity for the public schools, while continuing to expand charters.

– Create incentives for non-educators to be in positions of power, from Assistant Principal on up.

– Maintain a climate of scapegoating and witch hunting for “bad teachers,” who are posited as the cause of poverty and student failure, doing everything possible to keep debate from addressing systemic inequities.

– Neutralize and eventually eliminate teacher unions (the first part largely accomplished in the case of the AFT). As part of that process, eliminate tenure, seniority and defined benefit pensions.

– Create and maintain a climate of constant disruption and destabilization, with cascading mandates that are impossible to keep up or comply with.

– Create teacher evaluations based on Common Core-related high stakes tests for which no curriculum has been developed. Arbitrarily impose cut scores on those exams that cast students, teachers and schools as failing, as was done by NYS Education Commissioner John King and Regent Meryl Tisch.

– Get teachers and administrators, whether through extortion (see RttT funding) threats or non-stop propaganda, to accept the premises of “data-driven” everything, even when that data is irrelevant, opaque, contradictory, or just plain wrong.

– Get everyone to internalize the premises and language of so-called education reform:

– Parents are not citizens with rights, but “customers” who are provided “choices”
that are in fact restricted to the decisions of those in charge, based on policies
developed by an educational industrial complex made up of foundations,
McKinsey-type consultants and captive academics.

– Students are “valuable assets” and “products,” whose value is to be enhanced
(see the definition of VAM) before being offered to employers.

– Teachers are fungible units of “human capital,” to be deployed as policy-makers
and management see fit. Since human capital depreciates over time, it
needs to be replaced by fresh capital, branded as “the Best and Brightest.”

– Schools are part of an investment “portfolio,” explicitly including the real estate
they inhabit, and are subject to the “demands” of the market and the preferences
of policy-makers and management.

– Create an intimidating, punitive environment, where the questions and qualms are either disregarded or responded to with threats.

– Get the university education programs on board under threat of continuing attack. Once they are on board, go after them anyway, and deregulate the teacher licensing process so that it’s easier to hire temps.

– Eliminate instruction that is deemed irrelevant to the most narrowly-cast labor market needs of employers, getting rid of art, music, dance, electives, etc., thereby reducing the focus of education to preparation for passive acceptance of low-wage employment.

– Embed software and electronic gadgets in every facet of the classroom and school, from reading to test-taking, with the intention of automating as much classroom input and output as possible.

– Use the automation of the classroom to enlarge class size – something explicitly promoted by Bill Gates – and transform teachers into overseers of student digital production that is connected to massive databases, so that every keystroke is data to be potentially monetized.

– Cash your bonus checks, exercise your stock options, and declare Excellence and Civil Rights achieved.

Categories Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Data and Data Mining, Education Industry, For-Profit, Privatization, Race to the Top, Teacher Evaluations, Teachers and Teaching, Technology, Computers, Testing

Robert Shepherd on Apathy about the Death of Competition for Education Materials

By dianeravitch
April 27, 2014 //
66

It is curious that duo many supporters of the Common Core standards want choice among schools but celebrate the standardization and lack of choice among suppliers of education materials. They want to multiply choices of schools while standardizing learning and standing back while only two, perhaps three at most, mega-publishers create nearly identical products for the nation’s students and schools.

Robert Shepherd posted a comment about the death of competition in the marketplace for educational materials. Consolidation started years ago as large companies bought up small companies, and as small companies found they were financially unable to compete with the giant corporations. Those trends have accelerated to the point where only two or three corporations control the education publishing industry. He wonders if anyone cares. I say yes, but no one knows how to stop this monopolizing trend. We feel powerless. To whom do we direct our complaints? This is not an oversight. Creating a national marketplace for vendors of goods and services was an explicit purpose of Race to the Top.

Joanne Weiss, who was Arne Duncan’s chief of staff and who directed Race to the Top, wrote in The Harvard Business Review:

“The development of common standards and shared assessments radically alters the market for innovation in curriculum development, professional development, and formative assessments. Previously, these markets operated on a state-by-state basis, and often on a district-by-district basis. But the adoption of common standards and shared assessments means that education entrepreneurs will enjoy national markets where the best products can be taken to scale.

“In this new market, it will make sense for teachers in different regions to share curriculum materials and formative assessments. It will make sense for researchers to mine data to learn which materials and teaching strategies are effective for which students – and then feed that information back to students, teachers, and parents.”

This may explain why so many major corporations are enthusiastic about the Common Core. It promises them a national market for their products and bring America’s schools into the national economy, where consolidation reigns. Walmart wins, Amazon wins, Google wins, small-scale enterprises lose and disappear.

Robert Shepherd writes:

“I am despairing of anyone’s paying any attention to the consequences for markets in educational materials on the CC$$ and of inBloom.

“Perhaps we have become so used to people using political influence to fix markets in this country that they simply don’t think twice when they see another instance of this. Is that the problem? Or is it that people don’t understand why these dramatically reduce the number of players in the educational materials market? Or are people just fine with having a couple of all-powerful providers of educational materials and with having all the little companies go under. Maybe people are OK with curricula from the educational equivalent of McDonalds or Walmart or Microsoft.

“Even on this blog, when I post about these matters, there is very, very little, if any, response.

“When I started in the educational publishing business years ago, there were 30 companies competing with one another. When the teachers at a school got together to decide what book they wanted to use, there were many, many options. Now, there are three big providers that have almost the entire market. What were previously competing companies are now separate imprints from one company.

“And the CC$$ creates ENORMOUS economies of scale for those few remaining publishers, making it almost impossible for any other publisher to compete with them.

“And inBloom creates a single monopolistic gateway through which computer-adaptive online materials must pass. A private monopoly created by the state.

“Are people OK with this? Where are the articles and essays and speeches about these issues from those opposed to Education Deform? One can understand the silence from the deformers–they created these deforms precisely in order to ensure their monopoly positions. But . . . but . . . why the deafening silence from the other side?

Categories Common Core, Corporate Reformers, Data and Data Mining, Economy, Education Industry, For-Profit, Privacy and Privacy Rights, Race to the Top

Will Camp Philos Exclude Public School Parents and Teachers?

By dianeravitch
April 26, 2014 //
120

Three public school teachers and parents signed up for “Camp Philos,” the meeting in the Adirondacks where Governor Cuomo plans to meet next week with other politicians committed to privatizing our nation’s public schools. The three say they were turned away. By limiting attendance at this event to those with deep pockets and to political sympathizers, the sponsors of the event— Democrats for Education Reform, Education Reform Now, and Governor Cuomo—have made clear that they do not want to hear the voices of parents and educators. How can the event’s featured panel discussions about “Groundbreaking Approaches to Teacher Preparation” and “Collaborative Models for Changing State and Local Teacher Policies” be fairly addressed without the participation of educators and parents? Who cares more about the children-their own parents or elected officials? Who knows the children best–their own parents or Governor Cuomo? Who knows more about the needs of schools–teachers or elected officials? Would you let Governor Cuomo or any of the other elected officials babysit for your children? Why would you trust them to redesign the nation’s education system? Governor Cuomo never attended public school, never sent his children to public school, and never taught. Exactly what are his qualifications for reforming the nation’s or his own state’s schools?

 

 

Bianca Tanis wrote the following report:

 

We are deeply dismayed by what seems to be a deliberate attempt by the organizers of Camp Philos to exclude members of the teaching profession and public school parents from their retreat. By limiting attendance at this event to those with deep pockets, corporate influence and “insiders,” Democrats for Education Reform, Governor Cuomo and the hedge fund billionaires who contribute to both have made it clear that the voices of those on the front line in education are not invited. How can the event’s featured panel discussions about “Groundbreaking Approaches to Teacher Preparation” and “Collaborative Models for Changing State and Local Teacher Policies” be fairly addressed without the participation of educators? What does Governor Cuomo have to hide?
When Bianca Tanis, a parent and educator and one of the founders of NYS Allies for Public Education went to register on April 17th, she noticed that the online registration was no longer available and the website said to call the event administrator. Although Bianca left 3 messages with the administrator, she never received a call back. Today, April 22nd, She managed to reach Sean Anderson, the Chief of Staff for Democrats for Education Reform. She did not identify herself as an educator. He stated that even though “they are pretty full, there are still openings.” He advised Bianca to email Kate Gavulis as she was handling “the arrangements.” Bianca emailed Kate Gavulis and quickly received a response indicating that there were no openings.
The same day, Bianca spoke with Gail DeBonis Richmond, a retired teacher, who had registered successfully on April 15th and received two confirmation emails. Suddenly, with no explanation, Gail received a refund on April 17th. When she inquired about the refund, Gail was told that they had filled to capacity before she registered. Unlike the organizers of Camp Philos, Gail had engaged in complete transparency and had listed her affiliation as “retired teacher.”
In an article published on April 19th in which Joe Williams, president of Education Reform Now and the executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, was asked whether teachers would be attending the retreat. Williams responded that “teacher administrators” would be there. This begs the question, which ones? Will they be educators pre-selected by Teach for America or by Educators for Excellence, corporate reform organizations aligned with DFER’s ideological positions? Will they be charter school administrators, or perhaps John King, the NYS Education Commissioner and a former charter school operator himself?
( You can read the article here: http://adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/542473/Local-man-will-host-national-education-conference-in-Lake-Placid.html?nav=5008)
Three weeks ago, Marla Kilfolyle, a parent and educator, emailed the organizers of Camp Philos to request that they waive the $1,000 fee and allow her to attend. While Marla emailed the organizers in good faith, hoping that they would see the value in including the voice of an experienced educator, she never received any response to her email or request.
The exclusive nature of this meeting makes it clear that contrary to their claims, DFER and the Wall Street financiers who fund the group are not interested in collaboration, but are intent on using their wealth and access to wield disproportionate influence over public education. This is despite the fact that they have no teaching experience and in the main, do not send their children to public schools.
New Yorkers have had enough of secret deals and politicians serving the narrow interests of billionaires. It is time to open up the education debate to include true stakeholders, public school parents and teachers, who know best what is wrong and what is right with our public schools. Camp Philos is an egregious violation of the public trust and of the ideals of public education. The benign image of a rustic, Adirondack retreat to discuss how best to serve public school children belies the sinister nature of this brand of “education reform.”
Sincerely,
Gail DeBonis Richmond
Marla Kilfolye
Bianca Tanis

 

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Cuomo, Andrew, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Industry, Education Reform, Parents, Privatization

CNN’s “Chicagoland” Was Fake Documentary, An Infomercial to Glorify Rahm

By dianeravitch
April 25, 2014 //
40

Bill Ruthhart, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, reviewed hundreds of emails about CNN’s “Chicagoland” and discovered that the “documentary” was an infomercial for controversial Mayor Rahm Emanuel. CNN honored him at the very time that he took the historically unprecedented step of closing 50 public schools. CNN has no shame.

He writes:

“If it seemed as though some scenes of CNN’s documentary series “Chicagoland” were coordinated by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s City Hall and the show’s producers, that’s because they were.

“More than 700 emails reviewed by the Tribune reveal that the production team worked hand in hand with the mayor’s advisers to develop storylines, arrange specific camera shots and review news releases officially announcing the show.

“Producers asked the mayor’s office to help them set up key interactions in what the cable network has billed as a nonscripted eight-part series, including Emanuel’s visits with the school principal who emerged as a star of the show, emails show.

“City Hall’s frequent correspondence with the producers illustrates how senior aides to a mayor known for shaping his media image managed how their boss would be portrayed on CNN to a prime time national audience.

“The production team for the series, whose final episode aired Thursday night, told Emanuel’s staff that particular scenes would present the mayor in a positive light, with one of the producers expressing a desire to showcase the mayor “as the star that he really is.”

“Creator and executive producer Marc Levin made a pitch to the mayor’s office last May as Emanuel’s hand-picked school board was two days away from a vote to close nearly 50 schools.”

Categories Chicago, Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Emanuel, Rahm
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