Archives for category: For-Profit
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A Teacher Writes New Book about the Corporate Reform Movement

By dianeravitch
February 28, 2013 //
10

One of the readers of this blog, experienced teacher Brian Ford, has written a new book. It seems to encapsulate the major themes of today’s privatization movement.

Respect for Teachers and the Rhetoric Gap:
How Research on Teaching and Schools is
Laying the Ground for New Business Models in Education

(A New Economy Story about the State of the Union)

Author: Brian Ford
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Summary of Book

For the last 30 years we have been in the midst of a paradox. In the discourse on education reform, national attention in the US has focused on how to improve the education system as a means to keep the US from slipping in international economic competition. It the end we may have actually done the opposite – made the US less competitive economically, with a system that has gotten worse at its core, in its philosophical tenets and in its ultimate effect on children and young adults, by placing unwonted pressure on them and in stifling their creativity.

Still, claims that the public schools in the US are failing are rampant. The teacher evaluation system is broken. America is being out-educated. The bottom rank of teachers are beyond redemption. New, effective teachers can eliminate the achievement gap in four years, but they aren’t given the chance because our education system is in the thrall of teachers unions, ignores our children and emphasizes ‘adult interests.’ ‘Respect for Teachers,’ which takes its title from a phrase President Obama used in a State of the Union address, examines these claims, looking first at the rhetoric and the research that supposedly backs it up. It argues that most of this is not only wrong, but endangers both the egalitarian basis of democracy and broad-based forms of learning which promote creative and critical thinking.

But what is the source? Money changes everything and the book suggests, on the one hand, that we are all connected to money. On the other hand, research on education has been systematically misreported, presenting a bleaker picture overall while ignoring the central problem: our schools are failing in areas of concentrated poverty. It does so by looking at how research is presented, the gap between rhetoric and research and how one hand might be washing the other.

Working as if from a common script, private interests present a false picture. Schooling is big business, after all — two trillion dollars world-wide. Joseph Schumpeter once said, “No bourgeoisie ever disliked war profits.” One would assume no bourgeoisie ever disliked the spoils of school reform, either.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Privatization

Divest Now from Testing Companies!

By dianeravitch
February 25, 2013 //
12

This just in from a reader:

Diane,

I wrote to you about this before, but this time I have the relevant contact info:

http://equalpayforequalwork.blogspot.com/2013/02/tell-teachers-retirement-fund-to-divest.html

As the teachers rebellion against standardized testing grows, it’s time to flex our real muscle: tell the teachers’ retirement system to take our money OUT of standardized testing companies.

The retirement fund just recently set a precedent by divesting from gun companies, but corporate backed education reform is threatening the very existence of public education by buying politicians and policies that benefit Wall Street at the expense of our kids.

We need to make sure they aren’t using our money to kill our jobs and our schools. I’m providing contact information for California, but if you post other states in the comments, I’ll be glad to add that to the post itself in updates.

In California, you can contact CALSTRS, our retirement system at http://www.calstrs.com/contact…

800-228-5453 • 916-414-5040 (Fax)
P. O. Box 15275
Sacramento, CA 95851-0275

Feel free to use or modify this brief message:

As a member of CalSTRS, I ask that since you have divested from companies whose guns kill students and teachers, you also divest from the corporations pushing education “reform” that are killing public education so they can cannibalize the corpse.

Start with those pushing endless repetitive high stakes testing, like Pearson, ETS, and McGraw Hill.
As an educator, I do not want to invest in businesses that corrupt our public education policy for the financial gain of a few.

I look forward to hearing your plan of action on this.

You can also tell your union to demand that CalSTRS divest from corporate education reform companies, starting with testing companies. Just change the first line of the message to add:

As a member of CFT (or CTA) I ask that since CalSTRS has divested from companies whose guns kill students and teachers, I ask that you direct CalSTRS to also divest from the corporations pushing education “reform” that are killing public education so they can cannibalize the corpse.
Start with those pushing endless repetitive high stakes testing, like Pearson, ETS, and McGraw Hill.
As an educator, I do not want to invest in businesses that corrupt our public education policy for the financial gain of a few.

I look forward to hearing your plan of action on this.

In the AFT, you can contact the president of the K-12 council,
Gary Ravani
K-12 Council President
cfteck12@aol.com
Administrative Office
California Federation of Teachers
2550 North Hollywood Way, Suite 400
Burbank, CA 91505
818-843-8226, Fax 818-843-4662If you are in CFT but not a K-12 teacher, contact:
Joshua Pechthalt, President
jpechthalt@cft.org

In the CTA:
President Dean Vogel
E-mail: dvogel@cta.org
P.O. Box 921
1705 Murchison Drive
Burlingame, CA 94011-0921
Phone: (650) 552-5307
FAX: (650) 552-5007

Check back later for a proposal on what we could do WITHOUT testing companies that would also save states a lot of money.

Categories Education Industry, For-Profit, Testing

Duncan Press Secretary Working for Rupert Murdoch

By dianeravitch
February 23, 2013 //
66

Justin Hamilton, who recently stepped down as Arne Duncan’s press secretary, has accepted an executive position at Rupert Murdoch’s Amplify. This division, headed by Joel Klein, sells technology to the schools.

This is funny, because last May I had a Twitter debate with Justin about the role of entrepreneurs in education. I didn’t see much good coming from injecting the profit motive into schooling, and Justin disagreed. He landed in the right place for him.

Categories Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, For-Profit

Louisiana Shocker: Ties Between White, Murdoch, Gates

By dianeravitch
February 21, 2013 //
11

In response to litigation, the Louisiana Department of Education released a trove of emails that shows a department obsessed with public relations while flailing about to impose new rules nd programs.

Worst of all is the deal that John White made to share confidential student data (including names and addresses, test scores and grades and other information) to an organization jointly created by the Gates Foundation and Rupert Murdoch’s organization Wireless Generation.

The story says:

“Copies of emails released to LouisianaVoice by the Department of Education (DOE) under threat of litigation reveal an agency over which there is little or no oversight, where escalating costs of expensive programs appear to be of no concern to administrators and a department that appears to be flailing about in search of some direction. The electronic communications also unveil a cozy relationship between DOE, Rupert Murdoch and his company, News Corp., which apparently will be provided personal information on Louisiana public school students for use by a company affiliated with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. News Corp. is the parent company of Fox News Network. In 2011, News Corp. was implicated in a major phone hacking scandal in which private telephone records were compromised.”

Categories For-Profit, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Louisiana

The Corporate Takeover of Indianapolis Public Schools

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2013 //
12

A reader sent the following information about the planned destruction of public education in Indianapolis:

Unfortunately the Neighborhoods of Educational Opportunity/Indianapolis Mayor’s Office plan (NEO) presentation which has been made public is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a well documented, more detailed plan that select groups (The Mind Trust, Stand for Children, Teach for America, The New Teacher Project) are meeting about in private and making plans while they await the possible receipt of a Bloomberg grant of $5 mil to get this plan off the ground in Indianapolis.
This plan will not be publicly unveiled in Indianapolis until it is a done deal.

Certain members of the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners were strategically placed there by the powers that be to weaken Indianapolis Public Schools and prime it for takeover.
Also, watch legislation in Indiana. The Mayor’s office is slowly taking powers away from other branches of government. For example, they now have oversight of four former IPS schools taken over under Tony Bennett’s watch.

There is legislation pending that would allow those schools to become “independent” schools at the end of the takeover period.

We now have a parent trigger law.

There is also legislation which would remove the involvement/oversight of the city county council in approving new Charter schools.

Another bill takes a funding source from public schools (proceeds from auctioned properties due to non-payment of taxes) and gives it to Mayor-sponsored charter schools.

Other legislation forces the sale or lease of closed public schools to Charter schools and other private entities.

All of this collusion is no accident. If you happen to believe it is a bunch of coincidental things, non-related, happening all at the same time, then I feel sorry for you.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Indiana, Privatization

Renewed Battle Over Parent Trigger In Florida

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2013 //
10

“Parent trigger” is a zombie policy. It has never transformed a single school. It has no evidence. It is a slogan pretending to be a policy. It is the quintessence of a corporate power grab.

In the wake of the Newtown massacre, no decent person should utter the words “parent trigger.”

But in Florida, Coach Bob Sikes alerts his readers to the return of the “parent trigger” legislation that failed to pass last year. It failed because–no matter how hard Jeb Bush and Michelle Rhee promoted it–every parent group in Florida opposed it. Somehow the PTAs understood that “parent empowerment” would benefit the corporations running charter schools, not their children.

Jeb Bush vowed to bring it back, and here it comes. Only here is an interesting turn of events. One of the sponsors is a Republican legislator who was not friendly to charters last year. Coach Bob wonders if her change of heart has anything to do with the campaign contributions doled out by the for-profit charter corporations.

By the way, he doesn’t mention it here, but Frank Biden is an executive with the for-profit Mavericks charter chain cited in his post. Frank is the brother of Joe Biden.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Florida, For-Profit, Parent trigger, Privatization, Rhee, Michelle

Turmoil in Muskegon Heights Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2013 //
12

When the school district of impoverished Muskegon Heights went broke, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan felt no obligation to save public education. He appointed an emergency manager to privatize the whole district. The district was handed over to a for-profit operator, Mosaica, which promptly fired all the teachers. It hired a new staff and started fresh. About a quarter of the staff left in short order. There have been three principals at the high school in six months. And the schools have hired uncertified teachers, which is illegal in the state.

Not to worry. The private sector knows best.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit, Michigan, Privatization

HELP! Privatizers Target Fort Wayne

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2013 //
6

A member of the Fort Wayne, Indiana, school board writes:

They are coming after Fort Wayne next. Please, all come to the faux public hearing on Carpe Diem application on Tuesday, 26th at 5:30, Taylor campus. I need a couple hundred.

Categories Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Indiana, Privatization

Activists in Four States Organize to Support Public Education

By dianeravitch
February 18, 2013 //
3

If you are in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, or Illinois–or anywhere else–please join with parents, students, and educators to support public schools. These states have been targets for rightwing demands for privatization. Enough is enough. Time to organize and mobilize to fend off the attacks on teachers, principals, and public schools.

Time For Action Update:

Parents Across America, in cooperation with Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education and with other grassroots groups, invites you to “Public Schools Across America,” a 4-state Regional Action Planning Meeting.

Across the country, there is a rising chorus of protest against corporate-style school reform. Parents, teachers, students, principals, superintendents, scholars, school board members, civil rights lawyers and other concerned citizens are voicing opposition to the privatization of our schools which threatens the future of our children and the fundamental democratic principles upon which our system of public education is based.

With “Public Schools Across America,” we hope to create a model for coordinated regional action in support of public education which could be expanded and replicated across the U.S.
Who: You are invited! And please share this invitation with others interested in regional joint action in support of public education (even if they are not in our region – as long as they are able to get themselves to Ft Wayne). This meeting is not limited to educators. It for parents, grandparents, and concerned citizens who support public education and want to get more involved in supporting our public schools and our children.

What: The first “Public Schools Across America” Regional Action Planning Meeting.

Featured speaker: Indiana State Superintendent Glenda Ritz, newly-elected superintendent.

Where: Fort Wayne, IN, chosen because it is located within a reasonable drive from all 4 states, and is FULL of public education activists!. We will meet at the Plymouth United Church of Christ, conveniently located at 501 W Berry Street in Ft. Wayne.

When: Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 from 12 noon to 5 pm (snacks provided).

Why: To share our concerns about attacks on public education and how we have addressed them locally, and to consider joint activities across our region and potentially across the U.S. to strengthen public education.

Thank you for all you do in support of our public schools and our children. Hope to see you in Ft. Wayne!

Julie Woestehoff and Maureen Reedy

Julie Woestehoff, executive director, Parents United for Responsible Education (Chicago)
Co-founder of Parents Across America.
E-mail: pure@pureparents.org

Maureen Reedy ~ Co-founder of Public Schools Across America
Parent and 29-year public school teacher
Ohio Teacher of the Year, 2002
E-mail: Maureen.reedy@gmail.com

Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education (NEIFPE) Blog: http://neifpe.blogspot.com/;

Email: neifpe@gmail.com; LinkedIn: NEIFPE and Twitter

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Privatization

Indianapolis: Farewell to Public Education

By dianeravitch
February 18, 2013 //
33

I received a desperate message on Facebook from Tarrey Banks, the founder of The Project School in Indianapolis. TPS is a charter school started with a grant from the Walton Foundation. Greg Ballard, the mayor of Indianapolis, is the authorizer. TPS has low test scores, after four years, and the mayor has decided to close it. Banks and TPS parents are outraged. They went to court, blocked the mayor in a lower court, but then lost when a federal judge upheld the closure. TPS is losing the battle.

To get the big picture of what is happening in Indianapolis, read here. You will encounter a familiar cast of characters, including, of course, Bill Gates and Stand for Children.

What is happening in Indianapolis is terrifying if you believe that public education belongs to the public, not to private corporations. .

Here comes a scary future. First, the “blueprint” for Indianapolis, confidently predicting a future of perfection and excellence, but without any meaningful road map. Just promises. And here come the charters, opening with high hopes and closing when judged by scores.

Open, close. Open, close. Open, close.

Below is Banks’ letter. Read it. Read Mayor Ballard’s Blueprint for Utopia. But if you read nothing else today, read this article about the grand plan to privatize the schools of Indianapolis.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5_NQFzJRhSGZ2ZEaWZFYmhwNU0/edit?usp=sharing

This is the Mind Trust / Mayor Ballard (TFA Deputy Mayor Jason Kloth) take-over blueprint. This will literally be the end of public education in the urban core of Indianapolis.

We need help. It’s all but over. The 10th most populated city in the country is about to be one of the biggest systems of educational apartheid in the nation.

My name is Tarrey Banks and I’m the founding school leader of the Indianapolis Project School. I am a lifelong public school educator who made the decision to start a charter school with a group of passionate educators. We are the only truly progressive public school in our city. We take and teach all kids…we don’t push out, kick out, expel, etc. My daughter is a 7 year old student at our school…I made it for her because I know that all kids deserve what she deserves. We are four years old and this week we were the victim of a conservative political strategic attack. Just 3 weeks our mayor has decided to close our doors. The process was corrupt and the information they used was false and/or inaccurate. We are fighting the good fight, but I firmly believe our school will be shut down by the close of business on Monday. I truly believe this is the death of progressive public education in our city if we do not use this as a catalyst to attack the corporate reform agenda.

I know you are busy…you must be. I intend to use the closing of our school as the beginning of a rebellion. Will you help? How can I get you to Indianapolis to push this force back and make folks wake up and see what is happening? Our city is doomed if I can’t move this conversation in a different direction. We have 100’s of families, students, community members, educators ready to protest…to really blow it up…but I need more…I need a national presence…

Will you? What can I do?

Tarrey Banks

Categories ALEC, Black Alliance for Educational Options, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Indiana, On-Line Education, Privatization, Stand for Children, U.S. education
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