Archives for category: Technology, Computers
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Cheats for Change Makes Its Debut

By dianeravitch
August 5, 2013 //
12

A new website called Cheats for Change has been created in the wake of the Tony Bennett scandal.

Please take a look. It is very funny.

For those of you who do not follow education politics closely, Cheats for Change is a parody of Jeb Bush’s group called Chiefs for Change.

Bush and his Foundation for Educational Excellence (FEE) created Chiefs for Change to advance the Jeb Bush agenda of charter schools, vouchers, testing, competition, accountability, removing teacher tenure, and replacing teachers with technology.

There are eight “chiefs for change” a la Jeb Bush and the Florida miracle.

Tony Bennett, who previously served as chair of Chiefs for Change.

The current chair is Hanna Skandera of New Mexico.

The other members of Chiefs for Change are:

John White of Louisiana

Stephen Bowen of Maine (he had a little problem about pushing online learning in Maine)

Deborah Gist of Rhode Island

Chris Cerf of New Jersey

Kevin Huffman of Tennessee

Janet Barresi of Oklahoma

These are the leading lights of the testing, choice, and privatization crowd. Two (White and Huffman) are TFA alumni. Three (Cerf , White, and Gist) are Broad Academy alumni.

Categories Broad Foundation, Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Chiefs for Change, Humor, Privatization, Technology, Computers, Vouchers

Three Dubious Uses of Technology in Education

By dianeravitch
August 1, 2013 //
44

I was invited to contribute an article of 500 words to a special issue of Scientific American. I assumed that most of the other articles would be unalloyed cheerleading for the wonders of technology. So I decided to talk about both the promise and the perils of technology.

I have seen teachers doing amazing things with the Internet. I have gone to conferences where thousands of teachers were learning how to use technology creatively. I know that technology, in the hands of inspiring teachers, can bring learning to life and empower students to self-direct their studies.

But it is in my nature to look at questions from all angles. That is what is known as critical thinking.

So I wrote about three ways in which technology may be a danger to education.

First is the for-profit online charter school, which provides a poor substitute for real education but is quite profitable.

Second is the use of computers to grade essays, which severs the teacher-student relationship and mechanizes what should not be mechanized.

Third is the effort to impose Big Data on school issues, assuming that inputting enough data will somehow tell teachers what each student needs.

I end thus:

“Here is the conundrum: teachers see technology as a tool to inspire student learning; entrepreneurs see it as a way to standardize teaching, to replace teachers, to make money and to market new products. Which vision will prevail?”

Categories Charter Schools, Data and Data Mining, On-Line Education, Technology, Computers

InBloom Loses Another Site

By dianeravitch
August 1, 2013 //
35

Politico’ Morning Education Blog reports a setback for inBloom. Notice the come-on: free now, not later:

INBLOOM OFF THE ROSE? — Another state has pulled out of using the Gates Foundation’s $100 million technology service project, inBloom. The withdrawal further shrinks the project after other states pulled out in part because of concern about protecting students’ privacy. Guilford County, N.C. told POLITICO on Wednesday that the state decided to stop using the service, which is designed to hold information about students including names, socioeconomic status, test scores, disabilities, discipline records and more in one place, and ideally, help in customizing students’ education.

Guilford schools’ departure doesn’t put the project in any kind of jeopardy, inBloom said, although Louisiana withdrew in April and other states once affiliated with the project no longer are. That leaves New York, two Illinois districts and one Colorado district as firm participants for now; Massachusetts is on the fence. At first inBloom will be free, but by 2015 states and districts using it will be charged $2 to $5 per student for the service.

Categories For-Profit, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Privacy and Privacy Rights, Technology, Computers

My Article on the Promise and Peril of Technology in Schools

By dianeravitch
July 25, 2013 //
58

I was invited to write an essay on technology for “Scientific American.” I have not yet seen the issue so am not sure who else contributed. When I was invited, I was told that there would be articles by Bill Gates and Arne Duncan. As you know, there are a few differences among us. One of them is that I write every single word that is published under my name. No one else writes my books, articles, blogs, tweets, speeches, or anything else.

Here is the article in “Scientific American.” Let me know what you think.

Categories On-Line Education, Technology, Computers

Teacher: Predatory Uses of Data Endanger Children

By dianeravitch
July 24, 2013 //
25

This teacher blogger takes issue with the opinion article written by Kerrie Dallman, the president of the Colorado Education Association, supporting inBloom, a project of Bill Gates and Rupert Murdoch.

She writes:

“Aside from your support of inBloom in Colorado and the glaring ethics and privacy issues the system poses, I have some real problems with your argument that teachers need inBloom as a “tool.”

“First, you claim that inBloom fixes the problem that teachers “don’t have enough time to truly personalize learning for every student to meet their individual needs.” Sure: teachers who log into 30 systems with different usernames and passwords each day (this really happens?) waste time. But the solution to that waste of time isn’t to consolidate confidential information about students into one database; it’s to reevaluate the overuse of data that you describe. After all, the best teachers in the world have been successful for hundreds of years without staring at test results and other flawed data on spreadsheets, and those teachers will continue to be successful whether the Gates Foundation gets its hands on children’s personal information or not. The idea that storing loads of statistical data about our children can “personalize learning” is counterintuitive, as the testing culture that accompanies corporate educational reform reduces students and teachers to numbers and depersonalizes the personal culture of learning teachers work so hard to achieve. As you note, “nothing can ever replace the instincts of a teacher.” Unfortunately, the people making decisions about education don’t trust the instincts of a teacher.”

Categories Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, On-Line Education, Technology, Computers

This Teacher Loves inBloom

By dianeravitch
July 21, 2013 //
17

InBloom is very controversial, to say the least. This is the collaboration funded by the Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation, to gather confidential student data and aggregate it into a massive database. The actual work will be done by Wireless Generation, which is part of Joel Klein’s Amplify, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.

Many parents are unhappy about the release of their child’s data without their written consent. Presumably, the information will be used to create and market new technologies directly to schools and students.

Here is an article supporting inBloom, written by the head of the Colorado Education Association. CEA received funding from the Gates Foundation in 2012 and 2013.)

The article provoked some lively comments.

One of my favorites:

“I will tell you the precise moment when I will perhaps re-consider my view of InBloom as a troubling and pernicious development in the education of our nation’s public school children: when Lakeside Prep in Seattle, Sidwell Friends in DC and other august and prestigious private academies decide they want their students to be signed up for this racket. Otherwise they will remain separate and apart from the commoners’ children in the public schools, of course. It must be easy to dictate policies that only affect other people’s children.”

Categories Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Technology, Computers

David Sirota: IPads Cannot Replace Teachers

By dianeravitch
July 13, 2013 //
54

The holy grail for corporate reformers is cost-cutting that produces profits. Their hope is that if schools replace teachers with technology, the districts save money, and the tech companies strike it rich.

As David Sirota writes, districts (especially those with Broad-trained superintendents) are pouring millions into iPads, tablets, etc., in hope that students will learn online and be tested online. at the same time, class sizes will get larger as the teacher becomes a monitor, supervising rather than teaching. Even districts that have suffered budget cuts and lost essential services will somehow find the money to invest in technology.

Win-win-lose.

Win for those who sell technology.

Win for those who want larger classes taught online.

Loss for the kids, who need a human teacher to help them and explain.

Categories Los Angeles, Technology, Computers

Idaho Has a Problem

By dianeravitch
July 1, 2013 //
33

Idaho has a problem, and it may not be unique to Idaho.

One of the most powerful families in the state is the Albertson family, which runs the Albertson Foundation.

It seems that one of the family heirs has made millions of dollars by investing in the online charter company K12, and now the Albertson Foundation thinks the whole state should get behind the for-profit corporation and put their kids online. Follow the money.

The foundation has been running “public service ads” with the slogan “Don’t Fail, Idaho,” insisting that the kids in Idaho are doing horribly on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the federal tests. What’s the cure? One guess.

The ads claim that 60% of children in Idaho are “not proficient” on the NAEP tests, but they don’t explain that “proficient” on NAEP is a very high level of performance, what I consider a very strong A or B. The NAEP state coordinator from 2002-2012 tried to explain what the NAEP labels mean, but he probably did not persuade the Albertson Foundation.

Here are the facts:

In fourth grade reading: 31% of children in Idaho are below basic, just below the national average of 34%.

In eigth grade reading, 19% are below basic, well below the national average of 25%.

In fourth grade math, 17% are below basic, about the same as the national average.

In eighth grade math, 23% of the kids are below basic, well below the national average of 28%.

Idaho is not failing.

What would really fail Idaho would be to put large numbers of students into K12 virtual academies, which have high attrition rates, low test scores, and low graduation rates.

Idaho, don’t fall for a bill of goods.

Categories Education Industry, For-Profit, Idaho, On-Line Education, Technology, Computers

The Néw High School: Deja Vu All Over Again

By dianeravitch
June 10, 2013 //
36

Arne Duncan announced that he plans to hold a national competition for a redesign of the high school. He wants to dangle $300 million (if Congress agrees) for those who come up with the best redesign of the American high school. He is thinking STEM, technology, and other such big ideas.

As I read of this idea, I couldn’t help but remember back to 1991 when the first President Bush assembled smart people like Lamar Alexander as secretary and David Kearns (CEO of Xerox) as deputy secretary. David Kearns created a national competition to design the school of the future. The prize was $50 million (raised in the private sector) for the best plan to create “Néw American Schools.”

A new non-governmental organization was created to oversee the competition. It was called the Néw American Schools Development Corporation. Ten or 12 teams won the money. Their ideas were all over the place. The money was duly awarded.

So far as I know, not a trace remains.

Corporate types love the idea of incentivizing bold innovations by holding out big money for the winners.

But it is not the way to change schools. Schools are embedded in their communities. They reflect their communities. Schools change and evolve as society and the economy change.

Someday our educational leaders will grow a sense of humility. We may someday have leaders who don’t try to treat schools like businesses. Schools are not part of the free market. They are community institutions, and their values, practices, and mores are not those of the market economy. They do not compete to win. They exist to nurture students and educate them, not to turn a profit.

Categories Duncan, Arne, Technology, Computers, U.S. Department of Education

A Suggestion for the President

By dianeravitch
June 6, 2013 //
19

A reader (Mom/Speducator) has an idea for President Obama. Instead of going to Mooresville, North Carolina, to talk up the high-tech classroom, she says, how about this:

“Shouldn’t he have instead traveled to Chicago to offer support to the thousands of families whose lives will be in upheaval in a matter of months.”

Categories Chicago, Closing schools, Emanuel, Rahm, Obama, Technology, Computers
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