The destructive power of “Education Reform” is spreading

Sep 02

jonpeltoCharter Schools, Education Reform, Michelle Rhee, Paul Vallas, Special Education, Standardized Testing, Stefan Pryor, Steven Adamowski, Teach for America, Teacher Tenure 14 Comments

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram newspaper leads with the headline, “Special Report: The profit motive behind virtual schools in Maine.”  The reporting is a stunning tribute to what reporters can do when they look past the spin and the fancy press releases and really start digging.

It is also another shocking example about how public education is falling to the education reform industry.

Change the location from Maine to Connecticut and the term “virtual schools” to “education reform” and readers will recognize the patterns.

They are just as prevalent here in Connecticut.

In Maine it is being perpetrated by a tea-bag governor and his ultra-right hacks, and the lack of finesse and sophistication shows.  Here, in Connecticut, it is being designed and implemented by Democrats, so it appears more sophisticated and legitimate.  However, many of the goals and outcomes are exactly the same.

Read the article from the Maine Sunday Telegram.  Book mark it.  Hold on to it.  We’ve seen some of it already here in Connecticut; we’ll see more of it, if Connecticut legislators don’t stand up and put a stop to it.

The Maine Sunday Telegram’s core findings are eerily familiar.

Education Reform:  Guided by people and organizations, many of whom stand to profit from the changes.

Out of State Connections:  Individuals within government, our schools and education reform groups that are part of a broader coalition of people seeking to undermine public education.

Follow the Money: The flow of lobbying dollars from out of state, leading to the flow of taxpayer funds from Connecticut and our schools districts to education companies…and then back to some of the very people who are making the decisions to privatize our education system.

Behind the Scene Deals: Every Freedom of Information request, here in Connecticut, like those in Maine, reveal more and more behind the scene meetings and efforts to push education reform forward with as little public input as possible.

And to top it all off, all the money going toward systems that fail:  The Education Reform advocates claim success after success, but the most basic research reveals that their claims are nothing more than  lies. 

Charter schools who cream off the best students, refusing to take their share of the poor, those with language barriers or students who need special education services.  Or bait and switch techniques, such as those used in Hartford, to make it appear test scores and graduation rates were up.

Feeding on the fears and desires of parents and communities to improve their education system, many of these “education reformers” are little more than white-collar crooks, stealing and wasting scarce public resources.

For the Maine Sunday Telegram Story See:  http://www.pressherald.com/news/virtual-schools-in-maine_2012-09-02.html.  More here: http://media.kjonline.com/images/virtualschoolsfull.jpg

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  • buygoldandprosper

    Fears and desires. Hopes and dreams.
    You are absolutely on target and the wave is just beginning to build. Blogs such as yours help reveal the disaster in the works but you have exposed some very dirty little secrets and very little has been acted upong by the powers that be…because the powers that be are as corrupt as the day is long.Morally or otherwise.
    Winning the hearts and minds is the first step to the kind of systemic change that the knowledge industry has planned. Very much like the 2008 financial collapse that was a product of thirty five years of “hard work” by the banks and their attorneys while our “leaders” like Chris Dodd became friends of Angelo and raked in the cash.
    The changes that they seek are pervasive and come in all forms. Even this crazy state funded organization can twist reality to suit their needs:
    http://67.199.109.117/blog/?p=2228
    If the link does not work,check out CT.Innovations blog. Your tax dollars at work.

  • Linda174

    What CT newspaper has the guts and intelligence to conduct true investigative reporting? Have they all sold out?

  • jschmidt2

    Jonathan- It appears party association doesn’t seem to count here. It is evident that the people are using the excuse of out of control costs, and lousy performance to hijack the agenda of reform that will enrich the people in control not the children. But you betray your affliations and partisanship when you throw around the word “tea bag’ in the derogatory tone when it appears you know little about the true goal of the tea party which is to have the government live within its means. It cheapens your argument.

    • jonpelto

      That is a very fair observation. I’ll go back and take another look and consider re-phrasing that section.
      Thanks
      Sent from my BlackBerry please excuss typos

  • jschmidt2

    jonathan- everyone gets frustrated with the other side even I do with hard core right wingers. But I think by and large the Tea Party gets a bum rap from the media. Thanks for listening. Disclosure- I am a Republican but not a member of the Tea party. Yes it is lonely in CT.

  • buygoldandprosper

    Tea bagging? That is what special interests are doing to the general population. Open wide!
    I listened to SIXTY MINUTES on the wireless this evening and Sal Kahn sure got a nice story done about his method. I did not hear anything about the kids who do not have access to a laptop or do not speak English or who have other challenges. I am sure he has factored that into his system. It sounded fun and intriguing…definitely a step up from the SRA Labs I did in my youth. One kid I have did something like that with JohnsHopkins but it was not a hit.
    A cheap way to improve test scores..?Throw out the television and electronics K-7. Read actual books.Enrich lives as much as possible and hope for the best. That,from a neo-luddite who had kids that are well read and test well.
    The tea party…a sad group of disenfranchised,angy people with a grudge against society. Usually dollar demoninated. I should join but I would rather stick a gun in my mouth and pull the trigger!

  • Roger Conway

    This a a great service, Jon. This demonstrates that it’s not only Bridgeport or Louisiana or Chicago or even Vallas. It’s a vast monster that corrupts everything it encounters. Learning is not even one of its concerns. It’s about money and control.

  • http://twitter.com/paulbogush Paul Bogush

    The example test question that teachers are being given from the testing service that CT will be using is on virtual schools…I just wrote about it here:
    http://blogush.edublogs.org/2012/09/01/in-bed-with-the-enemy/

  • http://www.facebook.com/melanie.savage.1610 Melanie Savage

    A very interesting blog entry (though I could do without the creepy Alice in Wonderland illustrations) regarding the connections between Gates/Pearson/Murdoch and the ever-increasing focus on high stakes testing. At the end, suggestions for combatting the trend, as well as mention of a few people who are fighting back.
    http://livingbehindthegates.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/going-down-the-rabbit-hole-the-mad-world-of-bill-gates-and-pearson-publishing/

    • Linda174

      Thanks for posting…will read today.

    • Linda174

      Long article…creepy pictures, but the recommendations can stop this madness:

      We must stop the madness. If that means we must use the law to end high stakes testing and Common Core, then let’s use it.

      Parents can Opt Out of high stakes testing.
      School boards, principals, and superintendents can pass resolutions against high stakes testing.
      States and districts can use the law to fightback against forced implementation costs in the face of budget cuts.
      Teachers and districts can boycott Pearson.
      Teachers, unions, parents, and students can strike.
      EVERYONE can sign the National Resolution Against High Stakes Testing!

  • Linda174

    Check this out:
    Check out the agenda and the sponsors
    for the 2013 Education Summit in Aspen:

    I wonder what they will discuss here,
    notice how they rarely mention children:

    The
    Fall Of The Wall: Capital Flows to Education: What sectors and companies are
    attracting investment and why?

    http://edinnovation.asu.edu/accommodations/

    http://edinnovation.asu.edu/

  • Bill Morrison

    If anyone is interested in joining a resistance movement to this type of corporatization and the educational deformers, please stay tuned to this blog for upcoming announcements about our next meeting. Some of us will be attending next weekend’s meeting of the Connecticut Chapter of Parents Across America before we plan for our meeting. We have attracted some attention so far by distributing fliers and a rap sheet about Adamowski, and I have another flier in the works for the next Windham and New London Boards of Education meetings.

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