Though we totally reject the entire Broad prize concept as a political tool to undermine public education, isn't it interesting that Arne Duncan never got the prize in Chicago. And why aren't the Chicago schools after 14 years of the kind of mayoral control being raved about by so many, being given closer scrutiny before driving the urban school systems in this nation off a cliff.
Tauna makes some excellent points on the Broad Prize at This Little Blog.
Dear Eli Broad:
Does Eli Broad's peddling half-baked market solutions to education remind you of Johnny Carson's slick pitchman selling a vegematic? Johnny used to use charts too. Only they kept falling off the stand as he hit it with his pointer. Maybe that's where Broad got the idea on data manipulation.
Dear Eli Broad:
The days of the reckoning have arrived for you. Your soul died long ago but if your decrepit physical being survives just a little further into the future the full weight of justice will be meted out to you. And it will be the sweetest justice for the harm you have done to children of color in America's urban public schools is incalculable. No system of data collection is capable of quantifying it but there are an inexhaustible parade of human exhibits to be heard. Your crimes will be proven premeditated at trial. You've known all along what you were doing but the potential payoff drove you forward anyway.
See you in the docket of a people's court soon.
Paul A. Moore
Miami, FL
Follow up from NYCEducation News Listserve
I had a personal experience with Broad housing while living in Los Angeles in the late 80s/early 90s. To make a long story short, my husband and I drove up to Pacoima to tour Broad's hugh new condo complex (which received some mighty generous CA tax rebates, allowances, incentives.) We were shocked to find this brand-new complex already showing signs of deterioration, literally coming apart at the seams! We couldn't believe how shoddy the construction was. We didn't even bother going inside, just turned around and went home.
If the quality (or the lack thereof) of these Broad condos are any indication of the man and his principles, then why in the world would we entrust our educational system to him?
Nor do I understand why GE's Jack Welch is deified for being a titan of industry when he spent half his time polluting the Hudson River and the the other half avoiding cleaning up his mess.
Talking about data manipulaton, rating and judging - if these people keep getting the backing of Weingarten, as she did so competently today in the Times, they're all in like flint
ReplyDeleteAccording to Chairman Weingarten, Chicago teachers in TAP "assume addtional responsibilities with extra pay and support, and are eligible for bonuses based on classroom observations and students' academic growth schoolwide. Students .... have demonstrated strong gains."
According to Chairman Weingarten: ""Highly successful teachers assist and evaluate new teachers as well as struggling veteran teachers referred to the program..." [As if they pick "highly successful teachers" to do all that assisting -- in my school they pick teachers with less than 5 years experience who will cater to the principal's whims.]
According to Chairman Weingarten: LA teachers "have collaborated" and have a "collaborative approach".
As long as she keeps buying into this corporate vision of evaluations, bonuses, and fakedom, the profession's going nowhere, and neither will generations of kids.
Here's a note I sent to a member of congress who sits on the Finance Committee. I'm hoping others will take up the financial approach to rein in Arne Duncan's massive givaway to the eduprofiteers, and save public education from Eli Broad.
ReplyDeletePlease take a moment to look this over, it points to specific hearings the Finance Committee can hold. Similar efforts by the New York City Council are underway now.
The New York City Council met April 1 to investigate education funding contracting, and they have found an excellent example of the oversight gap:
The Bloomberg administration created a "non-profit" foundation, The Fund for Public Schools, which does not need to file financial disclosure statements, submit contracts for bids, or meet public disclosure requirements in its sub-contracts, because it is a supposedly private entity. Here are the specifics, with links to other sources:
Public Schools, Private Money
April 2nd, 2009
http://www.gothamgazette.com/blogs/wonkster/2009/04/02/public-schools-private-money/
I am asking the Finance Committee to conduct hearings similar to the one in NY City, to investigate current public gifts to the edubusiness industry, and to draft legislation requiring that all foundations which are designated to receive the Education Stimulus money be required to file full financial disclosure statements. All their subsequent subcontractors must do the same, to account for who eventually receives the public money.