Oh, Valerie!

Every day I check my fabulous blog roll. I look up and an hour (or more) has passed and the item I was going to blog about has turned to mush. So I often end up copying and pasting links.

Thus, my deterioration as a blogger with something of his own to say. Everybody else seems to be saying it first. And better.

Today, Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet, has such a delicious post that I have printed it out, shredded it and sprinkled the pieces all over my morning toast. Mmmm, Mmmm, Good!

Here are just a few tidbits from How billionaire donors harm public education to wet your appetite:

Today the foundation set up by billionaires Eli and Edythe Broad is giving away $2 million to an urban school district that has pursued education reform that they like. On Friday a Florida teacher is running 50 miles to raise money so that he and his fellow teachers don’t have to spend their own money to buy paper and pencils, binders (1- and 2-inch), spiral notebooks, composition books and printer ink.
Together the two events show the perverted way schools are funded in 2010.
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Very wealthy people are donating big private money to their own pet projects: charter schools, charter school management companies, teacher assessment systems.
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What this means is that these philanthropists -- and not local communities -- are determining the course of the country's school reform efforts and which education research projects get funded. As Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent James A. Williams said in an interview: "They should come out and tell the truth. If they want to privatize public education, they should say so.”
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That none of their projects is grounded in any research seems not to be a hindrance to these big donors. And they never try to explain why it is acceptable for them to donate to other causes -- the arts, medicine, etc. -- without telling doctors and artists what to do with the money. Only educators do they tell what to do.
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[$2 million] is the same amount of money that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave away earlier this year to a company simply to market the education film “Waiting for Superman,” which portrays a distorted idea of the root causes of the problems facing urban school districts as well as the solutions.
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Surely these philanthropists think they are helping. But they don't understand education and have been somehow led to believe that "the answer" is specific and around the corner: a longer school day; a longer school year; charter schools; technology; standardized tests in every subject; assessing teachers by standardized test scores; for-profit education; training new college graduates for five or six weeks as teachers and then sending them into the toughest schools in America.
The fact is that there is no strong research to show that any of those elements will do much to help education, and many will actually hurt.
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let’s not imagine for a minute that the millionaires and billionaires giving out all this money are doing anything other than making it harder to fix the public schools that America needs.

Now on get over there and read the whole thing.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/school-turnaroundsreform/how-billionaire-donors-are-har.html#more

The Broad Prize for Losers

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.

Broad Prize for Most Improved School District Will Be Awarded Oct. 14

The Broad Prize will be awarded on Tuesday, Oct. 14.
See Broad press release at Norms Notes.

NYC won last year.

According to its website, the Broad Prize is awarded each year to honor urban school districts that demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among low-income and minority students. http://www.broadprize.org/about/overview.html

It might as well be Broad Jumping for how real the NYC results were.

I guess they didn't account for credit recovery, phony test scores, phony grad rates, etc. But the Broad Prize is all about ideology, not education. Oh, lookie: they have merit pay got rid of seniority, eliminated much of the union opposition, etc. So they cheated to show results? Big deal.

Leonie Haimson sent this to her listserve.

An analysis of NAEP scores between 2003-2007 shows that NYC came in 11th out of 12th of urban school districts in terms of gains. http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2008/07/comparative-naep-results-help-cut.html

There was no closing of the achievement gap in NYC in the NAEP scores over this period, either in math or in ELA, for any grade level tested.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/eduwonkette/2008/07/new_york_city_achievement_gap_1.html

The NAEPs are considered the “gold standard” of assessments in terms of reliability.

As for the NY state scores, there has been no narrowing of the achievement gap in NYC if scale scores are analyzed.

http://www.nysun.com/new-york/achievement-gap-in-city-schools-is-scrutinized/83215/

How can we be assured that the decision to award the Broad Prize is not determined more by politics and PR spin than actual improvements, and that this year’s winner deserves it more than NYC did last year?

I received a press invite to attend the ceremony at the Museum of Modern Art tomorrow. I remember seeing Picasso's Guernica there before it was moved back to Spain. Watching the Broad prize distribution ceremony will be like old times, only with more horror.

NYCDOE Appoints CEO of "Broad Prize Banners and Flags"

EDNOTESNEWS (EDNN) Reports:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has appointed his old pal Smellington G. Worthington III, the founder of BFER (Billionaires for Educational Reform), to a newly created position as the CEO in charge of "Hanging Broad Prize Banners and Flags." Worthington will generously take a pay cut and work for a nominal salary of $225,000 a year. "It's my civic duty to serve the poor children of New York," said Worthington.

"Imagine their glee when upon arriving at school every morning from their little hovels, they will gaze upon the banners celebrating the wonderful achievement of our winning the Broad Prize, something we will use to get Michael Bloomberg elected as president."

Chancellor Joel Klein has appointed Alvarez and Marsal as consultants on the project for a $5 million a year. "We were lucky to get A & M so cheap," said a DOE spokesperson, citing their historical expertise in being able to find just the right spot to hang a banner. "That is not an easy thing to do and we just don't have people with those kinds of skills currently working in the Department," said the spokesperson, "particularly since they were ordered NOT to hang the banners on a school's exterior wall." [See DOE announcement to Principals below.]

The money for A & M was raised privately from the profits from foreclosing on the homes of people ruined by sub-prime rate mortgages.

Bloomberg will hire a fleet of skywriting airplanes to blanket the skies with facsimiles of the Broad banner and flag.

NYC schools received notice of these banners in Joel Klein's weekly Principal's Weekly (more popularly know as The WEAKLY) with this item:

Delivery of Broad Prize Banners and Flags
All schools / Event: This week
The Broad Foundation has provided us with flags and banners for our schools. These are in recognition your hard work that helped New York City win the 2007 Broad Prize for Urban Education. You will be receiving one banner and one flag during the next week. They will be delivered to your building's general office, to your attention. Your custodial staff can assist you in determining how to display the flag and the banner. Keep in mind that you should not hang the banner on the exterior of your building, since it is likely to be blown around in inclement weather. For additional information, contact the borough facilities director at your ISC.

Here are the joyous reactions of some parents on the nyceducation news listserve:

We were dumbfounded when it arrived this morning. "We need _____" (fill in the blank with any NUMBER of things), "and they spent how much money on THIS?" - BB

There is a huge banner in my school of congratulations to the NYC Dept of Education as broad prize winner. Its like 8 FT wide! What we really need is wiring , not a huge banner, LOL. Any other schools have one? - L

Speaking out of both sides

graphic by DB

Broad Jumping II - From The Wave

by Norm Scott

The following article appeared in The School Scope column in The Wave, September 21, 2007 and summarizes some of the previous pieces on Eli Broad on this blog.

BloomKlein Win! BloomKlein Win!!
Shout it from the rooftops. Toss the confetti in the air. Have a party.
The BloomKlein gang at Tweed are suffering rotator cuff damage – in both arms– from patting themselves on the back for their victory, announced on Tuesday, in winning the Broad [pronounced Brood] prize.
Who is Eli Broad and why is he using his billions to help destroy public education in the major urban school systems?
Therein lies a long tale and I’ve elucidated much of it on my ednotesonline.com/ blog.

Broad has simple answers to complex questions. Nationally recognized educational historian Diane Ravitch sums it up:
“About 18 months ago, I was invited to meet Eli Broad in his gorgeous penthouse in NYC, overlooking Central Park. I hear that he made his billions in the insurance and real estate businesses. I am not sure when he became an education expert. We talked about school reform for an hour or more, and he told me that what was needed to fix the schools was not all that complicated: A tough manager surrounded by smart graduates of business schools and law schools. Accountability. Tight controls. Results. In fact, NYC is the perfect model of school reform from his point of view. Indeed, this version of school reform deserves the Broad Prize, a prize conferred by one billionaire on another.”

Deborah Meier, a nationally respected progressive educator for the past 40 years says:
“I am afraid. Truly. I think the mayor of NYC, and Eli Broad, are perfectly happy about a future in which most teachers come and go every five or so years. Temps. Easier to manage and harder to organize. A few will rise to leadership positions after a few years of teaching—after getting MBAs?—and the rest of the leaders will come from other fields like law, business, and the military.”

Leonie Haimson and a number of other parents sent a letter to the Broad Foundation:
“We urge you not to award the Broad prize to NYC this year. As parents and teachers, we have witnessed one incoherent wave of reorganization after another over the last five years, leading to unnecessary chaos and in many cases, disruption of educational services. None of these changes have been planned or undertaken with any consultation of the stakeholders in the system. “Instead of transparency and accurate information, we get spin and PR. Though overall, the amount spent on education has risen, there is no evidence that a larger percentage of resources has gone to the classroom, despite repeated claims by DOE. Instead, each year the headcount grows of highly paid officials at Tweed, as well as the number of multi-million dollar consultants. “…as recent news reports have revealed, the 4th grade exams in both ELA and math were much easier in 2005, when the largest gains in NYC performance occurred, putting into doubt their validity.”

The full text is available at nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/

David M. Quintana, a parent active in District 27 wrote:
“As one of the four (4) parent participants in a focus group held at Tweed for researchers from the Broad Foundation, I am disappointed in the fact that NYC received the Broad Foundation prize today. “This group of parents, handpicked by Martine Guerrier of the Department of Education (DOE), expressed uniform disappointment with the various changes put into place by DOE, the lack of transparency and accountability, and the lack of consideration given the views of parents about what their children really need to succeed. “Clearly the Broad Foundation did not take parents views into consideration when awarding this prize to NYC today. “I feel that the DOE is totally dismissive of parents views and makes short shrift of our concerns for our children (i.e. - class size reduction, cell phone ban, school bus fiasco, numerous reorganizations of the DOE, et al).”

Quintana’s resume is not a light one:
District 27 Presidents Council - Recording Secretary
District 27 Representative to Chancellors Parents Advisory Council, Queens Community Board 10 - Education Committee and Queens Borough President's Parents Advisory Council member

And the reaction of teachers on the front line to the national recognition of BloomKlein for doing wonderful things in “reforming” the NYC school system? I would bet my pension that 95% of them are laughing (or crying) themselves silly. And they would be joined by a hell of a lot of supervisors too.
I wonder what kind of prize is given to the CEO’s of corporations that have absolutely no respect from the bulk of the people that work for them? Oh, I know. The Broad prize.

Et tu Randi?
It should be clear to teachers in the trenches that they are fighting a 2-front war -– against BloomKlein and their own collaborationist union.
There was a picture of UFT president Randi Weingarten with Joel Klein giving her a big hug and kiss at the Broad Prize Awards ceremony in Washington. (It would not be impossibility for both Klein and Weingarten to end up in a Hillary Clinton cabinet, though I am betting Randi goes to the AFT presidency in July, tries to become the head of a united NEA and AFT and then moves on to John Sweeny’s job as AFL-CIO head.)
Boy, for someone who regularly charges the UFT collaborates with the forces looking to destroy public education, it doesn't get any better than this.
Last year, Broad gave the UFT Charter schools one million dollars.
Of course the UFT is saying the Broad prize is deserved, due to the teaching corps, "the best ever" in their words. Funny how they can argue that experience counts for teachers and then negate that argument by saying a system that has an enormous influx of inexperienced teachers, 50% of whom leave after 5 years, is the best ever. See Debbie Meier’s quote above.
Then they validate high stakes testing, which is the instrument by which the Broad prize is given, negating so much of what their own task force on testing reported last year.
And to further seal my contention that the UFT leadership are collaborators (I compare them to the French Vichy in WWII) against the interests of their own members –
The UFT commissioned a study of whether the ELA tests were easier in 2005 (teachers marking the exam at IS 180 at that time confirmed it at the time), thus enabling Bloomberg to use the “wonderful” results as part of his election bid and as a means to springboard him on the national stage as an masterly (funny that my spell checker first came up with “miserly”) educational reformer. When the study showed that this is exactly what occurred, Randi Weingarten ordered the results to be hushed up. Were it not for a leak to NY Sun reporter Elizabeth Green she would have gotten away with it.
Confused? Did the UFT PR machine lead you to think Weingarten and Klein are enemies?
Let Uncle Normie untangle it for you.
Both Democrats and Republicans are pushing the business/factory model of education that has caused so much misery to so many teachers, students and parents, albeit with slightly different twists. And the Clintons are in it right up to their necks. Now follow the bouncing ball.
Eli Broad, when attacked as a right-winger, responds that he is a Democrat.
Who is Hillary Clinton’s main supporter in the labor movement? Someone who is dedicating all her resources to getting Hillary elected? You guessed it. Our girl Randi.
Who worked for Clinton before he became NYC chancellor?
Bingo!

Want to do some more surf Broading? Check the ednotesonline.com blog.

More next time with a few words on Howie Schwach’s praise for Al Shanker. Needless to say, I have another view.