America's educational system...

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Jivermo
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America's educational system...

Post by Jivermo » Wed Nov 12, 2014 4:22 pm


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Amskeptic
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Re: America's educational system...

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:35 pm


This is tragic and disgraceful. Read the comments underneath. We have gone around a corner.
ASK teachers how they are managing and they will tell you that it is more difficult to teach with these cookie cutter standardized tests. 30 years ago, we were #1. We are now 18th . . . and dropping. 14% of new teachers resign by the end of their first year, 33% leave within their first 3 years, and almost 50% leave by their 5th year. 66% of all U.S. fourth graders scored "below proficient" on the 2013 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) reading test.

Daily Kos 2007:
The architect of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), President Bush’s first senior education advisor, Sandy Kress, has turned the program, which has consistently proven disastrous in the realm of education, into a huge success in the realm of corporate profiteering. After ushering NCLB through the US House of Representatives in 2001 with no public hearings, Kress went from lawmaker—turning on spigots of federal funds—to lobbyist, tapping into those billions of dollars in federal funds for private investors well connected to the Bush administration.

A statute that once promised equal access to public education to millions of American children now instead promises billions of dollars in profits to corporate clients through dubious processes of testing and assessment and “supplemental educational services.” NCLB—the Business Roundtable’s revision of Lyndon Johnson’s Education and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)—created a “high stakes testing” system through which the private sector could siphon federal education funds. The result has been windfall corporate profit. What was once a cottage industry has become a corporate giant. “Millions of dollars are being spent,” says Jack Jennings, director of the Center on Education Policy, “and nobody knows what’s happening.”

The wedding of big business and education benefits not only the interests of the Business Roundtable, a consortium of over 300 CEOs, but countless Bush family loyalists. Sandy Kress, chief architect of NCLB; Harold McGraw III, textbook publisher; Bill Bennett, former Reagan education secretary; and Neil Bush, the president’s youngest brother, have all cashed in on the Roundtable’s successful national implementation of “outcome-based education.” NCLB’s mandated system of state standards, state tests, and school sanctions has together transformed our public school system into a for-profit frenzy.

Kress, former president of the Dallas School Board, began “A Draft Position for George W. Bush on K-12 Education” as early as 1999. Working successfully with then-Governor Bush in Texas for years, the Democrat bolstered bipartisan support behind the compassionate marketing promise to “leave no child behind” through the adoption of high state standards measuring school performance. Signed into law in early 2002, NCLB dramatically extended the federal role in public education, mandating annual testing of children in Grades 3 to 8, providing tutoring for children in persistently failing schools, and setting a twelve-year timetable for closing chronic gaps in student achievement. Having then crafted the legislation, Kress transitioned from public servant to corporate lobbyist, guiding clients to the troth of federal funds. By 2005 he had made upwards of $4 million from lobbying contracts.

While the Business Roundtable maintains that the high-stakes tests administered nationwide hold schools accountable to “Adequate Yearly Progress,” NCLB has instead benefited the testing industry in the amount of between $1.9 and $5.3 billion a year. NCLB requires states to produce “interpretive, descriptive, and diagnostic reports,” all of which are provided at a price by members of the industry. Among these are the top four or five players in the textbook market, including the Big Three—McGraw-Hill, Houghton-Mifflin, and Harcourt General—who have, since the passage of NCLB, come to dominate the testing market. Identified by Wall Street analysts in the wake of the 2000 election as “Bush stocks,” all three represent owners like Harold McGraw III, who has longstanding ties to the Bush administration and the lobbying efforts of Sandy Kress.

Other Kress clients, including Ignite! Learning, a company headed by Neil Bush, and K12 Inc., a for-profit enterprise owned by Bill Bennett, tailored themselves to vie for NCLB dollars.

Under NCLB, as school districts receive federal funding they are required by law to hold 20 percent of those funds aside, anticipating that its schools will fail to meet its Annual Yearly Progress formula. When that “failure” is certified by test scores, the district is required to use those set-aside federal funds to pay supplemental education service (SES) providers. Ignite! has placed products in forty US school districts, and K12 offers a menu of services “as an option to traditional brick-and-mortar schools,” including computer-based “virtual academies,” that have qualified for over $4 million in federal grants. Under NCLB, supplemental educational services, whose results are being increasingly challenged, reap $2 billion annually.

Nationally, there are over 1,800 approved providers of supplemental educational services, but little in the way of regulation. To the contrary, Michael Petrilli, former member of the Department of Education, purports, “We want as little regulation as possible so the market can be as vibrant as possible.” To that end, Kress is currently lobbying on behalf of another bipartisan coalition to win reauthorization of NCLB for another six years.
jivermo, I love this country, but from A to Z, I am finding the corporate footprint ever more odious in its insidious destruction of life as I once knew it.
Colin
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Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: America's educational system...

Post by hippiewannabe » Fri Nov 14, 2014 7:49 pm

Oh just stop it. The countries that are kicking our ass rely on intense study and high stakes standardized tests, like we used to. A small step to slow the decent to soft feel-good worthlessness is taken to be a giant corporate conspiracy. The left is getting its way, our country is going down the toilet. The frustrating part is how many point the finger at those who built it and can save it.



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Re: America's educational system...

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Nov 14, 2014 8:29 pm

hippiewannabe wrote:Oh just stop it. The countries that are kicking our ass rely on intense study and high stakes standardized tests, like we used to. A small step to slow the descent to soft feel-good worthlessness is taken to be a giant corporate conspiracy (clumsy). The left is getting its way, our country is going down the toilet (please explicate). The frustrating part is how many point the finger at those who built it and can save it.
C+ - see me after class
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: America's educational system...

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Nov 14, 2014 8:40 pm

hippiewannabee, I am NOT backing down even if you did neatly categorize my concern as "left"ist. My stepdad has been visiting schools for forty years now, was invited to the White House to chat with George and Laura, has been firmly plugged into the education profession, the publishing profession, and knows many of the pre-eminent educators and authors in this country. His observations, the observations of the professionals he interacts with, and of course, the incontrovertible facts of our very real decline in not just test scores, but actual student competence (ask your CEO buddies), means nobody around here is going to just stop it.

We have a crisis of endangered critical thinking in this country.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: America's educational system...

Post by hippiewannabe » Fri Nov 14, 2014 9:40 pm

Amskeptic wrote: My stepdad has been visiting schools for forty years now, was invited to the White House to chat with George and Laura, has been firmly plugged into the education profession, the publishing profession, and knows many of the pre-eminent educators and authors in this country. His observations, the observations of the professionals he interacts with, and of course, the incontrovertible facts of our very real decline in not just test scores, but actual student competence (ask your CEO buddies)
Of course. CEOs, and anybody else who want to find competent people are disgusted with the state of education in this county. Are you saying your stepdad joins the leftist chorus that the No Child Left Behind shovel full of sand thrown against the 50 year tide of decline and entrenched mediocrity was not an honest attempt to improve things, but was instead a conspiracy to enrich Bush cronies?
Truth is like poetry.
And most people fucking hate poetry.

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Re: America's educational system...

Post by Jivermo » Sat Nov 15, 2014 12:19 am

Yes. Where do you think Neil Bush has been skulking since he screwed the taxpayers in Silverado? Jeb, with his self proclaimed "educational" tilt, is indeed enriching his cronies. We do not need a continuation of this family in national politics. The thought makes me reel.

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Re: America's educational system...

Post by hippiewannabe » Sun Nov 16, 2014 6:18 pm

Jivermo wrote:Yes. Where do you think Neil Bush has been skulking since he screwed the taxpayers in Silverado? Jeb, with his self proclaimed "educational" tilt, is indeed enriching his cronies. We do not need a continuation of this family in national politics. The thought makes me reel.
You know Colin's step-dad?
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Re: America's educational system...

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Nov 16, 2014 8:07 pm

hippiewannabe wrote:
Jivermo wrote:Yes. Where do you think Neil Bush has been skulking since he screwed the taxpayers in Silverado? Jeb, with his self proclaimed "educational" tilt, is indeed enriching his cronies. We do not need a continuation of this family in national politics. The thought makes me reel.
You know Colin's step-dad?
Businessweek Magazine
No Bush Left Behind
October 15, 2006

Across the country, some teachers complain that President George W. Bush's makeover of public education promotes "teaching to the test." The President's younger brother Neil takes a different tack: He's selling to the test. The No Child Left Behind Act compels schools to prove students' mastery of certain facts by means of standardized exams. Pressure to perform has energized the $1.9 billion-a-year instructional software industry.

Now, after five years of development and backing by investors like Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and onetime junk-bond king Michael R. Milken, Neil Bush aims to roll his high-tech teacher's helpers into classrooms nationwide. He calls them "curriculum on wheels," or COWs. The $3,800 purple plug-and-play computer/projectors display lively videos and cartoons: the XYZ Affair of the late 1790s as operetta, the 1828 Tariff of Abominations as horror flick. The device plays songs that are supposed to aid the memorization of the 22 rivers of Texas or other facts that might crop up in state tests of "essential knowledge."

Bush's Ignite! Inc. has sold 1,700 COWs since 2005, mainly in Texas, where Bush lives and his brother was once governor. In August, Houston's school board authorized expenditures of up to $200,000 for COWs. The company expects 2006 revenue of $5 million. Says Bush about the impact of his name: "I'm not saying it hasn't opened any doors. It may have helped with some sales." (In September, the U.S. Education Dept.'s inspector general accused the agency of improperly favoring at least five publishers, including The McGraw-Hill Companies, which owns BusinessWeek. A company spokesman says: "Our reading programs have been successful in advancing student achievement for decades; that's why educators hold them in such high regard.")

The stars haven't always aligned for Bush, but at times financial support has. A foundation linked to the controversial Reverend Sun Myung Moon has donated $1 million for a COWs research project in Washington (D.C.)-area schools. In 2004 a Shanghai chip company agreed to give Bush stock then valued at $2 million for showing up at board meetings. (Bush says he received one-fifth of the shares.) In 1988 a Colorado savings and loan failed while he served on its board, making him a prominent symbol of the S&L scandal. Neil calls himself "the most politically damaged of the [Bush] brothers."

While hardly the first brother to embarrass a President -- remember Billy Carter's Billy Beer or Roger Clinton's cocaine? -- Neil could be the first to seek profit from a hallmark Presidential crusade. And also that of a governor: Jeb makes school standards a centerpiece in Florida, too.

Neil says he never talks shop with his brothers. He attributes his interest in education to his struggles with dyslexia. His son, Pierce, also had difficulties in school, he says. "Not one of our investors has ever asked for any kind of special access -- a visa, a trip to the Lincoln Bedroom, an autographed picture, or anything."

By Keith Epstein
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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hippiewannabe
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Re: America's educational system...

Post by hippiewannabe » Sun Nov 16, 2014 8:54 pm

hippiewannabe wrote:
Amskeptic wrote: My stepdad has been visiting schools for forty years now, was invited to the White House to chat with George and Laura, has been firmly plugged into the education profession, the publishing profession, and knows many of the pre-eminent educators and authors in this country. His observations, the observations of the professionals he interacts with, and of course, the incontrovertible facts of our very real decline in not just test scores, but actual student competence (ask your CEO buddies)
Of course. CEOs, and anybody else who want to find competent people are disgusted with the state of education in this county. Are you saying your stepdad joins the leftist chorus that the No Child Left Behind shovel full of sand thrown against the 50 year tide of decline and entrenched mediocrity was not an honest attempt to improve things, but was instead a conspiracy to enrich Bush cronies?
You have convinced me your stepdad is an expert. So I'll ask again. What is his opinion?
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Re: America's educational system...

Post by ruckman101 » Sun Nov 16, 2014 10:30 pm

We don't have an education system. We have an indoctrination system from kindergarten through doctorate degrees that discourages critical thought. Critical thought is a threat to the elite we are being indoctrinated to maximize profits for.

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Re: America's educational system...

Post by pj » Tue Nov 18, 2014 9:06 am

Boys, boys, report to the front office and pick up your participation trophies. Well everyone but Mr Ruckman, that comment sir is undeserving of a participation trophy, report to the barn and get to work on your car.

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Amskeptic
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Re: America's educational system...

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Nov 18, 2014 1:32 pm

hippiewannabe wrote:
You have convinced me your stepdad is an expert. So I'll ask again. What is his opinion?
This is the first time you asked . . . (?)

His opinion is:
a) that schools are being overwhelmed by the complexity of our specific cultural problems. We have developed a divide between administering and teaching. He thinks that more principals are having difficulty serving as liasons between external political pressures and the more intimate needs of teachers to execute their skills to the best of their abilities. Funding limitations coupled with class size creep coupled with student home life issues coupled with the sheer scope of modern knowledge (and where and how to edit it to a manageable and relevant curriculum), makes for a difficult environment for children to learn in.

b) that our national conversation about how to address and improve schooling is contaminated by politics and corporatization as seen in in-class advertising, sports sponsorship, and testing/textbook selection.

He has found that principals and experienced teachers have more to do with a school's success than we seem to recognize, and the really good ones are getting harder to come by.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: America's educational system...

Post by hippiewannabe » Sat Nov 29, 2014 8:53 pm

Amskeptic wrote:
hippiewannabe wrote:
You have convinced me your stepdad is an expert. So I'll ask again. What is his opinion?
This is the first time you asked . . . (?)

His opinion is:
a) that schools are being overwhelmed by the complexity of our specific cultural problems. We have developed a divide between administering and teaching. He thinks that more principals are having difficulty serving as liasons between external political pressures and the more intimate needs of teachers to execute their skills to the best of their abilities. Funding limitations coupled with class size creep coupled with student home life issues coupled with the sheer scope of modern knowledge (and where and how to edit it to a manageable and relevant curriculum), makes for a difficult environment for children to learn in.

b) that our national conversation about how to address and improve schooling is contaminated by politics and corporatization as seen in in-class advertising, sports sponsorship, and testing/textbook selection.

He has found that principals and experienced teachers have more to do with a school's success than we seem to recognize, and the really good ones are getting harder to come by.
Colin
OK.
But:
Are you saying your stepdad joins the leftist chorus that the No Child Left Behind shovel full of sand thrown against the 50 year tide of decline and entrenched mediocrity was not an honest attempt to improve things, but was instead a conspiracy to enrich Bush cronies?
Truth is like poetry.
And most people fucking hate poetry.

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Re: America's educational system...

Post by asiab3 » Sat Nov 29, 2014 9:33 pm

hippiewannabe wrote: Are you saying your stepdad joins the leftist chorus that the No Child Left Behind shovel full of sand thrown against the 50 year tide of decline and entrenched mediocrity was not an honest attempt to improve things, but was instead a conspiracy to enrich Bush cronies?
I don't know if he's saying that, but it IS true. The Bush family has had close family ties with the McGraw family* since the 1930's. Harold McGraw was placed on the Board of Directors of oil company ConocoPhillips, the Chairmanship of the National Council on Economic Education, and the Education Task Force of the Business Roundtable.

*McGraw-Hill Education was one of the three biggest profiteers in the NCLB program, (if not the largest.) They sold the company for $2.5 billion cash in 2012. After grossing over a billion a year with the program.

It doesn't stop with NCLB… CommonCore and the Pearson scam continue in the direction, so I guess every decade has its own. I wish I could type more from my phone.

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