Who's Driving Education Reforms?

Take a look at what Susan Ohanian found regarding education reforms. It's an eye-opener! On her Facebook page she writes: "But it isn't just the Gates funding; it's the thrust of the lessons [See "Gates Foundation Money at Work"]. There's no end to it. I'm frankly getting very tired of screaming in the wilderness."

Here an excerpt of her blog post, If You Lie Down With Dogs. 

"For years, I've documented how money from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is used to promote education deform--ranging from galvanic bracelets to the Common Core. I tracked positive comments appearing about the Common Core during just one month--and listed how much money each quoted entity had received from the Gates Foundation. This included everybody from the National Writing Project to the PTA. [My].. article was rejected by the leading progressive press.

At long last, Education Week is bringing the Gates Foundation money out of the dark cellar, though you have to go to an interactive sidebar called Follow the Money to find it. It lists the "beneficiaries" [each] receiving more than $10 Million.

Here is a sampling:



5. The College-Ready Promise: $25,445,998

6. The New Teacher Project, Inc.: $20,500,000

7. Colorado Legacy Foundation: $18,860,602

8. The Teaching Channel: $18,448,561

9. Educational Testing Service: $13,790,205

10. American Federation of Teachers Educational Foundation: $11,343,925

11. New Schools Fund dba NewSchools Venture Fund: $11,200,000

12. Teach for America: $11,112,884

There is also an alphabetical list of over 100 entities receiving Gates money.

For example, in 2011, 2011, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) received $276,635 from Gates "to educate and engage its members on efficient state budget approaches to drive greater student outcomes, as well as educate them on beneficial ways to recruit, retain, evaluate and compensate effective teaching based upon merit and achievement."

And see what school districts will be spending lots of money on!!

Pearson Announces Wide Range of Teaching Effectiveness Programs to Get Educators Ready for Common Core State Standards.

Pearson’s Common Core State Standards professional development opportunities include:

• Professional Development for Administrators and Teachers – Pearson’s research-based workshops can be delivered separately or in a series. The continuum of more than 20 offerings focuses on practical application and implementation of the Common Core State Standards...Pearson also offers observational and performance assessment training and tools that help establish a culture of continuous improvement and engagement.

• On-site, Job-embedded Assistance – To further Common Core State Standards implementation, schools can opt to roll out additional on-site, embedded training where Pearson works with educators, coaching and monitoring daily classroom activities.

On a bright note:

Public Opposed Use of Tests Scores in Teacher Reviews Poll Shows

"In a reversal of public opinion, a majority of Americans now oppose using student test scores to evaluate teachers and more believe that increased testing has hurt rather than helped improve public schools, a new survey shows.

Almost two of three Americans have never heard of the Common Core State
Standards, arguably one of the most important education initiatives in decades,
and most of those who say they know about the Common Core neither understand it
nor embrace it."

Last but not least, see here the sort of information that can be collected on any school child for the inBloom data base. Will it be used to sort kids into groups, reminiscent of the  Alphas, Betas, Deltas,  Epsilons, and Gammas in Aldous Huxley's book, Brave New World?

 

Current Education Reforms Ignore Neuroscience

Education reformers should acknowledge advice from child development experts and neuroscientists on how and when children learn best,  and then tailor material and curriculum to kids' needs and brains! It is for instance totally absurd and counter productive to rob kids of recess, and even more unconscionable, to deny them of playtime in kindergarten!

I watched the video, High-Quality Kindergarten Today  of what is purported to be a high quality kindergarten and yes, a lot of the activities are engaging the children, but...there is still no time for free play. The teacher gets too involved and actually helps direct the play. She also expects feedback on it, but kids need to be able to play for its own sake instead of as a goal oriented, and teacher-directed learning experience!

Recess and playtime are good for all kids as it literally helps stimulate their brains which facilitates cognitive learning, but it is even more important for kids from poverty as they very likely have missed out on important early childhood experiences! In an infant’s life, stress especially can seriously hinder brain development. Anxiety and tension deplete the glucose necessary for mental learning and processing.

“The experiences of the first year can completely change the way a person turns out”, says neurobiologist Harry Chugani in the book Teaching With The Brain In Mind written by Eric Jensen.

And from research by Dr. Bruce Perry, Childhood Experience and the Expression of Genetic Potential: What Childhood Neglect Tells Us About Nature and Nurture the following:

Page 89: "The earlier and more pervasive the neglect is, the more devastating the developmental problems for the child. Indeed, chaotic, inattentive and ignorant caregiving can produce pervasive developmental delay in a young child."

Page 91: "...[I]n a study of more than 200 children under the age of 6 removed from parental care following abuse and neglect we demonstrated significant developmental delays in more than 85% of the children. The severity of these developmental problems increased with age, suggesting, again, that the longer the child was in the adverse environment – the earlier and more pervasive the neglect – the more indelible and pervasive the deficits..."

Page 92: "...when early life neglect is characterized by decreased sensory input (e.g., relative poverty of words, touch and social interactions) there will be a.. [negative] effect on human brain growth as in other mammalian species. The human cortex grows in size, develops complexity, makes synaptic connections and modifies as a function of the quality and quantity of sensory experience. Sensory-motor and cognitive deprivation leads to underdevelopment of the cortex in rats, non-human primates and humans."

Watch the interesting presentation Brain Development & Addiction by Gabor Mate in which he explains how addiction is the result of lack of proper brain chemistry caused by environmental factors  in the young child's life.

Teacher says: "We are abusing children.."

"..I am here to report we are abusing children in the state of New York. There is now a common core syndrome."

From the moment I posted this short, very inspiring video on various Facebook  education  groups, the number of views went from 301 to 1,332 in just 15 minutes! Help make this video go viral, so that most anyone in the country will have heard what this teacher so unequivocally dared to say!

And remember, it is not just kids in New York  State who are abused. This unhealthy focus on student 'performance' on standardized tests  is happening in schools everywhere.



Check out United Opt Out National and their Facebook group: Opt Out of the State Test: The National Movement with 5,541 members!

Do We Have the Time to Reform?

With so much discussion around improving our schools it is hard to figure out how and when to help out.  Stakeholders have little time as it is and we all go a little cross-eyed at the end of the day.  Heck, getting a good night’s sleep is what most of us shoot for in the daily accomplishments category (and fail at)!  Point is, everything is moving so fast.  So how can we get more involved in improving our schools? A recent D6 outreach event was attended by about 40 community members.  We have almost 20,000 children who attend our D6 schools.  Board meetings typically have just a handful of people there.  We see about that 40 attendee number again when the Board is discussing hot topics such as the charter schools.  40 out of 20,000.

Time is valuable and your time is best spent with your family and friends.  So how can we advocate improving our schools?  By forming connections and becoming an informed group.  Thanks to technology it is extremely simple to accomplish this.  Take the easy steps to get involved by following BuildBetterSchools.com.  You can follow via Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds or subscribe the simple way with basic email updates.

Want to write a column or just vent?  Let us know via the Contact Us page!  And you DO NOT have to agree with us or be in line with our thinking.  I believe the best things happen when two opposing sides can find common ground to move forward on.

These are our kids.  These are our schools.  This is our community and our future.  This is your website.  Let's  find each other and work together to make our schools what we all know they can be!