"I pledge allegiance to Bill Gates and to the corporation for which he stands. One nation, under Microsoft, with standardized testing and low wages for all."
Yesterday buhdydharma posted a diary Turns Out It Is Not The Republicans After All that I will reference often as I write about the education coup de tat that is occurring right under our noses. The very rich, the ruling class, is usurping our public schools. It is a slow and deliberate coup. They are taking us in with their money, promises, and dictates, and if we don't start paying attention, good public schools will be a thing of the past.
It's difficult to know where to start with so much happening and so little education news ever being reported in the MSM. So, I'm going to start in the middle and hope to provide more information in subsequent diaries. There is so much to know.
First, I want to say that Bill Gates has done much good in the world through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I thought his "small schools" initiative was a good idea in theory, although the execution has left something to be desired. That being said, his newest endeavor is wrong is so many ways. We should pay attention. The people with the most money want to control ours.
Earlier this year Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, announced the Race to the Top Fund.
This largest-ever federal investment in education reform will reward eligible states for past accomplishments and create incentives for future improvement in four critical areas of reform: adopting rigorous standards and assessments; recruiting and retaining effective teachers, especially in classrooms where they are needed most; turning around low-performing schools; and establishing data systems to track student achievement and teacher effectiveness.
President Obama joined US Secretary Arne Duncan in announcing the draft application for the $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" Fund. Obama says:
Rather than divvying it up and handing it out, we are letting states and school districts compete for it.
The rhetoric sounds impressive especially when Obama says it. But, the underlying theme is privatization of our public schools. In the above video, which is long I know, Obama mentions Bill Gates by name (around the 13:00 mark) and his stake in the new program. Gates wastes no time in positioning himself. He identifies 15 states to assist in getting the funding. The 15 states are: Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas. The foundation has hand-picked these states to receive up to $250,000 each to hire consultants to help them fill out their applications. Other states cry foul and plea for assistance, also. If you think Gates is acting out of altruism, you might be mistaken. In this letter to the other 35 states, notice how he tells them how they must answer the questions in order to qualify for funding.
TO: Dane Linn, National Governors' Association Gene Wilhoit, Council of Chief State School Officers
FR: Vicki Phillips, Director of Education, College Ready, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
RE: Criteria and Support for States for "Race to the Top" Applications
As you know, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is committed to supporting efforts to dramatically increase the number of students who graduate high school ready for college, career and life, and ensuring that all graduates, particularly low?income students, succeed at earning a postsecondary credential. Our strategy focuses on effective teaching, clear and rigorous standards, excellent assessments, implementation tools, and the thoughtful use of data. Both NGA and CCSSO have played an integral role in advancing this work.
As you also know, this summer we offered consulting assistance to 15 states for their "Race to the Top" (RTTT) applications. These states have all demonstrated a deep commitment to the policy components mentioned above, and we believe that with the right support and the additional leverage of RTTT funds they are poised to successfully scale reform efforts that can dramatically improve student achievement. Accordingly, these states will be targets for further foundation investment provided they continue to follow through on these commitments. In the case of two states, Texas and New York, they will need to make additional, explicit progress on common standards and removing barriers to linking student and teacher data respectively in order to remain eligible for future investments.
After much discussion and careful consideration of your feedback, we have decided to offer funds for consulting support to any of the remaining 35 states who can meet similar criteria for funding. This support will assist those states in the development of proposals to the federal government for the initial distribution of RTTT funds. Offering assistance to all states able to meet the criteria we have established for assistance will, we hope, help accelerate progress.
States that would like to take advantage of this assistance are invited to apply to the Arabella Legacy Fund, who will administer this funding. In order to receive the support, states must complete a brief application responding to the criteria below, and provide background information on the consulting firm of their choice.
Criteria for Funding
1. Has your state signed the MOA regarding the Common Core Standards currently being developed by NGA/CCSSO? [Answer must be "yes"]
2. Does your state plan to adopt the common core standards by June 2010 (as currently referenced in the draft RTT guidance)? [Answer must be "yes"]
3. Demonstrate how your state plans to adopt/prioritize the common core standards currently being developed by NGA/CCSSO? [Answers will be scrutinized to assess commitment and viability]
4. Does your state offer an alternative route(s) to teacher certification? [Answer must be "yes"]
5. Does your state grant teacher tenure in fewer than three years? [Answer must be "no" or the state should be able to demonstrate a plan to set a higher bar for tenure]
6. Does your state have policies or grant programs (e.g., TIF grant) in place that encourage the
placement of the most effective teachers in schools with most disadvantaged kids (e.g.to
campuses undergoing state/fed accountability intervention) [Answer must be "yes" or state
must demonstrate commitment and/or plans to put policies in place]
7. Does state have at least six of the DQC's 10 essential data elements? (Required six: unique
student identifier, teacher?student link, student level enrollment data, graduation and dropout data.)
8. Does your state have policies that prohibit the linkage and/or usage of student achievement data in teacher evaluations?
Pending final approval and a signed grant agreement, the Arabella Legacy Fund will manage this process and will review applications; field questions from states; assist in "marketing" this opportunity; review the grant proposals from the states and determine the awards; conduct basic due diligence on firms; negotiate the contracts directly with the consulting firms; execute contracts (draft final documentation, disperse first payment); and follow up (send second payment, collect the final RTTT proposals from the States ).
We hope you find this effort helpful and request your help in making states aware of this opportunity. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Danielle Gonzales, who will serve as the Program Officer on this grant.
Best regards,
Vicki
- Vicki Phillips
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
2009-09-23
Can you say "extortion"? Tell me honestly, which states do you think will get funding?
Over the past decade, No Child Left Behind has gutted the teaching profession and destroyed one public school after another. No corporation could succeed under the tenets of NCLB. Contrary to the President's words that this is not a continuation of NCLB, this is NCLB on steroids plus! It's much more dangerous. With Bill Gates, the richest man in America, telling us how to spend our education dollars so that he will make more money, while marginalizing teachers, parents, students, schools, and communities, and entire states in the process, I have a hard time believing that he has the best interest of children at heart.
I had such high hopes for Obama. I campaigned for him and voted for him. I had hoped he would put the silliness of the Bush administration educationpolicy behind us and embrace reason and common sense. But, his education policy is wrong-headed and dangerous to our children. He doesn't believe in education as a profession. He doesn't believe in real learning communities. It's too bad because both he and Michelle are products of an excellent education. I doubt he would send his children to any one of the charter schools he lauds. Grassroots groups are beginning to recognize the underlying meme in Obama's education policy. One such group is Stop National Standards, a group devoted to local control of our schools. Another is Rethink Learning Now -- which I can't link because of some bleeping Microsoft add-on which just popped up on my PC, and I can't figure out how to disable it -- Bill Gates AAUUGGGHHH!!! If you know of others, I'd appreciate a heads-up in comments.
There is so much to discuss about the motives of the Gates letter and so much more to publish about others in the ruling class who are trying to quietly take over our public schools. I'd like to know your thoughts.
March on Washington
