Tag: NCTQ

Bill Gates / Gates Foundation, Broad Foundation: The "Underground Department of Education", National Council on Teaching QualityLeave a comment

The NCTQ is at it again in Seattle

seattleducation2010

Over the past five years, Sue and I have followed the NCTQ since they first appeared in Seattle during our Broad superintendent’s reign when she had a report “created”, paid for by Bill Gates and Eli Broad, on those lazy, worthless teachers, referred to as “Human Capitol” in the report, and how they need merit pay waved in front of them to get our students into shape. The report came out just before the Seattle teachers’ union, the Seattle Education Association, was to negotiate their contract. By the way, their report, specifically tailored for Seattle, looks surprisingly like reports done for other districts around the country. … Continue reading The NCTQ is at it again in Seattle

KIPP Schools, NCTQ1 Comment

A look at KIPP, Michael Feinberg, NCTQ and Bill Gates

seattleducation2010

Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) is in a rush to now dumb down education in New Zealand even though New Zealand and Australia have higher international test scores than the US and the majority of other nations. KIPP is trying to worm their way into New Zealand using the same old phrasing such as “failing schools” and “ineffective teachers” and pushing the idea of hiring “unregistered” (cheap) staff to populate charter schools. See the TV New Zealand’s program The Hard Sell of Charter Schools featuring Parents Across America board member Karran Harper-Royal and Mike Feinberg, co-founder of KIPP. Fortunately in … Continue reading A look at KIPP, Michael Feinberg, NCTQ and Bill Gates

Weekly Update2 Comments

Weekly Update: Strike in Chicago? NCTQ , and ALEC (finally) Exposed…but will Inslee get a clue?

seattleducation2010

It seems that with the tragedy of the shooting of an innocent young man in Florida, the dominoes have started to fall for ALEC. As described very clearly on The ED Show by Van Jones, ALEC  pushes a right-wing pro big-money agenda. As many of us have been aware of for a while now, their reach has gone as far as our educational system where they have templates that legislators can use to simply plug in the appropriate words and voila! ed reform in a nice package, corporate style. For additional information on how ALEC has affected our school districts … Continue reading Weekly Update: Strike in Chicago? NCTQ , and ALEC (finally) Exposed…but will Inslee get a clue?

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Follow up on Stand for Children’s Jonah Edelman and His Backers

seattleducation2010

Jim Horn with Schools Matter just posted information on the PIE Network, an organization that backs the likes of Jonah Edelman. It’s a must read. Below is an excerpt from Jim’s post titled The Business Roundtable’s PIE: Post Partisan Corporatism at Its Most Virulent What is PIE?  If you don’t know, you should.  They are behind pipsqueaks like Jonah Edelman and his little charade group.  They have 25 members of the PIE Network located in 18 states, and they are buying starving legislatures left and right and center.  Get to know them, and never turn your back. The PIE [Policy … Continue reading Follow up on Stand for Children’s Jonah Edelman and His Backers

Broad Foundation: The "Underground Department of Education", Broad Superintendents Academy, Scandal60 Comments

How to tell if your School District is infected by the Broad Virus

seattleducation2010

Chicago has just learned that it will inherit Rochester, New York’s controversial and unpopular school superintendent, Jean-Claude Brizard (Broad Superintendent’s Academy “Class of 2007”). Those of us who have experienced the “leadership” of  L.A. billionaire Eli Broad’s corporate-trained superintendents send … Continue reading How to tell if your School District is infected by the Broad Virus

Education Reform, Follow the Money, High Stakes Testing, Merit Pay/Performance Pay, National Council on Teaching Quality, NCTQ, Teachers and Teaching1 Comment

The Fordham Institute and the National Council on Teacher Quality: Manipulating Teacher Layoffs (& Union-Busting?)

seattleducation2010

The following is an article by Kristin, a founding member of Parents Across America Seattle, who will hopefully become a regular contributor to our blog. Thanks Kristin for this great article. Dora All around the country, legislation is being introduced that would attack seniority by changing the “last in, first out” (LIFO) rule for teacher layoffs. There’s a corresponding meme going through the media saying that there are a lot of bad teachers who need to be fired in order to make room for new and improved teachers. What’s behind this? Basically, a lot of billionaires and corporations with an … Continue reading The Fordham Institute and the National Council on Teacher Quality: Manipulating Teacher Layoffs (& Union-Busting?)

NCTQ17 Comments

Kate Walsh, the NCTQ and US World and World Report

seattleducation2010

On the news wires this week, U.S. News & World Report and the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) announce today the launch of a landmark survey.  The survey will consist of more than 1,000 schools of education across the country.  Unprecedented in its scope and comprehensiveness, the project will rate the quality of teacher preparation programs from which more than 200,000 new teachers graduate each year. The article goes on to say: The new rating survey, to be published in the second half of 2012, will be useful for both consumers and policymakers.  Teacher education is a critical national … Continue reading Kate Walsh, the NCTQ and US World and World Report

Bill Gates / Gates Foundation, Education Reform, Race to the Top36 Comments

The Stepford Wives of Race to the Top: Our PTA

seattleducation2010

My Day with the PTA This is going to be one of those long ones, so get yourself a cup of coffee or hot tea and get comfortable. Because of my interest in education and legislation, I volunteered to be the PTA Legislative chair at my daughter’s school. That was almost two years ago. I followed what was going on and reported back to the membership. That was easy. I do remember that the Seattle Council Legislative VP, Heidi Bennett, seemed a tad bit over the top about Race to the Top but at the time I thought that was … Continue reading The Stepford Wives of Race to the Top: Our PTA

Alliance for Education, Bill Gates / Gates Foundation, Broad Foundation: The "Underground Department of Education", Charter schools, Dr. Goodloe-Johnson: Poster Child for the Broad, Education Reform, Follow the Money, Race to the Top, Seattle35 Comments

The Lines of Influence in Education Reform

seattleducation2010

[Originally published in 2010 when few if any people knew the connection between Gates’ money and public education.]   See the Lines of Influence in Education Reform flow chart here. After working on this off and on for a few months with input from several other parents, Sue and I sat down this weekend and started to hammer out a bubble diagram of the flow of money and influence in this ed-reform movement that is taking a strangle hold on this country and our children. The above link is to a hand drawn diagram that we completed. Anyway, let’s get … Continue reading The Lines of Influence in Education Reform

Alliance for Education, Education Reform, Seattle, Teachers and TeachingLeave a comment

The Alliance for Education and the NCTQ Study

seattleducation2010

This is a reprint of a post that I wrote in October of 2009. With the new study now out during the teacher’s negotiations, it seems appropriate to re-post this. The NCTQ always seems to surface whenever a public school system is under attack by ed-reformers and in Seattle it hasn’t been any different. The teachers are to blame for all that ails our school system. To follow is my previous post: The Report: Human Capital in Seattle Public Schools http://www.nctq.org/p/publications/docs/nctq_seattle_human_capital.pdf Economic definitions for the word “capital”: “Capital is something owned which provides ongoing services. In the national accounts, or … Continue reading The Alliance for Education and the NCTQ Study

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The Fallacy of “Merit” and “Performance Pay” as Teacher Incentives — they don’t SERVE anyone well

seattleducation2010

We originally posted this back in May when the Seattle teachers’ contract negotiations were just beginning. Now it’s late summer, and the school district has shown its hand — a controversial proposal (it has named “SERVE”) to link teacher evaluations to a standardized test (not designed for this purpose) and give the superintendent unprecedented power to fire teachers at will — this post becomes even more relevant. This could lead to a teachers’ strike in September. Some parents have said they are ready to stand with their children’s teachers on the picket lines, because high-stakes testing for our kids and … Continue reading The Fallacy of “Merit” and “Performance Pay” as Teacher Incentives — they don’t SERVE anyone well