With Arms like an Octopus, Gates Foundation Reaches in all Directions
From: Bill Williams, Executive Director, Washington State PTSA
I am pleased to announce that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a grant to Washington State PTA in the amount of $191,424. Among other things, funds from the grant will be used
• to enhance communications with and among our members;
• to strengthen efforts to engage all parents, especially those from communities who have historically been underrepresented; and
• to undertake a public information campaign about the importance of every student graduating ready for college or a career.
WSPTA is very appreciative of the generosity of the Foundation in supporting our efforts to achieve our vision
It's the Student, Stupid
This isn't really what Dick Lilly over at Crosscut said but it's what went thru my mind reading his recentarticle. Here's his premise about "closing the achievement gap":
Among the results of this frustratingly persistent problem is a vast, energetic industry of school reform, headlined in recent years by the involvement of powerful private foundations and the policy directives of the federal government: “No Child Left Behind” in the “Race to the Top.”
Over the years, a variety of structural changes have been proposed and, to one degree or another, tried: small schools, mayoral governance, charter schools, (more) intensive professional development for teachers, (more) leadership training for principals. Testing and more testing, along with the loss of federal funds and wholesale staff changes when schools have failed to improve scores (many states dumbed down their tests to avoid the consequences). And lately, paying teachers based on student test