Who Will the Los Angeles School Board Represent?
I wrote last week about how what has been termed the "Billionaire Boys Club" are filling Los Angeles airwaves with TV ads supporting their preferred "reform" candidates.
While many groups claim to be putting children first, the donors pitching in to help the corporate reform slate include people with some decidedly adult interests at stake.
Joel Klein, who works for Rupert Murdoch's education division, which includes Wireless Generation (now rebranded as Amplify), contributed $50K. Klein also is on the board of StudentsFirst, which reportedly received funding from Murdoch and contributed another $250K for this school board race.
What hasn't been reported is that Wireless Generation, the creator of DIBELS, a student assessment tool, already has a big contract with LAUSD. Here's what we know:
• LA Unified Used DIBELS for All K-3 Students. According to the Los Angeles Unified School District's website,
While many groups claim to be putting children first, the donors pitching in to help the corporate reform slate include people with some decidedly adult interests at stake.
Joel Klein, who works for Rupert Murdoch's education division, which includes Wireless Generation (now rebranded as Amplify), contributed $50K. Klein also is on the board of StudentsFirst, which reportedly received funding from Murdoch and contributed another $250K for this school board race.
What hasn't been reported is that Wireless Generation, the creator of DIBELS, a student assessment tool, already has a big contract with LAUSD. Here's what we know:
• LA Unified Used DIBELS for All K-3 Students. According to the Los Angeles Unified School District's website,
The use of DIBELS, the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, will give all K-3 students in LAUSD three benchmark assessments throughout the school year--beginning-of-the-year,