Monday, August 5, 2013

UPDATE:News Roundup Seattle Schools Community Forum: State-by-State Evidence of Jeb Bush's Ed Reform Machinations #Cheats4Change

Seattle Schools Community Forum: State-by-State Evidence of Jeb Bush's Ed Reform Machinations:

Harmon Leaving Seattle Schools
I cannot print the word that came out of my mouth when I saw this from the Superintendent. It is very, very upsetting because Harmon was truly one of the good guys and one of the most calm and dedicated employees at headquarters.  I had kind of thought he might be promoted to Bob's position. With him leaving (and Bob Boesche), I have deep concerns for the district.  Something has to change to stem
Seattle Education News Roundup
KUOW is reporting a sticking point in the SEA and SPS contract negotiations - class size.  Yes, SPS wants to go bigger in the upper grades. Seattle Education Association President Jonathan Knapp says the district’s latest proposal, made last week, would increase class sizes in Seattle by two students per class in grades four through twelve. That would create average class sizes of 30 students in f


State-by-State Evidence of Jeb Bush's Ed Reform Machinations



I know that many believe that the drumbeat, the concern, the outrage over corporate ed reform is a few voices in a canary mine.  Or exaggerating.  Or those voices are conspiracy therorists.

And yet the evidence is stacking up as I have documented.  Against TFA, against charters, and now, in one of the biggest exposes - corporate ed reform.   The good news is that this house of cards is sagging and will fall. 

From the eagle eye of Washington Post writer of The Answer Sheet, Valerie Strauss, comes a story about thousands of public disclosure e-mails, across six states, that show quite a lot of linkage between corporate ed reform and making money off of it.

The non-profit that did the public disclosure request and released the information is In the Public Interest.   

The correspondence is available at:
• Rhode Island: http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/node/2746
• Oklahoma: http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/node/2745
• New Mexico: http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/node/2744
• Maine: http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/node/2743
• Louisiana: http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/node/2742
• Florida: http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/node/2741

Basically:

Emails between the Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE), founded and chaired by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and state education officials show that