Seattle PreSchool Initiative 1B: Acelero, The fox watching the hen house
It seems in the world of education these days that whenever someone has an idea, there are efforts in play to try to co-opt the idea and make money off of it.
Here’s an example in our own backyard and is happening before our very eyes. Acelero.
In the march by the Seattle City Council led by Tim Burgess, seemingly now the czar of ed for the City of Seattle, to establish a Universal preK program some folks have joined the parade who we need to take a second look at.
Right now that person is Ellen Frede who, along with Dr. Steven Barnett, have been selected by the City to lead the Initiative 1B effort of “Preschool for All”
Ms. Frede is also Senior Vice President of Education and Research for Acelero
Acelero is a for-profit venture that has taken over Head Starts in four cities so far
From the Hechinger Report
Aaron Lieberman, founder and chief executive officer of Acelero Learning Inc.
“Acelero Learning, the largest for-profit company in the country that runs Head Start programs in three other states, has arrived in Milwaukee with a $5.6 million federal grant, and it’s gearing up to enroll the first of 800 children it will serve.”
On a recent spring morning at the St. Elizabeth’s Head Start center in North Philadelphia, Ashley Post, a first-year teacher freshly graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, clicked on her “listening ears” and patted down her “thinking cap” as a room full of 15 preschoolers imitated her every move.
Many of the children were here last year, but most of the adults in the room – including Post, the center director, the curriculum manager, and a Teach For America mentor taking notes on Post’s lesson – are brand new, along with many of the toys, books, Seattle PreSchool Initiative 1B: Acelero, The fox watching the hen house | Seattle Education: