Russ on Reading: What Do We Want from Public Schools?

Russ on Reading: What Do We Want from Public Schools?:



What Do We Want from Public Schools?

Ok students, let’s start today with a quick multiple choice question.

Which of the following represents the best reason for having a highly functioning system of public schools?

a)    economic stability

b)    social stability

c)    political stability

d)    joy of the individual

Yes I know. I hated these “best reason” questions when I was taking standardized tests, too. It always seemed to me that these questions were asking you to guess what was in the test makers head. Nonetheless, your answer to this question will go a long way to determining what kind of schools you champion.

If your answer to the question is a) economic stability, you are part of a long tradition in American education that sees education for its utilitarian value. One early proponent of the economic stability argument was Booker T. Washington, who argued that the best way for newly freed African Americans to find their place in an American society that they had been brought to in chains was to learn a trade. Later on, public school districts throughout the country built vocational schools where high school students learned practical skills to ensure employment. In this day and age, when a high school diploma seems inadequate for earning a living wage, those who focus on economic stability are likely to champion educational standards that promise to get students “college and career ready.” If your concern is maintaining the economic status quo, you may choose economic stability as the goal of public schooling.

If your answer is b) social stability, you also have history on your side. As Michael Katz has shown in his book The Irony of Early Education Reform, a driving motive behind the reform movement in public education in the 19th century was to convert the children of factory workers and recent Russ on Reading: What Do We Want from Public Schools?:

Celebrating Ten Years of Post-Katrina, New Orleans Charters– And You Are Not Invited | deutsch29

Celebrating Ten Years of Post-Katrina, New Orleans Charters– And You Are Not Invited | deutsch29:

Celebrating Ten Years of Post-Katrina, New Orleans Charters– And You Are Not Invited

December 26, 2014

In modern America, when it comes to selling a product, the question of whether the product actually works as promised becomes irrelevant. The narrow concern for the profit-driven ends with effectively marketing the product.

Sales result from effective marketing– not the least of which is repeatedly telling the consumer that the product works.

Tell consumers that the product works. Tell them repeatedly.

They then mistake repetition for truth, and voila! the product moves off of the retailer’s shelf.

This is the story of the now-all-charter Recovery School District (RSD) in New Orleans: It is an inferior product that continues to be pushed as a nationwide model of charter school success, yet it is a failure. A flop. Nothing more than marketing hype.

And certainly no miracle.

RSD Backdrop

Contrary to what many believe, RSD did not originate following the August 2005 devastation of New Orleans via Hurricane Katrina. RSD was formed pre-Katrina, in 2003 via Act 9, and it was a statewide district.  Former Governor Kathleen Blanco supported Act 9. Based upon the legislated criteria set to determine a 2003 “failing” school as any that had a school performance score below 60, RSD only garnered five former Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) schools pre-Katrina. At the time that the hurricane hit, OPSB still operated 117 schools.

OPSB’s retaining so many schools was not supposed to happen.

The hidden agenda behind formation of RSD was for the state to assume control over all OPSB schools and convert OPSB into an all-charter district. To this end, Act 9 in 2003 was not enough.

The powers that be who wanted to “solve” the OPSB “problem” with under-regulated market forces would find their moment to strike within two years.

When Katrina destroyed New Orleans in August 2005, those eyeballing the New Orleans schools for complete charter conversion–not the least of whom was the late State Superintendent Cecil Picard– urged former Governor Kathleen Blanco to push the Louisiana legislature for Act 35. Former BESE member Leslie Jacobs isCelebrating Ten Years of Post-Katrina, New Orleans Charters– And You Are Not Invited | deutsch29:

How Charter Operators Get Rich | Help Change The World. The Future Of The County Is Now.

How Charter Operators Get Rich | Help Change The World. The Future Of The County Is Now.:

How Charter Operators Get Rich

Charter Schools USA is a very successful for-profit business. It is very profitable. Its CEO Jonathan Hage is an entrepreneur, not an educator. The company’s headquarters are in Florida but it operates 70 charter schools in seven states. It hopes to take over the entire York, Pennsylvania, school district. The money to operate the charter schools come out of money that would otherwise go to district public schools.

How does Hage and the corporation make big money? It is not the management fee of 5%. It’s the rent.

As Channel 10 learned in its investigation, charters profit handsomely by paying outsize rent to themselves.

“When the company helps open a new school, its development arm, Red Apple Development, acquires land and constructs a school. Then, CUSA charges the school high rent.

“For example, Winthrop Charter in Riverview may struggle to balance its budget this year thanks to a $2 million rent payment to CUSA/Red Apple Development. The payment will equate to approximately 23% of its budget, even though CUSA CEO Jon Hage has been quoted as saying charter school rent should not exceed 20%.”

The corporation says that as long as test scores are high and parents are happy, the profits are no problem.

“But among CUSA’s critics is the League of Women Voters, which recently released a study suggesting a troubling lack of separation between a charter school’s advisory board and for-profit How Charter Operators Get Rich | Help Change The World. The Future Of The County Is Now.:

The “Evil” MORE Must Fight « Movement of Rank and File Educators

The “Evil” MORE Must Fight « Movement of Rank and File Educators:

The “Evil” MORE Must Fight

December 26, 2014 — Leave a comment

By Mindy Rosier

There are many forces set to destroy public education that we must fight, but fighting this “evil” is near and dear to my heart. I received information last week that there will be a Public Hearing on Success Academy in District 1 on January 8th. I also kept seeing Eva Moskowitz in the media.

As usual, the more I read, the more angry I got. First came a link claiming the city is dawdling in their charter school plans here. So she planned a City Hall press conference which she canceled after Farina said she anticipates on accommodating up to 8 out 14 of Moskowitz’s schools, though no locations were mentioned. Farina further stated that if any of her schools could not be co-located within existing public schools, the city could seek funding for her to receive private space in the article found here. Thank you Governor Cuomo! Then a little birdie on Twitter shared this gem with me. It is of Success Academy’s 990 Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax for the period of 07/01/2012-06/30/2013. During this time period, Success Academy’s annual revenue more than doubled. Yet Moskowitz can’t afford to pay rent??? We all remember that statement don’t we?

The next day, NY Daily News Reporter Ben Chapman, who must have heard from this birdie too, put out this article. Not only does he state what I just did, he also reported that Moskowitz’s salary jumped, too.  Campbell Brown put in her two cents by saying, “she is worth every penny.” What’s that saying…. “birds of a feather flock together,” it is all so true.

By last Friday, a report on Mayor de Blasio written by Juan Gonzalez from the NY Daily News came out, and it is my opinion that de Blasio made some bold statements that he needs to uphold. He should not cave in to Moskowitz or Cuomo. This article can be found here. On charter schools, “We would never take our kids out of (public) school for a political purpose, and that’s what it was,” de Blasio said. “I think anyone who helped organize those protests [against Success Academy’s not being given free space] took advantage of those kids and used them as political pawns.” The city’s cooperation “comes with some rules,” he said. “We expect (charter schools) to represent the same population as in the district they are housed, meaning just as many English-language learners, just as many special ed kids, (and) not move out kids who don’t test as well.” Finally on this issue, “there was an election,” de Blasio added. “I said what I believed in. We’re (implementing) these policies. They can protest like anyone else, but we’re following through on a vision that I put forward to the people of this city.” I know many have a problem with our mayor for so many things. I personally do not agree with everything he says or does. However, in general, I have found that it is impossible to please everyone, but we either have to make do or fight back. I choose to fight back.

So now we get to why this issue is near and dear to me, I will start by saying that I know what it is like to be in co-location with Moskowitz. Her chain of Success Academy schools began in my building eight years ago. She has gutted my District 75 school over and over. During these eight The “Evil” MORE Must Fight « Movement of Rank and File Educators:

Teachers grow more unhappy with Common Core changes - Renton Reporter

Teachers grow more unhappy with Common Core changes - Renton Reporter:

Teachers grow more unhappy with Common Core changes

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• by TRACEY COMPTON,  Renton Reporter Staff Writer 
• Dec 23, 2014 at 8:51AM

Cascade Elementary students in Hilary Vargas’ fourth-grade class work on a writing assignment.

— Image Credit: Courtesy Renton School District

Teachers and staff in the Renton School District are expressing their frustrations about a lack of support for aligning curriculum with the new national reading, writing and math standards adopted by Washington state.

At a recent school board meeting on Dec. 10, four teachers spoke during the comment period, one near tears, addressing problems with the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. The standards are academic benchmarks for reading and math that lay out what students should know and do at each grade level and after high school.

Fighting back tears, Katie Thorleifson, a teacher at Campbell Hill Elementary, reported that 11 out of 14 teachers informally surveyed at her school said they have thought about quitting.

The teachers spoke of a lack of curriculum for the Common Core Standards, changing leadership at their schools, low morale, a lack of training on the standards, increasing teacher/student ratios, problems with technology and a lack of the teachers’ voice in major decisions.

“They are at the tipping point; there’s so much piled on them that they are at their last straw,” said Cami Kiel in an interview Dec. 16. She is the president of the teacher’s union, the Renton Education Association. Kiel also offered her testimony at the school board of what she’s hearing from teachers.

Teachers have expressed concern about their colleagues and there’s minimal and very limited tools to align the Common Core Standards, she said.

“When we finally do adopt the curriculum, there’s no time for teachers to sit down and learn it,” said Kiel.

A substitute teacher shortage is also contributing to these issues as teachers can’t break away from their classrooms to get the training they need on the new standards. However, the district administration is aware of the problems and interested in listening to the concerns, Kiel said.

“They are really interested in problem-solving, but there are so many problems where do we begin,” she said.

The district has been working with teams of teachers for many months to adjust Renton’s Teachers grow more unhappy with Common Core changes - Renton Reporter:

"I Don't Know What a Person Says Next. Please Help?" - Living in Dialogue

"I Don't Know What a Person Says Next. Please Help?" - Living in Dialogue:



“I Don’t Know What a Person Says Next. Please Help?”

 By Michelle Strater Gunderson.

What does it mean to teach our youngest students?

It means that we have the privilege of guiding dear persons in having good and fulfilled lives.

It means learning to wait for someone else to tie their shoes before running out to recess. It means working for days on end to learn the difference between a lower case b and d. It means learning to be careful with your words and actions.

I am always so taken by how many mistakes my first graders make in the course of a day, and how willing they are to pick themselves back up and try again. The following story happened last week and reminded me of how precious and vulnerable children are at this age.

During our sharing time one of my students wanted to sing a song she had made up for our class. She sat in the sharing chair and started singing a heart-felt song about how different she was than everyone else and what it felt to be like her. Two of the boys sitting in front of her plugged their ears.

I was appalled. How could children who have spent four months with me learning to care for others do such a thing? Then I took a moment and realized that they had never experienced such raw emotion, and they were not sure how to react to it.

I had to say to myself – remember, when we teach young children even the simplest events are brand new to them.

After the song was over I took the boys aside to explain to them that plugging ears when someone is singing is never the right thing to do. I asked them what they were thinking and one of them said, “It was so icky.” We talked about how it makes us uncomfortable when someone shares their heart, and that this feeling can be icky.

Then the boys decided to apologize. I have never heard such clear and thoughtful words from small "I Don't Know What a Person Says Next. Please Help?" - Living in Dialogue:

Have Yourself a Common Core Christmas…A Close Reading Parody:

Have Yourself a Common Core Christmas…A Close Reading Parody

DECEMBER 24, 2014 BY NANCY BAILEY 1 COMMENT

As you snuggle next to a roaring fire and reach for the family’s favorite Christmas poem, don’t forget we live in a Common Core world now where close reading rules even for the youngest among us.

Follow the script! And don’t forget you are to read the poem three times.

Of course, I really believe this poem is best read once or twice with excitement and children allowed to ask their own questions whenever they want. We should trust children to understand what is happening and ask questions when they are curious.

I also believe for older students there are times when close reading is justified. Teachers have been using close reading techniques long before Common Core. I cite the questions and the worksheet I used below.

Merry Christmas to all! Enjoy a little Eggnog!

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
(or A Visit from St. Nicholas)
by Clement Clarke Moore

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

STOP!

The First Reading

What is the main idea?
Summarize the passage I just read.
Do you have questions about what I read?
What did you hear?
What is this about?

The Second Reading

What text structures and text features were used?

 Continue Reading @

Have Yourself a Common Core Christmas…A Close Reading Parody:

Happy Holidays from the Big Education Ape 2014

Happy Holidays from the Big Education Ape 2014

From My Family to Yours

Arne Duncan's Edu-Predictions for 2015 - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Arne Duncan's Edu-Predictions for 2015 - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Arne Duncan's Edu-Predictions for 2015

By Alyson Klein on December 24, 2014 10:32 AM

We've got just a few more days before it's time to put on the New Year's Eve dancing shoes and break open the champagne. So what's U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan predicting for next year?

• More than 60,000 additional children will enroll in high-quality early learning. (I think he's hoping for good results from the administration's new Preschool Development Grant program and other initiatives.)
• Six hundred new commitments by colleges, organizations, and companies will help thousands more students prepare for and graduate from college. (Sounds like he's putting a lot of stock in the White House's recent higher education summit.)
• Ten million more students will have high-speed Internet access (That would mean a great success for the Obama administration's E-rate initiative.)
• America's  high school graduation rate will set a record—again. (Graduation rates were, indeed, at an all-time high this year, but it's noteworthy that big achievement gaps remain. What's more, the metric in question has only been required since 2008, and only uniformly used since 2012. Plus, grad rates went from 79 percent to 80 percent, hardly a dramatic jump. Still, a record's a record.)

Not on Duncan's list? A reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, a top priority for both U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the chairman of the House education committee, and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the incoming chairman of the Senate education panel.

That omission puts Duncan pretty much in line with the majority of education insiders surveyed by Whiteboard Advisors, a government-relations organization in Washington. On the most recent pollconducted by the group, just 40 percent of insiders expected to see NCLB renewal in 2015.

What are your edu-predictions for 2015?

LAUSD board members look to slow charter school expansion:

LAUSD board members look to slow charter school expansion

By Thomas Himes, Los Angeles Daily News

POSTED: 12/21/14, 6:26 PM PST |

0 COMMENTS

Los Angeles Unified school board members plan on taking a harder look at approving new charter schools, because they fear their expansion will cripple the district’s ability to educate children by diverting precious state funding.

In less than five years, the nation’s second-largest school district has approved 126 charter schools, and there are now a total of 250 charter campuses that educate 119,000 students in its jurisdiction.

For each pupil who attends a charter school, the district loses $9,269.78 in state funding. And with aggressive plans for further expansion by large charter organizations, school board members Steven Zimmer and Monica Ratliff are questioning the need for more in certain areas, while board members Bennett Kayser and George McKenna have also expressed concerns.

“I am not looking to specifically limit new charter expansion, but I am absolutely intent on having a real and important conversation about what continued expansion in LAUSD means for all children, not just some children,” Zimmer said.

Last year, LAUSD’s board approved 18 charters, down from the three previous years. Approval was given to 24 charters in 2010-2011, 39 charters in 2011-2012 and 37 charters in 2012-13. This year so far eight have been approved.

Three were approved earlier this month, including an Alliance College-Ready Public Schools campus to be located in Sun Valley for 1,050 students in grades 6 through 12. Alliance is the largest charter operation in Los Angeles with 26 schools and 11,000 students.

Board members also approved plans by the nation’s largest charter organization, Kipp, to open two elementary schools, in Boyle Heights and South Los Angeles. The schools are slated to start educating 1,100 pupils in August, as part of plans to more than double Kipp’s Los Angeles operations by opening 11 campuses and enrolling 5,000 additional students by 2020.

Those plans alone by Kipp will cost Los Angeles Unified $35 million per year in funding, according to a report from bond and credit rating agency Moody’s.

“That’s a whole lot of schools to close down” if students move to the new charter schools, board member George McKenna said at the Dec. 9 board meeting. “To lose 300 teachers, that doesn’t bode well for us, as an organization as large as we are. Like they say, ‘how do you eat an elephant,’ one bite at a time; I think we’re being eaten alive.”

Even if LAUSD were to try to slow the growth of charters, school board members would face an uphill battle. State law provides few acceptable reasons for rejecting applications to open charter schools. Those causes mostly center on the application process and proposed academic program.

Charters can also appeal school board denials to county and state education officials. Additionally, a loophole in state law allows charters to obtain permission from neighboring districts and open inside LAUSD should they fail to find a suitable facility within the jurisdiction that approved their charter.

Ratliff said she wants state law changed to give board members more authority to deny charters, especially those that want to open in the vicinity of traditional campuses that are high-performing.

“Ultimately, I believe Sacramento and Gov. Brown should allow authorizers to take into account the landscape of existing schools in an area when authorizing charter schools,” Ratliff said.

Zimmer, who pointed out his previous support for high-performing charters, said he suspects reformers aiming to break apart LAUSD and its 35,000-member teachers union are behind plans for aggressive expansion in LAUSD. If they truly cared about parents and students, he said, organizations such as Kipp LAUSD board members look to slow charter school expansion:

Social Media, Rudolph and Oprah [VIDEO 2:03] | Actualization

Social Media, Rudolph and Oprah [VIDEO 2:03] | Actualization:

Social Media, Rudolph and Oprah [VIDEO 2:03]

This quick video by FatAwesome suggests how the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer would be different today with real-time access to social media. Here, an elf records and shares a clip of Santa saying, “We can’t have any freaks on the sleigh team. That’s for damn sure,” and the resulting reaction online goes viral and spirals out of control. It serves as a humorous reflection on how much society has changed in fifty years, but also as an indictment of how mindlessly we can follow the chain reaction momentum of social media posts to their bizarre conclusion.

Social Media, Rudolph and Oprah [VIDEO 2:03] | Actualization:

Education World: Education World News Round Up: Best of 2014

Education World: Education World News Round Up: Best of 2014:

Education World News Round Up: Best of 2014

The year is coming to an end, and Education World has provided teachers with the news they need to help with professional development, technology, Common Core, trends, and more.

Education World has gathered a list of the best news items in 2014.

1. Dunkin Donuts Promotion Causes Confusion for Educators: Back in September, a Dunkin Donuts promotion in Illinois circulated around Facebook and promised that teachers would receive free coffee every Monday that month. The enticing advertisement confused teachers all across the country and the Dunkin corporate office had to clarify that the offer was only a local promotion. 
2. Teacher: 10 Ways to Sabotage Classroom Management: An educator from MiddleWeb displayed ten ways that teachers can sabotage classroom management. Along with the negative actions, educator Jennifer Gonzalez offered alternatives for teachers to turn to. Education World wishes you all the improvements in classroom management that 2015 has to offer!
3. Time Magazine Cover Leaves Teachers Outraged: In November, Time magazine published a controversial headline, "Rotten Apples: It's Nearly Impossible to Fire a Bad Teacher. Some Tech Millionaires May Have Found a Way to Change." This inflammatory headline and cover left teachers all over the nation outraged, and prompted the American Federation of teachers to start a petition to ask Time to apologize for its cover.
4. ADHD Experts Share Strategies for Teachers: ADDitude magazine, a publication for readers with ADHD, posted an informative slideshow explaining to teachers how they can approach students with ADHD. Some of the tips were to "be specific", "model and write down what good behavior looks like", and provide 'clear routines'". Education World invites teachers to provide their tips on dealing with students with challenges and we are still looking for an educator to write about what it's like to teach when you (the educator) have ADHD. Write us at editor[at]educationworld.com if you'd like to contribute.
5. Young Women Can 'Let It Code' With Anna and Elsa on Code.org: Code.org announced a new program where students can learn how to code alongside Disney's Frozen characters Anna and Elsa. With the program, students can learn how to create coding that will make Anna draw snowflakes and make snowman perform magical "ice craft." Visit the site during your winter break if you haven't yet!

Article by Kassondra Granata, Education World Contributor

- See more at: http://www.educationworld.com/a_news/education-world-news-round-best-2014-866622714#sthash.E0uYpzNu.dpuf

Time Magazine Cover Leaves Teachers Outraged

After teachers discovered Time Magazine's November 3 cover headline, some were outraged enough to petition for Time to apologize for the "attack."

The headline, which reads: "Rotten Apples: It's Nearly Impossible to Fire a Bad Teacher. Some Tech Millionaires May Have Found a Way to Change,"  will "blame teachers for the problems in America's schools," said the pledge on ATF.org.

"Time’s cover doesn’t even reflect its own reporting," the site said. "The Time article itself looks at the wealthy sponsors of these efforts. And while it looks critically at tenure, it also questions the testing industry’s connections to Silicon Valley and the motives of these players. The cover is particularly disappointing because the articles inside the magazine present a much more balanced view of the issue. But for millions of Americans, all they’ll see is the cover and a misleading attack on teachers."

AFT finished with this statement: "TIME: apologize to America's teachers for the misleading and hyperbolic attack on your November 3 cover."

The American Federation of Teachers' Randi Weingarten said that "while the inside content is much more balanced, it's unfortunately obscured by the controversial cover," according to an article on EducationDive.com.

"The cover is particularly disappointing because the articles inside the magazine present a much more balanced view of the issue. But for millions of Americans, all they’ll see is the cover and a misleading attack on teachers," she said.

New York University education historian Dave Ravitch, the article said, called the cover "malicious", and "is asking teachers to write letters to Time, and a whole slew of teachers are taking to Twitter and other forms of social media to make their voices heard."

Ravitch, the article said, is "less concerned with the rest of the content and more focused on the message the cover spreads."

"She argues that the bigger issue is not teacher tenure but rather retention. With all the teacher bashing, enrollment at teacher colleges is declining and teachers are retiring earlier. Why would anyone want to go into a field when they are automatically viewed as the enemy?" the article said.

Read the full story. 

- See more at: http://www.educationworld.com/a_news/time-magazine-cover-leaves-teachers-outraged-1109874514#sthash.uKHcfJm8.dpuf

Video: Diane Ravitch, University of Arizona, December 14, 2014 The Network For Public Education |

The Network For Public Education | Diane Ravitch, University of Arizona, December 14, 2014:

Diane Ravitch, University of Arizona, December 14, 2014

The Network for Public Education is an advocacy group whose goal is to fight to protect, preserve and strengthen our public school system, an essential institution in a democratic society.

Our mission is to protect, preserve, promote, and strengthen public schools and the education of current and future generations of students. We will accomplish this by networking groups and organizations focused on similar goals in states and districts throughout the nation, and share information about what works and what doesn’t work in public education.

The Network for Public Education

Art Charters v. Traditional No Art Schools:

Art Charters v. Traditional No Art Schools

DECEMBER 22, 2014 BY NANCY BAILEY LEAVE A COMMENT

Why are the arts removed from traditional public schools while at the same time charter schools are given carte blanche to create art schools? The New York Timeshas an article about Voice Charter School where students sing and “outperform” their peers….

Academically, students at Voice did significantly better than the city average on New York State math exams last year, with 70 percent of its students passing, compared with 39 percent citywide. Their English performance was less impressive, but with 39 percent passing, it still beat the citywide average of 30 percent.

Aren’t Americans tired of such comparisons? I am also tired of children being used as pawns in the effort to privatize public schools.

For years there has been an intentional drive to remove the arts from traditional public schools, especially in poor areas. In all public schools there is a decline of the arts and an emphasis on math and English/language arts. High-stakes testing and Common Core leave traditional public schools blending the arts if students are lucky. But blending the arts into other subjects is not the same as exposure to a variety of art programs—painting, singing, drama, and even dance. And a visiting artisan once in a while is not the same as a credentialed art teacher who consistently lets students explore the arts.

Voice Charter School also sounds a bit pushy with the singing. I will explain in a minute.

While many traditional public schools have lost their art programs, the Obama administration subscribes to “I need proof that the arts matter” with a program called Turnaround ARTS which zeroes in on only eight select traditional public schools with Art Charters v. Traditional No Art Schools:

Here’s who got the biggest Gates Foundation education grants for 2014 - The Washington Post

Here’s who got the biggest Gates Foundation education grants for 2014 - The Washington Post:

Here’s who got the biggest Gates Foundation education grants for 2014

 Bill Gates is famous for many things, including spending hundreds of millions of dollars to develop, promote and defend the Common Core State Standards. In 2014, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded millions more for the Core, plus other issues in the education world.

Along with the Common Core, the big winners in terms of issue were charter schools — especially in Washington state (where Gates helps finance a campaign to win voter approval of charters) — and online and technology-based learning initiatives.

In terms of dollars spent, Gates is the leading billionaire/millionaire who has poured money into school “reform” in recent years. Such philanthropy has raised questions about whether American democracy is well-served by wealthy people who pour so much money into their pet projects — regardless of whether they are known to be useful in education — that public policy and public funding follow in their wake.

Here are  15 of the biggest education-related grants listed on the Gates Foundation’s Web site for 2014:

New Venture Fund
Date: May 2014
Purpose: to support the successful implementation of the Common Core State Standards and related assessments through comprehensive and targeted communications and advocacy in key states and the District of Columbia
Amount: $10,300,300
Term: 13
Topic: Global Policy & Advocacy, College-Ready
Regions Served: GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICA
Program: United States
Grantee Location: Washington, District of Columbia
Grantee Website: http://www.newventurefund.org
[The New Venture Fund received another grant in January worth $2,266,215, plus at least two more during the year worth $601,637]

Education Trust Inc.
Date: March 2014
Purpose: for general operating support
Amount: $8,000,000 
Term: 36
Topic: Global Policy & Advocacy
Regions Served: GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICA
Program: United States
Grantee Location: Washington, District of Columbia
Grantee Website: http://www.edtrust.org
[The Education Trust is an organization that supports charter schools and Here’s who got the biggest Gates Foundation education grants for 2014 - The Washington Post: