CURMUDGUCATION: Return of the Data Overlords

CURMUDGUCATION: Return of the Data Overlords:

Return of the Data Overlords

When the President and Arne Duncan took to all manner of media to pretend to stand up against standardized testing (but only, you know, the bad redundant not-so-good standardized testing), the New Testing Plan included some odd language and offers of assistance, and it all struck a chord of recognition for Peggy Robertson, an education activist who blogs at Peg with Pen.

For her, the signs point toward Competency Based Education. CPE has been floating around for a while, a kind of fig leaf for the educational dream of the Data Overlords. She has written pretty compelling and researched pieces about the whole business. Emily Talmage thinks the whole anti-test spin is a trojan horse. I don't think they're over-reacting. 

We haven't heard from our data overlords in a while. When Leonie Haimson et al shut down inBloomand its dreams of hoovering up every speck of student data, too many folks heaved a sigh of relief and shrugged their shoulders. "Sure glad we're done with that." Well, we're not, and we never were.

If you doubt me, take a look at "Impacts of the Digital Ocean on Education." It's from Pearson way back in February of 2014, and it is one of many documents out there underlining the unique Pearson vision for students in the world. In fact, the textbooks, the instructional programs, the standardized tests, the huge mountains of profit-- all of those serve a central vision of swimming in the digital ocean. Here's a quote from that paper from Sir Michael Barber, the biggest Pearson Data Overlord of them all:

Once much of teaching and learning becomes digital, data will be available not just from once-a-CURMUDGUCATION: Return of the Data Overlords:



PA: GOP Walks Away from Funding Crisis

As I've outlined elsewhere, Pennsylvania suffers from long-standing school funding issues. In recent years these have been exacerbated by pension funding issues and policies that allow charter schools to suck the blood right out of public systems. Put it all together, and Pennsylvania has the widest gap between rich and poor schools in the country.

But on top of all that, Pennsylvania is suffering from the flare-up of whatever chronic problem it is that has led to five budget impasses in the past ten years. We are on day one-hundred-and-oh-hell-you-have-GOT-to-be-kidding-me of Life without Budget. And in Pennsylvania, when we don't have a budget, people don't get paid. (Well, most people. In some manner that literally nobody is prepared to explain, the state has spent $27 billion of some money on some thing.)

This is not just a school issue. Right now you can't swing a cat in the commonwealth without whacking it into a service organization or government program that's having trouble meeting payroll and taking care of the citizens it was set up to serve. Senior citizens, the disabled, the unemployed-- all are looking at a patchwork of supports that appears to have been gnawed on by some very angry goat.

But every single school district in the state is getting hit. Back in August the teachers in Upper Darby PA: GOP Walks Away from Funding Crisis



ICYMI: This Week's Notable Bloggery

Here are some bloggy highlights from this week.

Damaging the Charter School Brand

John Merrow doesn't blog often, but when he does, it's powerful stuff. Here's a look at the charter school Hall of Shame, complete with historical perspective and some links to egregious actors.

Moscowitz, Petrilli, and the Hard Truth about America's Schools

This is an absolute must-read. Jersey Jazzman has managed to synthesize most of the big news of the week, from Moscowitz's meltdown to the student assault in South Carolina. Read this.

Now, I hear a lot about the quantity of my output, but for the past little bit, Mercedes Schneider has been quietly cranking out at least one post a day (or, perhaps more accurately, one post a night, because it looks like maybe she's staying up till the wee hours to write these). That is far more impressive than my output because Schneider does actual research, whereas I just remove the filter from my brain and start typing. But if you are used to checking Schneider just every now and then, you may have missed some of the gems she's been putting out there. You should save yourself the trouble and just subscribe to her blog, but ICYMI...

Louisiana's High School Letter Grades

Just when you think you've seen every way to game an evaluation system, LA comes up with yet another data dodge.

The Waltons Set Out To Promote a Choice Ecosystem

Schneider dug up a piece of paperwork in which the Waltons lay out their plan for the next five years of educational reforminess, and it's not pretty. You need to see this.

“Fund for Louisiana’s Future” is a DC Super PAC Devoted to David Vitter

One more tale of how reformy carpetbaggers are trying to buy themselves some influence.

Commentary on Mathematica’s “First Study of Its Kind” of PARCC

Mathematica performed a study on PARCC testing. Schneider pulls that apart to find the real conclusions we can reach.

Finally, from Paul Thomas, a piece that reflects his usual thoughful and nuanced view of a difficult issue.

Resisting Good/Bad Teacher/Police Frame and Confronting Systemic Flaws in Education, Law Enforcement