Barbara Byrd-Bennett co-defendants plead not guilty in kickback scheme - Chicago Tribune

Barbara Byrd-Bennett co-defendants plead not guilty in kickback scheme - Chicago Tribune:

Barbara Byrd-Bennett co-defendants plead not guilty in kickback scheme

An education consultant with long ties to the Emanuel administration pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he promised Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes for steering lucrative no-bid contracts to his firm.

The arraignment of Gary Solomon, co-owner of SUPES Academy, came one day after Byrd-Bennett admitted wrongdoing in the same federal courtroom and agreed to testify against Solomon if necessary.

Also pleading not guilty on Wednesday were Solomon's partner, Thomas Vranas, as well the two companies both ran, SUPES and Synesi Associates, another education consulting business.

Solomon's attorney, Shelly Kulwin, has previously said his client did not anticipate going to trial, a signal that he likely will eventually plead guilty in the case. Kulwin said Solomon had cooperated fully with federal authorities since the beginning of the investigation, including turning over emails and other documents before they were subpoenaed.

An indictment returned last week accused Solomon and Vranas of arranging to pay Byrd-Bennett as much as $2.3 million in kickbacks and other perks in exchange for her using her influence to award more than $23 million in no-bid contracts to SUPES, where she had previously worked as a consultant.

In a December 2012 email, Solomon, who also ran a search firm that helped the Emanuel administration select Byrd-Bennett as chief of the schools, assured her that trust accounts had been set up in the names of two of her young relatives, each funded with $147,000, federal prosecutors alleged. The cash would be hers once she stepped down from her public post and rejoined his firm.Barbara Byrd-Bennett co-defendants plead not guilty in kickback scheme - Chicago Tribune:

What You Need to Know about the Walton Family Foundation | Diane Ravitch's blog

What You Need to Know about the Walton Family Foundation | Diane Ravitch's blog:

What You Need to Know about the Walton Family Foundation

This study of the Walton Family Foundation was published in 2012 by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.

It provides a history of the family fortune and a description of the Walton family and its political interests.

Helen Walton, widow of the founder Sam Walton, has supported Planned Parenthood, but otherwise the foundation donations have gone primarily to charters, vouchers, and other conservative causes. The family also donates generously to political campaigns, and most of its donations go to conservative Republican candidates.

Walmart has its admirers, but as the report shows, it has been sued for its treatment of workers, women, and immigrants. It is, of course, nonunion. Furthermore, when it opens a new Walmart in a community, it wipes out family-owned businesses.

One of the most startling statistics in the report is from Iowa, where the opening of a Walmart was soon after followed by the closing of hundreds of local grocery stores, hardware stores, building supply stores, variety stores, shoe stores, and clothing stores.

This is a report worth reading.What You Need to Know about the Walton Family Foundation | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Who’s Who in the Privatization Movement: The Foundation World | Diane Ravitch's blog http://bit.ly/1Qx7EL4

Board of Education signs off on $40M in charter school loans

Board of Education signs off on $40M in charter school loans:

Board of Education signs off on $40M in charter school loans

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The Indiana State Board of Education on Wednesday endorsed a plan to divvy out as much as $40 million in loans in the 2015-16 school year through a controversial new state program to fund charter schools.

At least 12 charter schools have requested $25 million in loans through a program enacted in the state budget that began in July. In all, the state legislature approved $50 million in loans, but the state board voted to save $10 million of that money for the next school year.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the state board moved quickly to approve the distribution formula with limited discussion.

However, John O’Neal, of the Indiana State Teachers Association, said the program is a significant amount of money and leads him to question whether it’s the best use of tax dollars.

“Should we be giving that much money to schools that have D and F grades? Or brand new charters that don’t have grades at all?” O’Neal asked.

The number of charter schools applying for a loan could grow. The deadline to do so is at the end of the month.

The state board set a mechanism to approve loans that will rely on a school’s Board of Education signs off on $40M in charter school loans:

Fed corruption probe targets Corporate Education Reform Corruption In Detroit, Chicago, Fresno

Fed corruption probe targets DPS, EAA officials:

Fed corruption probe targets DPS, EAA officials

The FBI has launched a corruption investigation involving Gov. Rick Snyder’s K-12 reform district and Detroit Public Schools, the latest blemish for districts struggling with low test scores, falling enrollment and funding shortfalls.

FBI agents are investigating multiple officials from DPS and the Snyder-created Education Achievement Authority to determine if contracts were awarded to vendors who paid kickbacks, sources told The Detroit News.

According to a document obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, one target of the investigation is Kenyetta “K.C.” Wilbourn, ex-principal of the authority’s Mumford High School.

The investigation indicates federal agents are mining a new vein of alleged corruption in a city that has endured multiple federal prosecutions of former Detroit city officials, including ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, pension trustees and public school officials, in recent years.

Wilbourn, 40, of Harper Woods was seen as a rising star, a 4-foot-11-inch turnaround specialist at Denby High School with a “GUCCI1” personalized license plate and a 2007 Maserati. She abruptly resigned last fall after FBI agents searched her home.

“I thought she was going to be the next person to run EAA. She was that sharp,” said former DPS and EAA contractor Andrew Rio, who consulted on athletic projects. He is not involved in the investigation.“It breaks my heart, but money makes people funny.”

The corruption investigation surfaced one day after The News reported that former DPS official Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who pleaded guilty to defrauding the Chicago school system, is facing scrutiny over her tenure in Detroit.

Federal authorities alleged that as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, Byrd-Bennett steered $23 million in no-bid contracts to two education firms in return for $2.3 million in bribes and kickbacks.

No one has been charged with a crime during the ongoing investigation involving Fed corruption probe targets DPS, EAA officials:

Big Education Ape: Ex-CPS chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett pleads guilty, tearfully apologizes to students - Chicago Tribune http://bit.ly/1G3FRBJ

Big Education Ape: Teachers union asks board to suspend Hanson, other top officials | Fresno Bee http://bit.ly/1NJiIHk

China vs USA: The Education Factory War - Yahoo News

China's latest building binge: the education factory - Yahoo News:

China's latest building binge: the education factory

GUIYANG, China (Reuters) - Three decades ago, Chinese cities began turning rural land into industrial parks to attract foreign investors. Today, a new kind of project is blooming in China's countryside: the vocational education park.

Cities around China are carving out tracts of land for school parks - dubbed "education factories" - designed to train hundreds of thousands of students.

Fuelling their drive are generous government subsidies and targets to increase the number of skilled workers, part of Beijing's push to redirect China's economy away from its investment-led past toward a more innovative, high-tech future.

But the expansion comes even as many existing vocational schools are struggling to live up to their promise.

"You can build as much as you want, but unless you get good teachers, good curriculum and a system that assesses and rewards high performing schools with more resources, it's just going to be a waste of money," says Scott Rozelle, co-director of the Rural Education Action Program at Stanford University and the author of many papers on vocational education in China.

There is no question China needs to raise skill levels. Wayne Zhang, who runs a home decor products factory in northeastern China, says that finding skilled workers - in order to increase capacity or make more complex products - is increasingly hard. Of the 100 such staff he set out to hire last year, he has only been able to find 60.

View gallery

A view shows streets and school buildings inside the campus of the Guizhou Machinery Industry School …

As of 2010, just 24 percent of China's workforce had attended at least some upper secondary school, compared with an OECD average of 74 percent, according to a study published by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University in February.

As the labor force shrinks and ages, China also needs to coax more productivity out of each worker. Worker training could help avoid the so-called "middle-income trap" and, in theory, narrow a widening income gap that threatens social stability.

OUT OF STEP

Lanzhou, capital of central Gansu province, reportedly expects to attract more than 30 schools and 150,000 students to its vocational school park opening in 2017. Ganzhou, in southern Jiangxi province, has been reported to be building a vocational school district which hopes to have at least 10 vocational schools and more than 100,000 students when it opens in 2018. Yunnan, China's latest building binge: the education factory - Yahoo News:

Online news site Deadspin has its sights set on Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson - Sacramento Business Journal

Online news site Deadspin has its sights set on Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson - Sacramento Business Journal:

What is Deadspin and why is it gunning for Kevin Johnson?

Why is Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson suddenly under siege, mostly over news that isn't new? The answer is something called Deadspin -- a hard-hitting online site that has pummeled him with a dozen stories over more than a year.

The latest blow came last week after Deadspin posted a police video linked to a well-known 1996 sexual misconduct accusation against Johnson. That prompted ESPN on Monday to delay releasing "Down in the Valley," a documentary about the effort Johnson led to keep the Sacramento Kings in town.

And it raised new questions about his political future, with one Democratic party leader on Tuesday calling for Johnson to step down.

What is Deadspin, and why does it have its sights set on Johnson?

The site is owned by Gawker Media, whose other titles include the namesake New York online tabloid. Deadspin serves a lively brew of stories about sports, sex, scandal and pop culture — including show-business figures like the Kardashians. And it has apparently found an audience for stories questioning Johnson's behavior, though he hasn't been in the NBA for 15 years.

The company isn't shy about promoting its work, hiring New York PR firm Goldin Solutions to draw the attention of local news organizations to its stories about Kevin Johnson.

But Deadspin editor-in-chief Tim Marchman was more reticent when asked to explain the remarkable persistence of its coverage of a long-retired basketball player. "The motivation of the coverage should be self-evident," he said, declining to comment further.

Journalist Dave McKenna has penned 12 Deadspin articles about Johnson. The first, headlined “ The man who helped bring down Donald Sterling is an asshole, too,” published on May 2014 and reviewed past charges of Johnson's inappropriate business practices and sexual conduct.

One year later, McKenna followed up with a 4,448-word piece headlined " How Kevin Johnson destroyed a black mayors group to promote his brand," which detailed the mayor's takeover of the National Conference of Black Mayors.Online news site Deadspin has its sights set on Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson - Sacramento Business Journal:

Of School Reform 1.0 versus 2.0 :: Frederick M. Hess

Of School Reform 1.0 versus 2.0 :: Frederick M. Hess:

Of School Reform 1.0 versus 2.0 

My school reform friends get frustrated with me because they think I'm a naysayer. Why? They note that I've long been a critic of anachronistic salary schedules, tenure laws, school districts, licensure regimes, and the rest. They wonder how I can think that and then criticize so many attempts to impose new evaluation systems, licensure arrangements, pay models, and turnaround strategies. The fact that they're befuddled is a measure of just how easy it is for us to talk past each other when it comes to school improvement.

They're right that I'm eager to disassemble big pieces of yesterday's "one best system." But I've never understood why that means we ought to rush to impose a new "one best system." Given that schooling is the most human of endeavors, and that successful educational ventures therefore depend hugely on commitment and fidelity of execution, I'm inclined to give educators, entrepreneurs, parents, and problem-solvers a whole lot of elbow room to devise, refine, and grow their solutions.

For instance, insisting that states or districts use this observational protocol or that reading and math weighting when it comes to teacher evaluation is not only a subjective call that deserves a lot of scrutiny at best, but also wind up hindering the emergence of smart school and staffing models that don't happen to conform. (Example: blended or differentiated staffing models in which teachers don't own 28 students for a year turn out to be hugely incompatible with the kinds of teacher evaluation we've seen adopted in Florida or New York.) In Teacher Quality 2.0, Mike McShane and I argued that these kinds of 1.0 reforms have a place but that we need to take great care that they don't squelch version 2.0. I think we have fallen far short on that front.

I get why my friends are frustrated with my stance. It's the same issue that cropped up last week when I wrote about Duncan's tenure at the Department of Education. Many reformers believe that the status quo is unacceptable and that there's no time to allow for a messy cacophony of stops and starts. I get that. It's not an unreasonable view. But, for reasons I spell out at length in The Same Thing Over and Over, I think it misdiagnoses the problem and leaves us stuck with schools, systems, and structures that generally aren't equipped to fulfill our ambitions.

Anyway, this simple disagreement about how prescriptive we should be and how focused we ought to be on imposing the "right solutions"— versus how willing we should be to dismantle the old regime and let educators, entrepreneurs, and communities feel their way forward— represents a giant fault line in the reform community. How can we incrementally improve an anachronistic system while providing lots of room for Of School Reform 1.0 versus 2.0 :: Frederick M. Hess:

Charter Schools Transferred from Hostile Work Environment - Rhino Times

Charter Schools Transferred from Hostile Work Environment - Rhino Times:

Charter Schools Transferred from Hostile Work Environment

It may sound like bureaucratic mumbo jumbo, but moving the North Carolina Office of Charter Schools out from under the state’s Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and placing them under the State Board of Education was celebrated by charter school advocates across the state.

The legislature approved the move this session – which charter schools had been requesting – and Gov. Pat McCrory signed the change into law.

The reason charter school supporters were in favor of the change is that it takes charter schools out from under the control of the Democrats who oppose charter schools and places them under the control of the Republicans who favor charter schools.

The DPI is run by State Superintendent June Atkinson, who is a Democrat elected statewide.  Neither she nor her department like the idea of public schools that don’t have all the state and local bureaucracy controlling their every move.  

The State Board of Education is made up of members of the elected Council of State, including Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who is an outspoken supporter of charter schools, and eight members appointed by McCrory, also a supporter of charter schools.  Atkinson is on the State Board of Education but is seriously outnumbered by the Republican members.

Debbie Clary, a former North Carolina state representative and state senator who is now a lobbyist on behalf of charter schools, said that the move from the DPI to the State Board of Education was the most important legislative action this past session involving charter schools.  Clary said that the Department of Public Instruction does not show support for charter schools and that it is very hard for the Office of Charter Schools to work under an organization that does not support them.

Clary also said, “If DPI had their way, they would turn public charters into just what we have in traditional public schools, and eliminate choice for parents.”

One charter school supporter gave an example of such a roadblock related to money the state appropriates to schools.  DPI distributes that allotment.  The supporter said that DPI has been known Charter Schools Transferred from Hostile Work Environment - Rhino Times:

Teachers union asks board to suspend Hanson, other top officials | Fresno Bee

Teachers union asks board to suspend Hanson, other top officials | Fresno Bee:

Teachers union asks board to suspend Hanson, other top officials

The Fresno Teachers Association is calling for the Fresno Unified school board to suspend Superintendent Michael Hanson and other top officials, citing their possible role in the alleged shredding of documents amid a federal investigation.

FTA President Tish Rice asked the board to place Hanson, Chief Financial Officer Ruthie Quinto and Chief Operations Officer Karin Temple on administrative leave until the findings of the investigation, which focus on officials’ involvement in no-bid contracts, are made public. She issued the call at a news conference outside the school district building on Wednesday.

“We are concerned about reports that we’re getting just today that documents are being shredded in key district offices. We’re not sure if this document shredding is being done as a normal course of business or could be related to the federal investigation,” Rice said, amid cheers of teachers who attended the news conference.

A federal grand jury subpoena, served to the district last month, is demanding the district turn over a wide range of documents, including officials’ personal emails and phone records – questioning their relationship with developers.

But Hanson said the allegations were false, and pointed to ongoing salary negotiations with FTA as Rice’s motivation, calling her claims “opportunistic.”

WHEN OTHER EMPLOYEES OF THIS DISTRICT ARE INVESTIGATED, THE PROTOCOL, WE ALL KNOW, IS TO PUT THEM ON LEAVE. WHY SHOULD THESE THREE BE TREATED ANY DIFFERENTLY?

Tish Rice, Fresno Teachers Association president

“We gave very clear direction to all the people that would need to preserve documents and we are incredibly confident that they’re doing that. I think what you had tonight was an irresponsible allegation thrown out, like has happened so often around here ...  It is not coincidental that we are in a negotiations process that (FTA) expects a lot more out of and we have given our last, best and final offer,” he said. “I think it’s unfortunate, I think it’s disingenuous, and in the end, I think it needs to be clarified, but what is being alleged is not occurring.”

Rice would not name the source of her information, but she stood before the board at its regular meeting later Wednesday and made the same allegations.

“When other employees of this district are investigated, the protocol, we all know, is to put them on leave. Why should these three be treated any differently?” Rice told the board. “The public is tired of the half-truths.”

Rice said regardless of the document-shredding allegations, the three officials should still be ousted, pointing to the board’s recent hires of attorneys and public relations employees andcontroversy about Hanson and others using a phone app that automatically erases any trace of text messages.

I THINK IT’S UNFORTUNATE, I THINK IT’S DISINGENUOUS, ... BUT WHAT IS BEING ALLEGED IS NOT OCCURRING.

Superintendent Michael Hanson

Hanson and Quinto admitted to using the Cyber Dust app – which touts its ability to leave no digital footprint – to conduct school business last year. But they denied allegations it was related to the ongoing federal investigation.

In response to the calls for him to resign, Hanson said “absolutely not.”

“I am employed by the board but I work for the kids of this city and I have very strong board support to continue doing the work that they’ve charged me to do, which is to take care ofTeachers union asks board to suspend Hanson, other top officials | Fresno Bee:

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/education/article39231321.html#storylink=cpy

L.A. school board votes to fire teacher Rafe Esquith, accused of misconduct - LA Times

L.A. school board votes to fire teacher Rafe Esquith, accused of misconduct - LA Times:

L.A. school board votes to fire teacher Rafe Esquith, accused of misconduct

Hobart Avenue Elementary School educator Rafe Esquith, a nationally recognized teacher, has denied wrongdoing. (Beatrice de Gea / Los Angeles Times)

The Los Angeles Board of Education voted this week to fire nationally recognized teacher Rafe Esquith, following a misconduct investigation that included allegations he made an improper joke to students and inappropriately touched minors, according to sources with knowledge of the decision.

The longtime educator at Hobart Avenue Elementary School, who has received national acclaim for his teaching and his bestselling books, has denied wrongdoing.

Acting on the recommendation of senior administrators, the school board voted unanimously behind closed doors Tuesday to begin termination proceedings against Esquith, according to sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the matter.

Esquith, 61, was removed from the classroom in April after another educator complained about a joke he made to students relating to nudity. The complaint prompted an investigation, which quickly grew to include other allegations of misconduct.

In a letter to Esquith's attorneys in August, district officials said they were investigating claims that he inappropriately touched minors before and during his more than 30-year teaching career. The district also said the inquiry "revealed multiple inappropriate photographs and videos of a sexual nature." Other allegations involved his handling of a L.A. school board votes to fire teacher Rafe Esquith, accused of misconduct - LA Times:

Ex-Glastonbury School Principal Victim Of Attack In Israel - Hartford Courant

Ex-Glastonbury School Principal Victim Of Attack In Israel - Hartford Courant:

Ex-Glastonbury School Principal Victim Of Attack In Israel

GLASTONBURY — Many in the community who fondly remembered Richard Lakin as the "warm" and "patient" principal at Hopewell School said they were shocked to discover that he was one of the victims of a brutal a terrorist attack in Jerusalem Tuesday.

Lakin was in critical condition at a Jerusalem hospital after he was one of the passengers who was shot and stabbed by two assailants on a Jerusalem bus Tuesday before the attackers were shot by police, according to Lakin's family members and news reports about the incident.

"This morning he was stabbed and shot by murderous Islamic terrorists during an attack on a bus in Jerusalem. We are with him in the intensive care unit of Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital where he is fighting for his life. Please pray for him," someone who identified himself as Lakin's son Micah posted on Facebook shortly after the attack Tuesday.

Anne Alvord, who worked with Lakin as a teacher and language arts consultant at Hopewell School, recalled him Wednesday as "naturally respectful and gentle and effective."

"He was a very peaceful man in the way he worked with his teachers and students," Alvord said. "That was his magic, really."

Alvord said it came as a shock to many when Lakin announced in the early 1980s that he would be leaving his longtime job as principal at Hopewell School to move his wife and two young children to Israel. Lakin served as principal at Hopewell from 1969 to 1984, according to information he posted online.

Israeli army begins deploying troops against attacks

"It was a deep longing on his part," Alvord recalled of the Lakins' move to Israel. "I think he just needed to refresh himself." Alvord said that as a principal Lakin was "good at problem-solving."

"He was a democratic guy who brought the best out of you," she recalled.

Joan Kimble, a former Glastonbury resident who worked with Lakin and his wife, Karen, in a human rights council group that brought inner city Hartford children to summer camps in Glastonbury in the 1960s, said he was also surprised when the Lakins announced their move in the early 1980s.

"I don't think anybody expected it. They were just so well grounded in the community," Kimble recalled. "They told me that it was just something that they had to do."

Kimble recalled Lakin Wednesday as a "very gentle, kind person."

Helen Stern, a longtime member of the Glastonbury Board of Education, remembered Lakin as a "very child-oriented" administrator.

Ruthanne Hadley said that Lakin hired her as a first-grade teacher the year before he moved his family to Israel and remembered him as a "wonderful principal" and a pragmatic person. She said Lakin reminded her of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

"He just wanted everything to be equal and fair," Hadley said. "He was very kind and generous to everyone."

Joshua Lakin, Richard Lakin's nephew, said Wednesday evening that he had spoken to Lakin's sons at the hospital around 6 p.m., who told him that Lakin was still listed in critical condition but that doctors had been able to stabilize him. Joshua Lakin said that Richard Lakin been stabbed in the neck and lower abdomen and shot in the hip and that he was undergoing surgery to repair damage to his organs.

Joshua Lakin said that his uncle continued to teach when he moved to Israel and was active in a number of groups that sought peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

"He just loves people, cares about people and wants everybody to get along," Joshua Lakin said. "He shouldn't have been a victim."Ex-Glastonbury School Principal Victim Of Attack In Israel - Hartford Courant:

Richard Lakin's Thanks2Teachers.com - A Wellspring of Teacher Appreciation and Teacher Inspiration > Home > Home http://bit.ly/1Lly9iQ

Teaching as an Act of Love: Thoughts and Recollections of a Former Teacher ... - Richard Lakin - Google Books http://bit.ly/1LlyimB

The World of Ideas

Inspirational The World of Kids The World of Teachers The World of Parents The World of Ideas A Principal's Principles These "14 Principal's Principles" were shared on Twitter on August 6, 2010 and are many of those basic to my educational philosophy. Those dated 9/1968 (1-5) I shared with my staff at "Independence Elementary School" on my first day as a new principal 42 years ago. I was principal of "Independence Elementary School" for 16 years and much of what I've written in my book, Teaching as an Act of Love: Thoughts and Recollections of a Former Teacher, Principal and Kid, stems from my years there.                      The 14 Principles 1)  "The most important aspect of a school is the quality of the human relationships within that school." RL (9/1968) 2) "We must accept and value the child for what s/he is and has become as well as for what s/he can and will become." RL (9/1968) 3)  "Trust, caring, concern and respect are all qualities which we should foster within our school." RL (9/1968) 4)  "Schools should be vital places in which children live, learn and grow." RL (9/1968) 5)  "We should emphasize learning rather than teaching, and living, which is experiencing." RL (9/1968) 6)  "Respect & caring for each child, teacher and parent are paramount—the foundation of everything else that transpires in a school." 7)  "Teaching, like parenting, is first and foremost an act of love." 8)  "Teaching must be based in the heart, not in piles of data!" 9)  "A supportive, cooperative school culture where children thrive can be lovingly created given time and trust." 10)  "The 21st century school is a Caring Learning Community." 11)  "Parents are public education's greatest untapped supporters. Welcome & engage them as partners in their children's schools." 12)  "Positive and supportive attitudes of teachers and staff towards kids & learning make schools great!" 13)  "Be a generous listener." 14)  "Focus on ENCOURAGEMENT and EMPOWERMENT and you can help shape a loving future." Richard Lakin August 7, 2010 Jerusalem, Israel Richard Lakin's Thanks2Teachers.com - A Wellspring of Teacher Appreciation and Teacher Inspiration > Home > Home http://bit.ly/1Lly9iQ Teaching as an Act of Love: Thoughts and Recollections of a Former Teacher ... - Richard Lakin - Google Books http://bit.ly/1LlyimB

Mathematica: Testing the PARCC Test | deutsch29

Mathematica: Testing the PARCC Test | deutsch29:

Mathematica: Testing the PARCC Test

Massachusetts commissioned Mathematica to conduct a study in which it compared Massachusetts’ MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) to PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers).

The study was limited to comparing MCAS grade 10 math and ELA tests to “corresponding” PARCC tests (which means this study did not consider the most popular PARCC tests, those for students in grades 3 through 8).

The high-school-level MCAS and PARCC tests were given to 866 first-year Massachusetts college students, and the ability of the MCAS and PARCC tests to determine the proportion of these students determined to be “college ready”– those with a GPA of B or higher.

(That would have ruled out former President George W. Bush, who was a C student. Guess the White House resident who brought America punitive, test-score-obsessed No Child Left Behind wasn’t “college ready.”)

Now, the advertised outcome is that MCAS and PARCC “have similar ability to predict college grades.”

“Similar ability” is suspiciously safe terminology, as it betrays nothing of actual Mathematica: Testing the PARCC Test | deutsch29:

What The Gates Foundation’s Learned About Funding Education Journalism | The Grade | The Washington Monthly

What The Gates Foundation’s Learned About Funding Education Journalism | The Grade | The Washington Monthly:

What The Gates Foundation’s Learned About Funding Education Journalism

By Alexander Russo

The Gates Foundation spends about $7 million a year in grants to education journalism organizations, and has done so for the past five years or so, according to an interview with deputy director for global media partnerships Manami Kano last week.

These “media partnerships” include well-known examples like NPR’s expanded education team as well as EWA, Hechinger, Chalkbeat, and EdWeek and are designed to be a supplement to the foundation’s programmatic and policy work. See them here.

During the phone call, held on the eve of the foundation’s conference celebrating its 15th anniversary working in education, Kano talked about both well-known media efforts and less well-known ones (with Univision, for example), and both perceived successes (NPR Education) and efforts that might best be described as valiant efforts (Marketplace’s Learning Curve).

Gates isn’t the only foundation involved in this kind of funding. Other examples include Carnegie, Ford, Spencer, and MacArthur. Outlets that have worked with foundations include the LA Times and the PBS NewsHour.

The main motivation for getting involved, according to Kano, is to help keep the public informed about what’s going on in schools during a time when journalism is downsizing especially at the local level. “The gap in information continues to be a major issue,” said Kano. “We’re trying to make sure the ecosystem is strong.”

This includes working with large national news outlets and smaller nonprofits and local organizations. The type and format of the grantmaking has evolved over time, says Kano, in terms of figuring out which kinds of organizations benefit most and what kinds of support make the most difference. “It hasn’t been a straight path for us.”

With a national outlet like NPR, the goal was to do more than just add staff to the effort. “We’re not just going to subsidize your reporters to do news of the day that would already be covered,” said Kano. Instead, the goal of the funding was to help NPR “make education interesting and compelling with in-depth coverage of what’s happening it the classroom to both existing listeners and those that you might not have gotten yet through digital and social.”

The foundation also wanted NPR to “go deep on a few key areas, develop a voice, and test some new things” like integrating broadcast, digital, and interactive. According to Kano, the effort has been really successful. “The numbers have been increasing since they launched, and a lot of their traffic coming through Facebook.”

Just this week, NPR’s education team launched a new effort focused on innovation.

Another successful partnership from the foundation’s point of view is Univision, with whom the foundation has been working for a while now both supporting the website and the broadcast division. Some efforts include quarterly broadcast specials and longer in-depth features. The foundation’s 2014 grant to Univision wasjust over $2 million

A smaller, time-limited pilot project called Learning Curve launched in partnership with Marketplace and American Public Media didn’t turn out quite as successfully as had been hoped. The effort — linking the economy, technology, and learning — made a lot of sense on paper, especially given the success of other efforts at telling connecting stories in entertaining ways such as Planet Money. But the effort was much more broadcast-driven.

The team at Marketplace “produced a lot of good digital content but it never quite built an audience,” noted Kano. The station wasn’t as aggressive with social media as NPR has been - which may have been a factor. The grant was also much smaller.

The foundation and Marketplace parted ways earlier this year, both sides agreeing that the experiment hadn’t worked as we had hoped. They are, however, continuing conversations about other projects they could do on higher ed, which might be a better fit.

Other grants that ran their course include NBC News’ Education Nation, which included both an annual conference in New York City that was considered successful and a year-round platform for education coverage that did not thrive as What The Gates Foundation’s Learned About Funding Education Journalism | The Grade | The Washington Monthly: