Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Education deform roundup: Campbell's law strikes again

1) As per Campbell's Law, the Atlanta public school system has been "put on probation" by an accreditation agency. The district apparently has been torn apart by a test cheating scandal:
"The board had become divided after the launch of an investigation of allegations of cheating on standardized tests. After months of bickering, four members filed a lawsuit in October alleging that the board's chairman and vice chairwoman were improperly elected to the leadership positions. They had to give up the positions as part of a settlement..."
 2) Still not convinced the US is a plutocracy? Dissent magazine, in a piece on venture philanthropydiscusses how education discourse and policy is controlled by billionaires:
"...public schools should be run by officials who answer to the voters. Gates, Broad, and Walton answer to no one. Tax payers still fund more than 99 percent of the cost of K–12 education. Private foundations should not be setting public policy for them. Private money should not be producing what amounts to false advertising for a faulty product. The imperious overreaching of the Big Three undermines democracy just as surely as it damages public education.
3) U.S. Schools Are Still Ahead—Way Ahead.  Leading academic says "America's alarm about international rankings of students overlooks some critical components of our education system."

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