***FRONT***
Our public education system is where the battle for
a better future will be won or lost. Unfortunately, corporate interests know
this and are influencing public education policy at the expense of democracy,
critical thinking, creativity, parents, teachers, and especially children. A well-funded social
engineering project is underway that is attempting to serve the plutocratic desires
of the one percent.
The public is being misled about the status of our schools and how to improve them. Progressive educators like Paulo Freire have outlined an alternative system that promotes the common good through critical thinking and self-actualization. The information found at Schools Inc.? (schoolsinc.blogspot.com) and through other websites and organizations can help people stay informed and involved in the growing resistance movement to corporate education reform.
The public is being misled about the status of our schools and how to improve them. Progressive educators like Paulo Freire have outlined an alternative system that promotes the common good through critical thinking and self-actualization. The information found at Schools Inc.? (schoolsinc.blogspot.com) and through other websites and organizations can help people stay informed and involved in the growing resistance movement to corporate education reform.
Problem
|
Solution
|
Testing companies are making millions in
profits via faulty metrics that are harmful to children [1][2][3]
|
Opting out of high-stakes, standardized
testing [16]
National Resolution to End High-Stakes
Testing [17]
Push your state and local school board and
legislatures to use restorative justice models [18]
Get more info at fairtest.org
|
High-stakes testing is narrowing curriculum
while incentivizing the shedding
of disadvantaged students [4][5]
|
|
Schools (mostly deregulated, private sector
run schools) are using zero-tolerance discipline policies, which have been
labeled the “school-to-prison pipeline” by human rights organizations [6][7]
|
|
Well funded, powerful, and controversial
lobbyist groups like ALEC and Stand for Children are influencing educational
policy on behalf of the private prison industry (ALEC) and other corporate interests
(ALEC, SfC) [8][9][10]
|
Find out what companies and politicians are
associated with these groups, don’t support them, and urge them to cut their
ties [19][20]
|
Parents, students, teachers and other
community stakeholders are being continuously excluded from the decision
making process [11]
|
Join a local parent or community-based group
that is fighting to save their schools [21]. Pressure your state and
especially federal legislators to adopt research-based and community and
parent approved reforms. Sign a petition to dump Arne Duncan [22].
|
The U.S. Department of Education is offering
financial incentives to cash-strapped states for every school they privatize
and for the use of high-stakes accountability measures [12][13]
|
|
Much of the mainstream media is owned or
financed by the same people who are pushing for corporate school reform
(Gates, Murdoch), which is creating a false narrative about teachers, school
“performance”, and solutions [14][15]
|
Social media (join, read, or create a blog,
FB page, or Twitter account), Democracy Now [23], stay connected to
organizations made of parents and educators advocating for progressive school
reform [21]
|
Corporate school reforms are working towards
creating a society that is void of critical thinking
|
Pedagogy of the Oppressed [24]
Rethinking Schools [25]
Zinn Education Project [26Res]
|
Schoolsinc.blogspot.com
***BACK***
Sources
[1]
Rapoport, A. (2011). Education inc.: How private companies profit from public schools. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/08-9
[2] National Center for Fair and Open Testing. Tests, cheating, and educational corruption. www.fairtest.org/sites/default/files/Cheating_Fact_Sheet_8-17-11.pdf
[3] American Psychological Association. Appropriate use of high-stakes testing in our nation’s schools. http://www.apa.org/pubs/info/brochures/testing.aspx#
[4] David, J. (2011). High-stakes testing narrows the curriculum. http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/mar11/vol68/num06/High-Stakes_Testing_Narrows_the_Curriculum.aspx
[5] ACLU of Northern California (2008). The schools for all campaign:
The school bias and pushout problem. http://www.aclunc.org/issues/youth/schools_for_all_campaign_the_school_bias_and_pushout_problem.shtml?ht=schools%20for%20all%20campaign%20schools%20for%20all%20campaign
[6] National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP). School to prison pipeline. http://www.naacpldf.org/case/school-prison-pipeline
[7] American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The school to prison pipeline. http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/school-prison-pipeline
[8] Underwood, J., Mead, J. (2012). A smart ALEC threatens public education. Education Week. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/03/01/kappan_underwood.html
[9] Libbey, K. & Sanchez, A. (2011). For or against children? Rethinking Schools Volume 26 No.1 - Fall
2011.
Retrieved from http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/26_01/26_01_sanchez.shtml
[10]
Elk, M., Sloan, B. The hidden history of
ALEC and prison labor. The Nation. Retrieved from http://www.thenation.com/article/162478/hidden-history-alec-and-prison-labor
[11]
Parents Across America (2012). Parents Across America members meet with USDE
saying: “Listen to parents, change your policy direction.” Retrieved from http://parentsacrossamerica.org/2012/04/paa-to-usde-listen-to-parents-change-your-policies/
[12]
U.S. Dept. of Education. School Improvement Grants. http://data.ed.gov/grants/school-improvement-grants
[13]
Ravitch, D. & Strauss, D. (2012). Does
Obama understand Race to the Top? Washington Post, January 31, 2012. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/does-obama-understand-race-to-the-top--ravitch/2012/01/31/gIQAUnI7eQ_blog.html
[14]
The Seattle Times (2011). Media-related grants by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/flatpages/local/gatesfundedprojects.html
[15]
Goldstein, D. (2011). Scrutiny on
Murdoch’s school reform agenda grows. The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/blog/162201/scrutiny-murdoch-school-reform-agenda-grows
[17]
National Resolution to End High-Stakes Testing. http://timeoutfromtesting.org/nationalresolution/
[18]
Sumner, M., Silverman, C., & Frampton, M.L. (2010). School-based
restorative justice as an alternative to zero-tolerance policies: Lessons from
West Oakland. Thomas E. Henderson Center for Social Justice, University of
California, Berkeley. Retrieved from http://www.law.berkeley.edu
[19]
Source Watch. ALEC Politicians. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ALEC_Politicians#Legislators_with_ALEC_Ties
[20]
Lutton, L. (2012) Stand for
Children-endorsed candidates sweep elections. http://www.wbez.org/story/stand-children-endorsed-candidates-sweep-elections-97524
[24]
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, New York: Continuum Publishing. http://www.pedagogyoftheoppressed.com/
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