Schools Incorporated?: Problems and Solutions

Monday, May 7, 2012

Problems and Solutions

Below is the text of a one-page hand-out being distributed by Schools Inc.?. The intent is to provide people with information regarding the damaging effects of corporate school reform and resources they can use to do something about it.

***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.

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

[16] Opting out of High-Stakes Testing. www.nationaloptout.com

[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

[21] Parents Across America. http://parentsacrossamerica.org/

[22] Petition to dump Arne Duncan. http://dumpduncan.org/

[23] Democracy Now. http://www.democracynow.org/

[24] Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, New York: Continuum Publishing. http://www.pedagogyoftheoppressed.com/

[25] Rethinking Schools. http://www.rethinkingschools.org/index.shtml

[26] Zinn Education Project. http://zinnedproject.org/

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About Schools Inc.?

Description

Schools Incorporated? is a blog about how corporate interests are taking over our public education system at the expense of democracy, critical thinking, creativity, parents, teachers, and especially children. Schools Inc.? also provides strategies and resources, so people can join the growing resistance movement to corporate school reform.

Why This Is Important and Urgent

Our public education system is where the battle for a better future will be won or lost. Corporate school reformers know this and are spending millions of dollars lobbying and marketing to ensure they control the discourse now and for future generations.

Corporate interests are rapidly destroying our public education system. Lobbyist organizations like ALEC and Stand for Children (misnomer) are well-funded by corporations who are creating and controlling a new educational marketplace. This not only makes them profitable for generations, but also results in a society that is unable to recognize injustice.

The enforcement of research-refuted, high-stakes testing mandates eliminates what was left of critical thinking in public education. It makes sense that the foundations of corporations like Wal-Mart, Microsoft, and others would not want people making critical consumer and political choices. The last thing they want is for a bunch of consumers to consider the manner in which products are made and their global impact.

Unfortunately, this is one of the ways the private prison industry is involved. ALEC lobbies on their behalf for high-stakes testing and zero-tolerance discipline policies that create a school-to-prison pipeline. Why? Its because ALEC also lobbies on behalf of corporate interests that want to use cheap prison labor. Chinese sweatshop workers are expensive compared to slaves. The companies involved with ALEC certainly don't want consumers thinking about that sort of thing.

Despite the fact that there is an obvious relationship between the arts, creativity, and the type of ingenuity and innovation that makes companies grow, those who are controlling education policy are driving the arts out of schools. Basically, if its not on the test, its not in the schools. This ensures their children who attend private schools that do not have testing mandates and therefore have a well-rounded curriculum, will have an advantage over everyone else. Eliminating the arts for a vast majority of students also means the creation of a deskilled workforce that can only complete tasks similar to the rote memorization and bubble filling required for a standardized test. They're lovin' it!

Corporate school reforms create a self-feeding cycle as they turn parents into consumers. Millions of dollars are spent on misleading marketing materials promoting charter schools (of course they don't tell you about the students who get kicked out). Similar to the way Wal-Mart wipes out local businesses, charter school conglomerates will wipe out neighborhood schools, smaller charter organizations, and probably a lot of private schools. Once the homogenization of the marketplace occurs, a very small handful of people will be controlling pretty much everything that is taught in schools.

The presence of charter schools that draw students from across the city as opposed to schools that only serve children from the neighborhood is disproportionately destabilization low-income communities of color. Social capital is accumulated when generations of family members have attended the same school and when parents and students are from the same community. Destroying this makes it all the more difficult for people to come together when faced with injustices.

Unfortunately, it also means children being exposed to more violence as they travel farther and farther to and from school. Of course, that's assuming their parents can afford the transportation costs, which is one of the ways charters serve as a socio-economic filter (they also have the ability to expel students without the due process required of regular public schools).

With the media and politicians being owned by some of the same corporate interests that are driving education reform (Gates, Murdoch), public opinion is being influenced by a false narrative. Teachers and schools are being measured with faulty metrics while high level administrators continue to be unaccountable for massive failures. Considering the damage this is doing to communities, schools, and students and what is at stake in terms of the bigger picture, the time to fight back is now!

A Better Future

Fortunately, there is an alternative. In his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire outlines a different vision of what a public education system can be - empowering and equalizing through critical thinking. In order to reach this Freirian vision of education and society, we must understand how corporate school reforms are taking us in the opposite direction and how to fight back.

Fighting Back

Schools Inc.? also provides information, tips, and strategies for spreading the word about the corporate takeover of our public school system and how people can join the growing resistance movement.

A Look at Chicago

Because U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan launched a public school privatization plan (Renaissance 2010) while CEO of the school district eight years ago, Schools Inc.? will often examine what has happened and continues to happen in Chicago. Duncan has now taken Renaissance 2010 national with Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants that make the receipt of federal funding contingent upon privatization and high-stakes testing.

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Monday, May 7, 2012

Problems and Solutions

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