Wrench in the Gears Ed Reform 2.0 is a different variety of privatization from the one to which we’ve become accustomed. End-of-year high-stakes testing, imposition of value-added measures, alignment to Common Core State Standards, and destabilization of districts through charter school expansion, closures, and turnarounds were actually setting the stage for the final act that…
New Hampshire has a current bill which would allow investors to finance pre-schools in an effort to prevent special education remediation. This “pay for success” program is actually Social Impact Bonds. This latest craze by investors in education is extremely dangerous and should not even be a consideration anywhere in a child’s education. It is…
Matt Albright with the Delaware News Journal unveiled the Delaware Republican Senate’s Poverty Plan before it was even presented to Delaware lawmakers. Included in these 11 potential ideas are two items that are highly disdained by advocates for public education: Social Impact Bonds and school vouchers. As if we haven’t learned enough from the problems with…
Social Impact Bonds, or “Pay For Success” programs, exist in many states around the country. To date, Delaware has only participated in a handful of these kinds of programs and none in the education arena. Social Impact Bonds began in the United Kingdom and since 2011, companies have slowly started bringing them to different states. …
Originally posted on Fred Klonsky:
Pat Quinn brought Social Impact Bonds to Illinois. Special education advocate Bev Johns has written here warning about the impact of Social Impact Bonds on special education services. What are Social Impact Bonds (SIBs)? They have become a favorite privatization tool of corporate Democrats and others. Wall Street loves them.…
A few days ago, Kilroy’s Slower Delaware posited Jack Markell could run for U.S. Senator Tom Carper’s seat. I commented I thought he should stay out of politics altogether. I’ve always known he would hobnob around the corporate education arena. Today, an announcement came out that Ridge-Lane Limited Partners is going to expand their social-impact merchant bank. When…
The best way to get something embedded into the American society? The power of distraction. Once again, while all eyes are on Donald Trump, Congress is acting in the dawn of Winter to pass a bill that will affect the children of America. This time, it involves social impact bonds. This action is only part…
The Rodel Foundation of Delaware has a new name. They are now called Rodel. This landmark rebranding effort comes to you from Rodel. It is the 20th Anniversary since the Budingers sold their business to Germany and decided to launch an education reform non-profit company destined to jack up Delaware education for all time. In…
I was looking at various polls I’ve put on here over the past couple of years and I was astonished at some of the results of them! In some cases we were completely wrong! These were basically straw polls I conducted over the past year or two.
Delaware Education. Two words that will always create some type of debate in The First State. But who is in charge? Is anyone? Who has the most influence? Who are the ones you would never think are able to dictate education policy? Some are obvious but others are not. This list is not a list of…
Last Friday, the final report for Delaware House Resolution #20 came out. The General Assembly passed this resolution last July and ordered the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Finance, and the Office of the Controller General to conduct a study on Pay For Success methodology and how it could work in Delaware. …
I’d heard the rumor. The five Wilmington schools serving Christina students would fold into two. It was only a rumor until today when the News Journal published details of a confidential memorandum of understanding between the district and Governor Carney. Meanwhile, the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission, which has outlived its usefulness as of late, decided…
I’ve heard from more than a few teachers in the past hour since I posted about the Rodel Teacher Council’s presentation to the State Board of Education. Many were unaware of what this very small group of Delaware teachers have been up to and how it could impact the future of their profession. I wanted…
For years, I’ve been telling Delaware parents they should choose to opt out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment. I was wrong. Here is why… We are entering a new era in education. The promised era of digital personalized learning is here. It is on the cusp of coming into every single public school in the…
If Washington D.C. is the capital of America, than Delaware is the capital of corporate education reform. Over the past week, many of us who are resisting the privatization of public education have been talking about The Ledger. Peter Greene broke the news for the world to see, which Diane Ravitch quickly picked up on. …
I’ve been wrestling with something for a long time now. I found out something. Something big. Usually my first instinct is to get it out there. But this was BIG, and if I was wrong about it, it could have shot me in the foot. It concerns a legislator and an election. But more than that,…
Delaware Governor Jack Markell announced another initiative tied to grants to prevent students from taking remedial classes in college. This whopping $250,000 grant is coming from USAFunds, a non-profit think tank that promises to “fix” education along with the other million or so companies that promise to do the same. Funny how none of them…
A blog called NYC Public School Parents published the results of a survey about testing and opt out a couple of days ago. The findings were a bit bizarre in my opinion. The fact that it came from Achieve Inc. is very troubling. For the past couple years, maybe longer, parents have been opting their…
The United States Department of Education sent a “guidance letter” to state local education agencies (school districts) regarding Response to Intervention (RTI) and Child Find. The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) sent the letter on April 29th. It reminds pre-schools that they are responsible for child find. This means the local school district is responsible…
The Delaware Dept. of Education put out a press release about the Delaware Readiness Teams. What are they? They are a combination of early learning providers, community organizations and non-profit companies that are banding together to promote early learning in children. I’m sorry, but every time I see Rodel involved in anything with education, I…
The Season Of Myths 