Why Is The NEA Foundation Funding Crap Like The Global Education Forum In October?

For that matter, why is the National Education Association Foundation sponsoring any company or event along with companies that will eventually destroy the teaching profession as we know it?  I want to make very clear that the NEA Foundation is separate from the NEA.  Many members in the NEA are not happy with the NEA Foundation and how they co-mingle with corporate education reformers.

For the NEA Foundation, they have their own sponsors.  The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, AT&T, Bank Of America, Horace Mann, and, of course, the NEA itself.  Those are the funders in the “Genius Level”.  I don’t see a lot of genius involved in taking money from a foundation that pushed Common Core and its nasty little assessments along with funding tons of other foundations for seed money to incubate more charter schools.

The Global Education Forum in Philadelphia on October 13th-15th is an ed tech wonderland.  All the companies that just love all this new technology taking over classrooms will be pimping their wares at this conference for sure!  The conference is run by the appropriately named Global Education Conference.  Their sponsors include Google Education and a whole host of ed tech and assessment companies.  It looks like anyone can be on their global advisory board which looks like the Olympics for personalized learning.

I’m sure I don’t need to remind everyone that the President of the NEA sits on this foundation, Lily Eskelsen Garcia.  To me, this is like when the National PTA called out the Delaware PTA for supporting a parent’s right to opt out.  It goes against everything they stand for to not only support, but also fund all the ed tech and corporate education reform.  They aren’t only sitting at the table, they are openly helping to buy the table.  NEA needs new leadership.  You can’t have it both ways Lily.  Unless you are somehow profiting from all this…  Stop selling out teachers!

Equity Is Not The Same As Equality, But Equity Does Not Mean Online Digital Education For All

Just in case anyone was wondering why “equity” is such a big word these days…

The term is being hijacked by the US DOE and corporate education reformers with the Every Student Succeeds Act…

Everyone is talking about equity these days…

But what it is supposed to mean and what the corporate education reformers want it to mean are two different things…

Equity means those with more needs get more resources…

Equity means charter schools can’t cherry-pick students…

Equity means the people decide what is equitable, not the corporations and foundations…

Equity means recognizing the very same corporations and foundations that created situations that are inequitable now want to talk about equity…

Be very wary of the word equity during Every Student Succeeds Act discussions at a state level…

I have many friends who live and breathe the word equity in its true meaning by they are being lured in like a mouse to a cat…

For those who truly want equity, fight for it, but do not make our children puppets for corporate profit…

True equity can happen now, not in some World’s Fair vision of the smart cities of tomorrow…

Competency-Based Education and Personalized Learning, whether it is flipped, blended, or personalized, is not equity, it is greed…

The ed tech poverty pimps have no more grasp of the word equity than they do education…

Their equity created turnaround schools and high-stakes tests…

Their equity disrespects educators and parents who stand up for their students and children…

Equity does not equal technology profits for those who prophet…

When it comes to children, all lives matter, those who are minority, special education, English Language learners, low-income, poverty, talented & gifted, or the average student, they all deserve equity in its purest form…

To truly understand equity, you need to read every single below link to understand their equity is not the same thing…

http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-awards-more-65-million-grants-help-schools-and-communities-promote-equity-education

https://maec.org/our_work/educational-equity/

https://maec.org/res/e-learning/

http://www.competencyworks.org/about/who-we-are/

http://www.inacol.org/symposium/program-presenters/keynote-speakers/

http://www.inacol.org/symposium/2016-sponsors/

http://www.inacol.org/resource/access-and-equity-for-all-learners-in-blended-and-online-education/

http://www.globaleducationconference.com/page/sponsors-partners

http://www.promiseneighborhoodsinstitute.org/about-the-institute/what-we-do

http://www.promiseneighborhoodsinstitute.org/about-the-institute/our-funders

http://global.blogs.delaware.gov/2016/07/11/governor-markell-signs-crowdfunding-equity-law/

http://nc-sara.org/about/evolution-sara

http://gettingsmart.com/2016/06/equity-digital-games/

http://gettingsmart.com/2016/09/inspiration-incubation-intermediation-keys-to-next-gen-learning-at-scale-2/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Getting_Smart&utm_content=Inspiration,%20Incubation,%20Intermediation:%20Keys%20to%20Smart%20Cities

http://www.nxgentechroadmap.com/stateleadertable.html

http://www.edu2035.org/pdf/what_is_GEF.pdf

http://www.excelined.org/wp-content/uploads/FEIE_TaleOf3States-20Sep2016.pdf

http://gettingsmart.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SmartBundle-Fidelis-22Aug2016-1.pdf

http://www.smartcitiesweek.com/Meet-our-sponsors

http://www.smartcitiesweek.com//products

http://www.knowledgeworks.org/future-learning/forecast/smart-transactional-models

https://exceptionaldelaware.wordpress.com/2016/08/22/jack-markell-blockchain-coding-schools-rodel-brinc-pathways-to-prosperity-registered-agents-delawares-role-in-the-ledger/

http://www.edu2035.org/pdf/GEF_future-map_en.pdf

Who Funds Teach For America, KIPP, & Rocketship Education?

We know a lot of school districts, charter schools, and state departments of education give a ton of money to Teach For America, but who got the group going?  And who still funds them?  Let’s just say it is a lot of organizations!  Some of these foundations I had never heard of.  Keep in mind, this is the corporate Teach For America.  There might be foundations funding each state chapter.  For example, the Rodel Foundation loves giving money to the Delaware TFA!

Richard Barth is the CEO of TFA, but Wendy Kopp, Barth’s wife, runs the show.  But Barth runs the KIPP charter school chain.

Going from here, it is amazing how many connections between Teach For America, Kipp, the Gates Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, the NewSchools Venture Fund, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the Charter School Growth Fund, and Tom Vander Ark exist.  It is important to know Vander Ark’s role in this because he is one of the biggest pushers for the death of traditional public schools through his competency-based education personalized learning career pathways earn to learn agendas.

I’ll be doing more of these.  If any traditional school district unionized teacher isn’t very worried about their future, I would probably start doing something about it now.  Unless you want to be working as a facilitator in an online charter school in 2026.  This IS corporate education reform, but only a part of it.  It goes much deeper than that.  I’ve been telling people this for over two years now.  But sometimes pictures say a lot more than words ever can.