Bush and McGraw Hill

["Nancy Patterson" <patterna@gvsu.edu>]

This has been mentioned before on this list, but it's nice to see it mentioned again, especially in Florida where the Bush clan and the McGraw clan apparently own an island.
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Bush ties prove to be lucrative
by William L. Bainbridge Florida Times-Union
August 3, 2006

Country western singers Tim McGraw and Faith Hill have
been getting far more attention than the publishing
giant with a similar name that has been quietly
gathering in our tax dollars like a hungry squirrel
getting ready for winter. With sales of $6 billion
in 2005, publishing giant McGraw-Hill, no relation to
the talented musical performers, produced an
annualized return of 19% last year. Critics of
President George W. Bush's administration have been
vocal about the Bush and Cheney family ties to defense
contractors at a time of war and, more recently, to
their ties to the price gouging gasoline producers.
Few, however, have noted the close and profitable
relationship between the Bushes and the leadership of
McGraw-Hill. President Bush has managed to keep his
family's nearly eighty-year relationship- with the
McGraws alive and well - - a relationship that,
according to THE NATION, began between the President's
grandfather, Prescott Bush, and James McGraw Jr.,
great uncle of current McGraw-Hill Chairman Harold
McGraw, III in the 1930's. While it is generally
understood and accepted that exchanging favors among
business friends in the private sector is common
practice, the ethics of such practices between
government officials and private business interests is
another matter. Examples in the defense arena and
among Washington-based lobbyists such as Jack Abrahoff
have been broadly documented. Such patterns have
contributed to the downward spiral that has resulted
in record low public approval ratings for the current
President..Less visible are relationships in other
sectors that have proven to be no less lucrative.
Consider the following: 
· Our state governments will have spent as much as $5
billion with private firms in the next two years in
direct costs to develop, score and report the Bush
administration's "No Child Left Behind" law tests
designed to record student performance. This is the
estimate from the federal Government Accounting
Office. Only four companies tend to control test
development: (1) CTB, a testing division of
McGraw-Hill, (2) Texas-based Harcourt, (3)
Illinois-based-Riverside and (4) London-based Pearson.
McGraw-Hill's CTB division appears to be dominating
this lucrative new industry with contracts in nearly
half the states. Is it because they have a superior
product and entered into the criterion test market
arena first? The test publishers have spent millions
with officials in government and at some foundations
on reforms that produce more corporate profits rather
than substantive benefits for students. 

· The National Reading Panel adopted standards for a
heavily scripted phonics program, favoring the
nation's largest phonics publisher, McGraw-Hill's
"Open Court." McGraw-Hill's representatives dominated
the panel and the same pubic relations firm worked on
the federal plan that promoted "Open Court" in Texas,
under then Governor George W. Bush. The findings were
billed as "scientifically based" built on its
"success" in the Houston Independent School District.
This alleged success has since been found to be
predicated on an educational statistics numbers
scandal. 

· U.S. government speakers at conferences have been
accused by education leaders of crossing an ethical
line by endorsing McGraw-Hill products including "Open
Court" and SRA/McGraw Hill's "Direct Instruction." 

· The Association of American Publishers (AAP) sent a
letter to the U.S. Secretary of Education indicating
concern that some programs were receiving explicit
preference. "We request that you again clarify that
there is no federally approved list, in this case for
assessments, for which Reading First funds can be
used," AAP said. 

· Harold McGraw III, whose companies are major
beneficiaries of federal education funds to school
systems, was appointed a member of the current
President's transition advisory team. 

· Harold McGraw III also was appointed to (1) the
Board of Directors of oil company ConocoPhillips, (2)
the Chairmanship of the National Council on Economic
Education and (3) the Education Task Force of the
Business Roundtable. 

· Two former U.S. Secretaries of Education received
the Harold W. McGraw Prize in Education. When one
considers the influence the U.S. Department of
Education has over school system spending with
educational publishers, should accepting such and
award from a publisher raise questions? 

Some would consider these matters as additional
examples of the culture that has been widely reported
as permeating the present White House. It is difficult
to see how such attitudes and practices benefit
children, and contribute to taxpayers' efforts to
support improved student performance. 

William L. Bainbridge is President & Chief Executive
Officer of SchoolMatch, a national educational
auditing, research, and data organization. 
bainbridge@schoolmatch.com



Nancy Patterson, PhD
Literacy Studies Program Chair
College of Education
Grand Valley State University 
920 Eberhard Center
301 W. Fulton
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504
616-331-6226
patterna@gvsu.edu
http://faculty.gvsu.edu/patterna