Re: Eli's a-comin'

[aburke5054@aol.com]

It is an odd way of thinking that says that seeing improving 
achievement as a civil rights issue is something to satirize.  Kati and 
Andy are surely closer to children's real needs and to Martin Luther 
King than are the bizarros on ARN.

The Broad Foundation announces its mission as "dramatically improve 
K-12 urban public education through better governance, management, 
labor relations and competition  The Broad Foundation focuses its 
investments on raising student achievement in the largest urban 
districts, where a disproportionate number of traditionally 
disadvantaged students, including low-income students and minority 
students, go to school."  Seems like terribly important work and a 
significant contribution to American society.  So what if they want to 
see higher test scores.  Tell me Martin would have been marching 
against Broad instead of with him.

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: Tauna Rogers <taunar@plateautel.net>
To: arn-l@interversity.org
Sent: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 11:25 am
Subject: [arn-l] Eli's a-comin'

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ELI'S BOLD NEW PLAN

12-1-2007

Billionaire philanthropist, entrepreneur, and public education expert 
Eli Broad
has teamed up with the International Star Registry to promote a 
provocative plan
of action to raise individual student achievement (as measured by 
standardized
test scores) and overall achievement in Title I schools across the 
nation.



Interviews conducted by the Education Trust's Kati Hiccup and the 
Education
Sector's Andrew Rottenham confirm Broad's unyielding  commitment to 
student
achievement as the defining civil rights issue of our time. Asked to 
clarify his
commitment to High Test Scores, Broad reiterated the business sector's
no-nonsense approach to rigorous public school accountability:



 "Every child is worthy, regardless of the circumstances in his or her 
life -
hunger, poverty, abuse, neglect, lack of health care - you name it. 
However, a
child can hardly be expected to become a goodly contributor to the 
Global
Economy unless our failing public schools shape up and impart the 
essential
skills that students need to assume their roles in our rapidly changing 
world.
All children deserve a shot at the millions of high-paying jobs that 
await young
people who are willing to work hard, pull themselves up by their 
bootstraps, and
measure up on The Tests."



The International Star Registry of Achievement, with hefty funding from 
Broad,
will award qualifying states grants to motivate poor student achievers 
to score
proficiently on The Tests. Details are emerging but it is clear 
students who
perform adequately on The Tests will have a star named after them. In 
addition,
the Registry's Ultimate Package includes a beautiful 24" X 20" full 
color
parchment certificate beautifully embossed with the child's name, their 
star's
name, the child's test date, test score, and their star's coordinates. 
The
elegant certificates are double-matted in gold metallic frames.



Children who do not meet proficiency on The Tests but who are deemed to 
be
nearing proficiency will not have a star named after them until they 
reach
proficiency. However, they will receive the Star Registry's Deluxe 
Package,
which includes a beautiful, double-matted certificate in a silver 
metallic
frame, a refrigerator magnet, and a bumper sticker for the family car 
(My Child
is Nearing Proficiency!).



The Broad Prize Extraordinaire is reserved for entire schools. A school 
that by
2014 manages to achieve the ultimate NCLB goal of every single student 
in the
school scoring proficient, regardless of ability or circumstance, will 
be
awarded a nationally televised space launch to be attended by Sally 
Ride and
congressional dignitaries. A message commemorating the event, 
containing the
names of each student and their test scores, will be gloriously 
launched into
the night sky on board a real spacecraft that orbits the Earth.



Asked about public schools which fail to meet the much prized 2014 
standard,
Broad said they should probably lower their flags to half-mast and be 
taken over
by private companies.



Educators are not exactly jumping on board. Many are questioning the 
plan as an
ultimately useless scheme which tosses badly needed funds into a black 
hole and
promotes extrinsic rewards over a deep and lasting love of real 
learning. Many
also question the assumption that paper and  pencil standardized tests 
provide
children with a fair opportunity to apply and demonstrate what they 
really know
and are able to do. Teachers noted that many bored and disengaged 
students don't
even bother to try on the tests, much less read them. They would prefer 
teaching
which encompasses real world projects and application rather than the 
narrow
kinds of teaching and learning that high-stakes testing inevitably 
leads to.



Others have noted that corporate-driven policies are putting the cart 
before the
horse. Claiming that the achievement gap between disadvantaged students 
and
their more fortunate peers is a symptom of other neglected societal 
gaps in our
nation, rather than the cause, a number of activists have asked Broad 
if
children wouldn't be much better served if he took on eradicating some 
of the
known factors that contribute to low achievement, like lead-infested 
housing.
Questioned about educators' misgivings, Broad dismissed the claims as 
the soft
bigotry of low expectations. "It's about time teachers toughened up 
instead of
whining. Low-performing corporate workers hardly utter a sniffle when 
their
good-paying jobs are outsourced to China or rendered obsolete by 
technology."



Asked whether each student would receive a telescope where they could 
actually
view their 'own' star, Broad replied that there are limitations to what
philanthropists can and should do. "The whole point," he noted, "is 
that once
schools have provided students with the necessary skills to get and 
retain good
jobs, they will be able to buy their own telescopes. That's the beauty 
of my
plan."



Tauna Rogers






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