Re: Eli's a-comin'

["Tauna Rogers" <taunar@plateautel.net>]

What? Is Broad marching somewhere? Someone call Bill Maher........

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <aburke5054@aol.com>
To: <arn-l@interversity.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 4:45 PM
Subject: Re: [arn-l] Eli's a-comin'


> 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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