Fwd: [ARN-state] Bainbridge on McGraw

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>
> Date: Thu Aug 3, 2006  1:27:23 PM US/Pacific
> To: ARN-state@yahoogroups.com, arn-l-owner@interversity.org, 
> arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [ARN-state] Bainbridge on McGraw
> Reply-To: ARN-state@yahoogroups.com
>
> FYI - Monty
>
> from THE FLORIDA TIMES-UNION
> August 3, 2006
>
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> Bush ties prove to be lucrative
> by
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> William L. Bainbridge
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> 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:
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> · 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?
>
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>
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> 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
> ---------------------------------
> Monty Neill
> Co-Executive Director
> FairTest
> monty@fairtest.org
> 617-864-4810 fax 617-497-2224
> http://www.fairtest.org
> 342 Broadway
> Cambridge, MA 02139
>
>
>
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