Common Core and Uncommon Profits

Common Core and Uncommon Profits

9 Comments
The US education market has always been huge, but it has also always been highly fragmented. That fragmentation made it largely unprofitable and not worth the attention of huge multinational corporations. When you consider trying to sell to 50 idiosyncratic states, each of which contains (on average) 300 school districts, and each of those mostly autonomous districts contains (on average) 380 schools broken up by student ages between elementary, middle and high schools, further divided by the demographics of various communities, you can see that it is not a coordinated market that can make billions for someone with a "one size fits all" product line. "Education reform" has changed that. Pearson has been able to change that. "Common Core" has brought some predictability and uniformity to a chaotic marketplace. If you doubt that Common Core was wired for Pearson, this Politico investigation should disabuse you of that notion.
Wednesday Open Thread [2.11.15]

Wednesday Open Thread [2.11.15]

First Read:
“With about two weeks to go before the Department of Homeland Security runs out of funding, congressional Republicans appear to be stuck. You have House Republicans saying they’ve done their part by passing their DHS spending bill, which includes language rolling back President Obama’s immigration actions. And you have Senate Republicans throwing the ball back in the House’s court, because the House GOP measure — due to Democrats’ successful filibusters — can’t get 60 votes in the Senate. And right now, no one knows (or at least is telling us) how we get out of this mess.” “Now two weeks is a lifetime in Washington politics. But if cooler heads are going to prevail, they need to start working on a solution ASAP. Don’t forget this reality of governing in times of divided government: For legislation to become law, it needs to get 1) 218 votes in the House, 2) at least 60 votes in the Senate, and 3) the president’s signature. In other words … compromise. And that’s something that’s been missing all too often over the past four-plus years.”
DDOE Tells Christina To Close Or Restructure (Charter/Privatize) Its Priority Schools

DDOE Tells Christina To Close Or Restructure (Charter/Privatize) Its Priority Schools

28 Comments
There are actually three choices on the table: Closure, Charter Conversion/Privatization... and handing all 5 of Christina's city schools to Red Clay. No matter what, Christina loses these schools.
The Christina school board must choose by Feb. 27 whether to close its three Priority Schools or hand them over to charter schools or other education management organizations, the Department of Education said in a letter to district staff Tuesday. The letter leaves one possible alternative: If Christina works with the state on the possibility of redistricting schools so that it no longer operates city schools, it could be removed from the Priority Schools saga altogether.
The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) is very good at closing down schools. Go speak with anyone at these six Priority Schools and ask them when DDOE showed up to "help" them. Surely DDOE has been in these schools for years - since these six schools have been struggling for a long, long time? Surely, DDOE can point to all the support they've given these schools over the years? I hear that DDOE didn't step foot in these schools or offer assistance prior to Governor Markell's Priority School announcement last fall. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe DDOE has been working with the six priority schools for years and drastic action was needed because they exhausted all other options?
Jon Stewart.

Jon Stewart.

7 Comments
The mocking sarcasm that laid bare much of the lies and hypocrisy and bias of the corporate media that was at the heart of Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart will not die with the retirement of Jon Stewart. It will go on because it has to go on, it is needed, and hopefully the Daily Show is enough of an established franchise to allow that to happen. But it will not be the same. But such is life. Things change and are not the same all the time. Remember how important Keith Olbermann was at a certain time? We and he moved on, and so will we now. Colbert will be back soon as the host of the Late Show on CBS. I hope Jon Stewart likewise doesn't disappear forever. But people come and go all the time, including politicians, newscasters, satirists, comedians, entertainers, and musicians. Still, damn am I going to miss Jon Stewart when he goes.