Tennessee is the test site for every crackpot, over-the-top corporate thought disorder that is translatable into an ed industry scheme that fronts as education policy. The state has TFA lawyer and the former Mr. Michelle Rhee, Kevin Huffman, running the schools from Nashville as Commissioner, and earlier this year Huffman and Jeb Bush's Chiefs for Change, a front organization for laundering corporate education cash, came up with a plan to use student test scores (TVAAS) as the sole criterion for decisions related to teacher licensure renewal.
As a result, Tennessee teachers have finally awakened from their slumber and now represent one of the major fronts in the war against high stakes testing and corporate control of schools.
Below is Part 3 in four part analysis by TEA chief legal counsel, Rick Colbert, who lays out Huffman's deception and criminal misuse of VAM. Here are links to Part 1 and Part 2, which provide good starting points for any legal team as they prepare class action lawsuits across the nation.
As a result, Tennessee teachers have finally awakened from their slumber and now represent one of the major fronts in the war against high stakes testing and corporate control of schools.
Below is Part 3 in four part analysis by TEA chief legal counsel, Rick Colbert, who lays out Huffman's deception and criminal misuse of VAM. Here are links to Part 1 and Part 2, which provide good starting points for any legal team as they prepare class action lawsuits across the nation.
The only story I can find on WGU that has any information is from The News Tribune in Washington:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/12/22/2960710/education-revolution.html
The saddest part of miseducation reform are the proliferation of crooks and scammers, who would be criminals in a sane world. This "non profit" so called university is lining the pockets of some very greedy, well-connected people who are making money off the most vulnerable and desperate. The News Tribune article states, "Mendenhall made $853,000 in total compensation in the year ending in mid-2012, according to tax filings. Some college presidents make more, to be sure. But his pay is relatively large, especially when compared with Washington presidents."
The sickest and most insidious thing about WGU is that they boast about having no grades, no accountability, etc. while those same governors continue to shove accountability, measurements, merit pay and value added measures down the throats of real teachers in real classroom with real students.
Reminds me of Wall Street's CMO's (collateralized mortgage obligations) and other junk products that ripped off the 99%, Now there is a whole new world of education crooks who have their sites on ripping off single moms with three kids who believe a degree from this on line "non profit" diploma mill is going to be the answer to a good paying job and a better life.
WGU has been recruiting heavily in NJ and looking for "coaches" or whatever they call the people who sit at home and evaluate students on tests and other money making hoops for them to jump through.
The U.S. Justice Department should be looking into WGU but like with most of DC these days, the wolf is guarding the hen house. It's just amazing how the corruption in education keeps reaching new heights. Just like the regulators couldn't keep up with the thieves on Wall Street or were told to look the other way, when it comes to regulating education or protecting "consumers" -- the Governors are in on the action.
Look for WGU to continue growing by leaps and bounds in states across the country as the 99% look for alternatives to brick and mortar schools that are unaffordable and a pipe dream for most of the nation's high school graduates. WGU will be the only pathway to a diploma, even if it's not worth the paper that it's printed on, just like the CMO's.
The pipeline of students for WGU is sure to be flowing with lots of customers. Since most of the students have been taught how to take multiple choice tests and how to fill in bubbles, Mendenhall should be quite secure in living the lifestyle that he has been accustomed to. In 2014 his salary might even top $1 million for his "non-profit" university and his performance when it comes to recruiting more suckers, students.
What a sad, tragic state of affairs. It makes a real, genuine education even more valuable and more important in navigating the endless stream of corruption, greed and fraud.
The president of the University of Puget Sound was at or near the head of the class for Washington private schools in 2012 with $623,000. Among public schools, University of Washington President Michael Young reportedly was near the top of the list nationally in 2012 with a full compensation package of $802,000, before a raise this year.
Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/12/22/2960710/education-revolution.html#storylink=cpy
ReplyDelete