"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Thursday, May 05, 2016

US Dept of Ed Executive Heads Chan-Zuckerberg Drive to Treat Students and Teachers as Waste Products

by Susan Ohanian


Philanthropic Effort

Synonyms for effort: try, push, struggle,  stab

The Thesaurus is way behind-the-curve on synonyms for Philanthropic, linking it to big-hearted, bountiful, liberal. Forget verbal shortcuts. Instead, I suggest reading No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy by Linsey McGoey, which provides  solid research on the mega-rich replacing governments on issues of social policy,  and The Falling Rate of Learning and the Neoliberal Endgame by David J. Blacker, which makes critical connections  showing the shifts capitalism  makes into a mode of elimination that targets most of us as waste products awaiting managed disposal.
 
Read these two books and you'll know that James H. Shelton III is a waste products manager supreme.

Here's the New York Times headline on Shelton's new job:  Zuckerberg and Chan Hire Education Leader to Run Philanthropic Effort. 
The article focuses on how many  former federal officials who have gotten jobs with tech titans:  Jay Carney, a former White House press secretary is now senior vice president for corporate affairs at Amazon; David Plouffe, former Obama senior advisor is now chief adviser and a board member at Uber. Former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has been tapped by the Emerson Collective, an organization set up by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs, to do something in Chicago. Like the Chan Zuckerberg scheme, Emerson is set up as a limited liability company,  meaning they can take public stands on policy issues and do other things not allowed by charitable trusts of private foundations.  Read loophole. 

Here's USA Today: Zuckerberg taps Shelton to run education effort
 Zuckerberg says Shelton will focus on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's two educational priorities: technology-enabled personalized learning that allows K-12 students to learn in their own way and at their own pace and reaching underserved communities to remove "barriers to success for the most vulnerable kids," such as poverty and illness. . . . .

Yes, ask any filthy rich deformer: schools done their way will remove barriers to success.

We've Been Warned

Shelton said he would start his work with the ChanZuckerberg Initiative by "building on the things we have done already."

 Although ignored by the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun Times. Wall Street Journal, and the Boston Globe, The Chronicle of Philanthropy also took note: Zuckerberg and Chan Tap New Leader for Education Giving. The picture caption notes that Shelton will oversee what could total billions of dollars of spending.

James H. Shelton III Education Path
  • BA Computer Science, Morehouse College
  • MBA/MA Business and Education, Stanford University
The Stanford Educator, Fall/Winter 2007, describes this program as specializing "in training people to apply business know-how to the field of education. Numerous high-profile alumni like Shelton now fill the leadership rosters of charter school organizations, venture funds, other education-related nonprofit and forprofit enterprises. . . .

'The program attracts and encourages people who are not constrained by traditional sectoral boundaries,' says Debra Meyerson, associate professor of education and (by courtesy) organizational behavior at the Graduate School of Business (GSB), and faculty chair of the joint program. Students in the two-year program gain substantive knowledge in education, as well as in business areas such as strategy, finance, and accounting."

                      Note: Here's Meyerson pedigree:
    • Ph.D. Organizational Behavior, Stanford University (1989)
    • M.S. Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1980)
    • B.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1979)
                       Note a few publications:
    • Meyerson, D. & L. Wernick (2012). “Power beyond the Purse: Philanthropic Foundations as Agents of Change in the California Charter School Movement,” in J. Dutton and K. Golden-Biddle,  Exploring Positive Social Change and Organizations: Building a Theoretical and Research Foundation.  Routledge, Taylor, & Francis Group. Florence, Kentucky.
    • Meyerson, D., A. Berger, and R. Quinn (2010). “Organization and Social Movement Implications of Going to Scale: Lessons from Charter Schools,” in Scaling Social Impact: New Thinking, P. Bloom, G. Dees, and E. Skloot (eds.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.\
    • Quinn, R., M. Tompkins-Stange, D. Meyerson (2013).  “Beyond Grantmaking: Philanthropic Foundations as Agents of Change and Institutional Entrepreneurs,”  Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. 

James H. Shelton III Career Path 
  •  Senior Program Analyst: Exxon
  • Senior Engagement Manager: McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting fund
  • Director: Knowledge Universe, a education conglomerate founded by former junk-bond financier Michael Milken. K12, founded  was founded  by former U.S. Education Secretary William J. Bennett, was originally a subsidiary of Knowledge Universe.
  • Co-Founder, President, and COO: LearnNow, a school management company that was acquired by Edison Schools
  • President LearnNow Division, Edison Schools
  • Partner: NewSchools Venture Fund, a California-based organization that has directed over $150 million to more than 300 charter schools around the country
  • Program Director for Education: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Assistant Deputy Secretary: US Department of Education
  • Deputy Secretary and COO: US Department of Education
  • President & Chief Impact Officer: 2U, an outfit that partners with nonprofit colleges and universities to offer online degree programs. Founded in 2008 by John Katzman (founder of Princeton Review). Co-founders include Chip Paucek, former CEO of Hooked on Phonics and Jeremy Johnson 
  •  leader of the education component of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
     Further Warning

    Should the above not offer sufficient alarm,  enter "Shelton" into a search at http://susanohanian.org/ and you will get these reminders:

    1. N.Y. plans to share data from pre-K to workforce, aims to unlock keys to student success (Data Command Center 2014-01-25)
    2. An Update on Datapalooza at the U. S. Department of Education (Data Command Center 2014-07-30)
    3. Bill Gates' School Crusade (Common Core State [sic] Standards 2010-06-15)
    4. Is the Gates Foundation involved in bribery? (Common Core State [sic] Standards 2010-07-23)
    5. Common U.S. school standards debut in Hillsborough first (Common Core State [sic] Standards 2011-04-21)
    6. How Bill Gates pulled off the swift Common Core revolution (Common Core State [sic] Standards 2014-06-07)
    7. How Bill Gates pulled off the swift Common Core revolution (Resisters' Letters, 2008-07-11)
    8. Educational Entrepreneurship (Atrocities, 2005-11-14)
    9. Teach For America’s 15th Anniversary: National Alumni Summit Program, Part 2 (Atrocities, 2005-10-08)
    10. A Foundation Goes to School (Atrocities, 2005--)
    11. School chancellor pick appears to defy sense (Atrocities, 2007-06-15)
    12. Millions to be given to N.O. schools: Money to be used to train, hire staff (Atrocities, 2007-12-13)
    13. Despite high school algebra focus, more students need remedial college math (Atrocities, 2008-05-13)
    14. After Complaints, Gates Foundation Opens Education Aid Offer to All States (Atrocities, 2009-10-28)
    15. Shooting for the Moon: A Joint Venture (Atrocities, 2009-10-30)
    16. Key L.A. Unified staff positions are funded privately (Atrocities, 2009-12-16)
    17. Gates grant tracking program on today's school board agenda (Atrocities, 2010-02-23)
    18. Discussion How to Best Prepare America's Future Workforce (Atrocities, 2010-09-15)
    19. Mayor Plans New Education Measures, Including Reshaping 8 Troubled High Schools (In the News, 2005-11-18)
    20. Reinventing High School: Education infused with technology (In the News, 2006-01-02)
    21. From Compliance to Innovation: Remarks of Arne Duncan to America's Choice Superintendent's Symposium (Outrage of the Day, 2009-08-20)
    22. The most dangerous man in America (Outrage of the Day, 2010-07-10)
    23. Bill Gates' School Crusade (Outrage of the Day, 2010-06-15)
    24. Is the Gates Foundation involved in bribery? (Outrage of the Day, 2010-07-23)
    25. US Department of Education Announces 2010 Highest-Rated i3 Applicants (Outrage of the Day, 2010-08-05)
    26. Page-turning progress (Outrage of the Day, 2011-01-02)
    27. Got Dough? Public School Reform in the Age of Venture Philanthropy (Outrage of the Day, 2011-01-01)
    28. The Politics of Education Innovation (Outrage of the Day, 2011-04-07)
    29. Common U.S. school standards debut in Hillsborough first (Outrage of the Day, 2011-04-21)
    30. In Tennessee, Following the Rules for Evaluations Off a Cliff (Outrage of the Day, 2011-11-07)
    31. United High States Testing: Thy Name is DIBELS (Outrage of the Day, 2012-08-25)
    32. Datapalooza at the U. S. Department of Education (Outrage of the Day, 2013-01-11)
    33. The Technology Agenda of the US Department of Education (Outrage of the Day, 2014-07-04)
    34. Venture Capitalists Are Poised to 'Disrupt' Everything About the Education Market (Outrage of the Day, 2014-09-25)
    35. Schooled: Cory Booker, Chris Christie, and Mark Zuckerberg had a plan to reform Newark's schools. They got an education, Part 2 (Outrage of the Day, 2014-05-19)
    36. The Faces of School Reform (NCLB Atrocities, 2010-01-29)
    37. In Case You Missed It (NCLB Atrocities, 2010-02-06)
    38. Why I Am Not A Defender Of The 'Status Quo' In Education (NCLB Atrocities, 2011-02-04)
    39. Some Ugly Details from the Daley/Duncan/Obama Connection (Research That Counts, 2012-01-14)
    40. Stalinizing American Education (Commentaries, 2011-11-11)
    FAIR USE NOTICE
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    2 comments:

    1. Malcolm Kirkpatrick10:51 PM

      "Shelton will focus on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's two educational priorities: technology-enabled personalized learning that allows K-12 students to learn in their own way and at their own pace and reaching underserved communities to remove "barriers to success for the most vulnerable kids," such as poverty and illness. . . . .

      Yes, ask any filthy rich deformer: schools done their way will remove barriers to success."
      To what do you object in the above? Personalized learning and self-paced instruction may well enhance student motivation, a critical component of success. How does this threaten anyone other than system insiders who benefit from the current inefficient and abusive structure?
      The resumes you cite suggest that these people see the path to improved results, especially for children for whom the current system does not work, lies outside the current system. There is considerable evidence for this. One example: Zuckerberg's $100 million to Newark, NJ schools left no trace of improved performance. For that money, he could have built a new school outside the NEA/AFT/AFSCME cartel's schools (the "public" schools), which would have allowed some students to escape the wretched Newark District schools.

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    2. ciedie aech1:41 PM

      I can't say that I'm surprised, but I am very disheartened. I so wanted to believe that Zuckerberg learned his lesson after the profound educational abuses exposed in New Jersey. I'm going to have to believe that the press (and bloggers, and facebook junkies, and any other type of media) will do its best -- as you have done so well here -- to keep exposing the dark side of our modern day oxymorons: philanthro-capitialism/venture-philanthropy. For anyone with a brain, everything dangerous about them can be read right there in their titles.

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