OK. Obama/Duncan/Gates School "Reform" Model: The results Are IN !!! Today's NYT: P. A1 [View all]

[Smarmie Doofus]

Obama ed policy is a fucking embarrassment. Now. May we not... in the name of all that is holy, good and decent.... drop this brain-dead corporate "reform" nonsense once and for all?

Everything... *everything*... that real reformers ( mostly in-the-trenches, *unionized* teachers) told them was going to happen, HAPPENED in Atlanta.

None of these people --- Obama, Duncan, Gates--- know what they're doing. None of them know what they're talking about. Obama needs to wake the F up and appoint someone who knows about public education ( FROM PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE) as Sec of Ed so he can have someone to explain to him ( Obama) what public schools are like in America and how they work . Duncan can go work for Pearson or whatever ( His press sec just jumped ship to Murdoch, btw. Good. Getting these people out of the government is step #1.)

Please read. Carefully. Even if you don't think public ed is important ( ?!?), read it anyway. In it's entirety. The devil here is in the details.

While you're reading, please note and keep in mind the following above all else: the cheating would never have gotten off the ground... never would have had a CHANCE... if the lower end people in the conspiracy... ok ( "alleged" conspiracy)... that is: the *teachers*.... had told the principal and superintendent to FUCK-OFF when they were approached. A functional teachers union and state guarantees of due process ( TENURE ! ) job protections would have made that possible. And LIKELY.

As Obama, Gates, Duncan et al continue to hack away at these protections the less likely teachers are to blow the whistle and the MORE likely corruption of all variety... esp of the variety above... will proliferate.

It's simple cause and effect and it is not rocket science.





>>>>Dr. Hall, who retired in 2011, was charged with racketeering, theft, influencing witnesses, conspiracy and making false statements. Prosecutors recommended a $7.5 million bond for her; she could face up to 45 years in prison.

During the decade she led the district of 52,000 children, many of them poor and African-American, Atlanta students often outperformed wealthier suburban districts on state tests.

Those test scores brought her fame — in 2009, the American Association of School Administrators named her superintendent of the year and Arne Duncan, the secretary of education, hosted her at the White House.

And fortune — she earned more than $500,000 in performance bonuses while superintendent.

On Friday, prosecutors essentially said it really was too good to be true. Dr. Hall and the 34 teachers, principals and administrators “conspired to either cheat, conceal cheating or retaliate against whistle-blowers in an effort to bolster C.R.C.T. scores for the benefit of financial rewards associated with high test scores,” the indictment said, referring to the state’s Criterion-Referenced Competency Test.

Reached late Friday, Richard Deane, Dr. Hall’s lawyer, said they were digesting the indictment and making arrangements for bond. “We’re pretty busy,” he said.>>>>>>
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/30/us/former-school-chief-in-atlanta-indicted-in-cheating-scandal.html?pagewanted=all