Vulture Philanthropy and Vulture Capital Limb Sitting in Providence, RI

Achievement First is a chain of zero tolerance, soul-crushing corporate charter schools built from the mold of the total compliance, autocracy-breeding KIPP schools, wherein poor minority children are brainwashed into embracing the creepy autocratic exceptionalism preached by their TFA/KIPP captors.  With only a few years remaining of white majority rule in the U. S., these kinds of schools represent a crash program by white corporate America to seed their character values, or lack thereof, among other groups that will faithfully promulgate them once they are psychologically brutalized and behaviorally neutered from the earliest grades.

Make no mistake about it--behavioral and character traits are more important than academics, as KIPP's Mike Feinberg has admitted.  In this brave new world of character report cards rounded to the second decimal place, curiosity has replaced integrity, social intelligence has shoved aside fairness, grit has replaced honesty, and something called zest has been put in the place of caring.  These new values to be drilled into urban children represent those of the hedge funders, vulture capitalists, and predatory philanthropists who control and get fat from the operations of these zero tolerance hellholes.

The charter chain predators are on the move in Providence, RI, where Achievement First has a plan that would drain between $6-9 million annually from the public school budget of the city.  This would represent a death blow to efforts by the public schools in Providence to continue quality programs that have resulted in big improvements in recent years.

Local parent groups are appealing to Governor Chafee to intervene to stop the disastrous intrusion by the vultures who see Providence as another potential feeding site, as public institutions continue to suffer from the economic disaster brought on by the predators of Wall Street in 2008. 

Go the Change.org and sign their petition.  Help Providence parents save their schools from the vultures and to say NO to zero tolerance schools.

How Did BP Become a Stakeholder in Shaping California K-12 Environmental Education Policy and in Writing Its Curriculum?

Mr. Theodore R. Mitchell

State Board President

Contact:
State Board of Education
1430 N Street, Room 5111
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-319- 0827

Ted Mitchell is President and CEO of NewSchools Venture Fund, a venture philanthropy firm focused on transforming public education for underserved children. 

Ted is the man to ask.  Give him a call.

Story from Democracy Now, one of the few remaining streams of free media in the world:

Should an oil giant responsible for the worst spill in US history play a role in what public school children learn about the environment? Well if you’re in California, there’s a good chance they will. BP has helped develop the new environmental curriculum for California’s public schools. The curriculum will be taught to over six million pupils in some 1,000 districts. BP employees were part of a state-appointed team that crafted the program’s "guiding principles.”[includes rush transcript]

NewSchools Venture Fund Invests in Testing's Stranglehold

From a NewSchools Venture Fund press release:

NewSchools Venture Fund Invests $1 Million in The Achievement Network (ANet)

New investment will support organization’s efforts to improve student achievement

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - September 16, 2009 - NewSchools Venture Fund today announced an investment of $1 million in The Achievement Network (formerly called Massachusetts Public School Performance), a nonprofit organization committed to helping teachers and school leaders understand and effectively use real-time student data – test results that are made immediately available to teachers – to improve instruction and increase student achievement. The Achievement Network (ANet) currently serves schools in Boston, New Orleans, and Washington DC. The organization plans to expand to two additional urban markets in 2009-2010, adding services in Chicago and Newark, and will serve a total of 70 schools.

What services, exactly, does ANet provide?

Today, in many schools, teachers administer standardized tests only a few times each year. They receive the results of these tests too late to make substantial adjustments in areas where students may be struggling. Research has shown that the consistent use of test data is a highly effective tool for improving student achievement. Teachers and leaders need real-time data about student performance to immediately understand student strengths and weaknesses and create interventions that meet key areas of need. However, many schools lack the capacity and necessary structures and processes to use data effectively. In response, NewSchools Venture Fund has sought to identify and support strong entrepreneurial organizations that can help schools address this enormous challenge. By filling this critical need in high-poverty urban schools, ANet helps schools take data-driven action to improve student outcomes and close the achievement gap.

Founded in 2005, The Achievement Network helps teachers and principals collect, understand and effectively use real-time data about their students’ performance. In the schools working with ANet, teachers administer ANet-designed tests on a regular and frequent basis. Within 72 hours of a test, ANet provides timely and accurate results to schools, and organizes meetings to work with leaders and teachers to make sure that the data are understood and plans for instruction and remediation are adjusted accordingly.

I put the "Within 72 hours of a test" in it's biggest font because it deserves special attention. The National Academies sent a letter to the DOE regarding the Race to the Top fund, a letter Duncan is almost sure to ignore. One of the critiques was the Department's goal of getting test scores (standardized) back to teachers within 72 hours. This was part of the "rapid-time" turnaround system, a key part of the test-happy system where the teacher doesn't do any grading or evaluating of student work. It's all about continuos testing, particularly the standardized kind, which the Venture Fund laments are given "only a few times each year." Keep your eye on NSVF: they're the mafia of the corporate charter school movement...

Corporate Welfare Venture Fund Specialist to Lead Duncan's "Race Over the Cliff" Fund

With $5 billion burning a hole in his pocket and with the ed industry leeches like Whittle lined up at the feeding trough and with the Oligarchs tapping their sharp pencils on the edge of their desks, Arne announced yesterday that a bundler from the corporate tax evasion outfit, the New Schools Venture Fund (NSVF), would be in charge of handing out the dough.  

NSVF is a "non-profit" clearinghouse of sorts for corporate cash looking to generate tax credits in ways that shape social policy to benefit the corporate ideology of unrestrained greed.  Does the appointee know anything about schools?  No, but she's from Princeton.  It should be quite a party:

FOR RELEASE: May 19, 2009

Contact: John White, (202) 401-1576,john.white@ed.gov

Citing a track record of innovative ideas with rapid and effective implementation, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that Joanne Weiss will lead development of the "Race to the Top Fund" to catalyze innovation and restore America's global leadership in public K-12 education.

Weiss has a record of success in investment strategy and management assistance that includes a portfolio of investment ventures at the New Schools Venture Fund, a national nonprofit venture philanthropy firm, during the last eight years. She also led the organization's research agenda and oversaw operations.

"Recruiting successful professionals from the entrepreneurial community is one way we will change the culture and our way of doing business at the Department of Education," Secretary Duncan said during a videoconference today with the audience at the annual NewSchools Venture Fund annual Summit in Pasadena, Calif. "We may never have an opportunity like this again to dramatically improve our country's educational system with huge investments in a few strategic areas to make changes that are deep and foundational."

"Joanne will help us push a strong reform agenda that is entrepreneurial in spirit, providing carrots and sticks, to change the way we do business, and fundamentally turn around underperforming schools in ways that last for decades," Duncan said.

Throughout her career, Weiss has helped to pioneer innovative work to increase the effectiveness of teaching and learning processes. Prior to joining NewSchools Venture Fund, she was CEO of Claria Corporation, an e-services recruiting firm that helped emerging-growth companies build teams quickly and well. Weiss has spent 20 years in the design, development, and marketing of technology-based products and services for education. She was senior vice president of product development at Pensare, an e-learning company that created business innovation programs for the Fortune 500 market. Prior to Pensare, she was co-founder, interim CEO, and vice president of products and technologies at Academic Systems, a company that helps hundreds of thousands of college students prepare for college-level work in mathematics and English.

Weiss holds a degree in biochemistry from Princeton University.