The Broad Prize for Corporate Domination Goes to Charlotte-Mecklenburg

Why is everyone smiling except the two school officials?

That photogenic charlatan and former superintendent, Peter Gorman (Broad Class of '04) caused all sorts of grief for Charlotte educators, parents, and students before he was scooped up by Rupert Murdoch (Aaaargh!) to serve as one of Murdoch's chief edu-lackeys. Just in time, too, as Charlotte parents and teachers were ready last Spring to tar and feather Broad's man,  Gorman, for introducing 52 new tests to enable a new teacher evaluation scheme based on, what else, test scores:

Skeptical parents and adamant administrators are squaring off over a surge of new testing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, as teachers watch warily and brace for hours of new work.

Next week CMS will launch trial versions of 52 new tests, including an exam for kids as young as kindergarteners who must be tested one-on-one. The tests will be used to evaluate teachers, as the budget shrinks and officials prepare to lay off faculty.

In order to try to salvage the corporate reform schooling PR train wreck in Charlotte, Broad produced $3 million in pocket change to pay for the 52 tests, and three days ago the bare-knuckled philanthrocapitalist picked CMS as winner of the Broad Prize for their continued loyalty to corporate money.

The Broad Foundation has given CMS about $3 million to analyze data and test students, some of that with an eye to crafting the district's Pay for Performance plans.

Mark Anderson, a principal at Crown Point Elementary school, isn't so sure what he thinks about all that money, but he's proud of the district for taking the top prize.

"The pay for performance, well, that varies, but I'm just happy that $550,000 will be used to send kids to college. That's the most important thing to me," said Anderson.

The scholarships will range from $5,000 to $20,000 for needy seniors to help pay for college or trade school. All of the money must be awarded to this year's seniors.

CMS sent several administrators to the ceremony with the help of a grant from the local CD Spangler Foundation. Former Superintendent Peter Gorman was also there. He graduated from the Broad's superintendent training academy seven years ago.

With the search on for a new superintendent and school board elections in November, it's not clear what the district's direction will be. Critics say the Broad foundation and other private donors are trying to take local control away from public schools by influencing education leaders and rewarding certain policies.

Eli Broad, the wealthy businessman who founded the group, says he hopes this award will help convince the public that CMS is on the right course.

"I think if they look at the record and recognize they were chosen as the best district in all districts of urban America, that they'd want to continue with the successful policies they've had," says Broad.

The panel that chose CMS includes three former US education secretaries and the former president of the Service Employees International Union.. . .

At left is Broad, Steve Barr, and the then-president of SEIU, Andy Stern, at a fundraiser for Green Dot Public Schools, Inc. in  2007

Old News Missed But Worth Noting

When Broadie poster boy, Peter Gorman, came out with his plan in the spring for 52 new tests for Charlotte-Mecklenburg students to choke down more than once during coming school years, some called Gorman a visionary, while some called him the corporate whore.  As if to prove the latter correct, Gorman has signed on at NewsCorp with Klein and Klein's former NYC Schools COO, Kristen Kane, to run Rupert Murdoch's edu-adventures.  The Press Release is too good not to be shared:

. . . . Ms. Kane will become Chief Operating Officer of the group, responsible for driving operations and strategy. Dr. Gorman will be named Senior Vice President and work with school districts to implement the division's programs, as well as review their integrity and effectiveness.

News Corporation's Education Division is focused on individualized, technology-based content and learning opportunities that support world class student and teacher performance, as well as digital assessment tools for K-12 students in the United States that help eliminate the achievement gap. News Corporation recently acquired Brooklyn-based education technology company, Wireless Generation.

"Pete and Kristen are recognized leaders in their field and each brings particular strengths to bear on our growing business," said Joel Klein, CEO of News Corporation's Education Division. "Pete's success running one of the largest schools systems in the United States, combined with his commitment to educational innovation are the perfect complement to our mission. Furthermore, Kristen's proven leadership in shaping and running many of the New York City Department of Education's best programs will benefit us greatly over the years to come."

"I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with Joel and his team in this capacity," said Ms. Kane. "I strongly believe there are more efficient and effective ways to improve the system, and I'm eager to get started."

"I'm thrilled to join News Corporation, and to work with someone of Joel's caliber, and the rest of his team, to transform the educational system through digital technology and other means," said Dr. Gorman. "News Corporation has a reputation for leading significant change across many industries, and I look forward to what lies ahead for the education sector."

Ms. Kane brings a range of experience in both the public and private sectors. At the New York City Department of Education, she served as Chief Operating Officer and was responsible for the development and implementation of the Bloomberg administration's reform strategy as well as oversight of daily operations.

She also served as Chief Executive of the Office of New Schools, which opened 178 new schools and charters in New York City under her leadership. At the Federal Communications Commission, she served as a Director of the National Broadband Plan developing strategies for applying broadband technologies in the education, healthcare, and energy sectors. Earlier in her career, Kristen worked in equity research at JPMorgan covering the education sector. She holds an MBA and Certificate in Public Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA from Yale.. . .

Why Charlotte-Mecklenburg Parents Should Sue Peter Gorman and the C-M School Board

The Charlotte Observer has a story today on the idiot in charge of Chalotte, NC Schools.  His name is Peter Gorman, and his idea of school improvement in these desperate economic times is to spend 2 million dollars of money he doesn't have for a bunch of needless, abusive, and unjustifiable tests at a time when schools are struggling to hold on to teachers and even their photocopying budget.

Who is Peter Gorman, and why should parents tell him to Go to Hell?  He is another one of those corporate kool-aid drinking dipdogs trained by the Broad Toads (Class of 2004) to undermine the ethos in care in schools, to bust teacher unions and teacher professionalism, and to put public schools  in the hands of Theory X corporate managers with social agendas circa 1950.

The same Broad stooges are doing untold damage in many other school systems around the country, from Detroit to Kansas City to Knoxville to Boston to San Jose and almost 50 other large urban districts.  Wake County down the road has its own fresh Broadie alum, General Tata (Class of 2009), now in place to carry out the Business Roundtable anti-cultural, anti-teacher, and anti-public agenda in Raleigh. As noted in yesterday's piece in the News-Observer, 

"They know how to cut costs," said Fenwick English, a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Education, who has labeled Broad the top enemy of public education leadership in the U.S. "But what they don't know is teaching and learning."

A couple of other subjects they don't know?  Child development and psychometrics.  Nor do they care.  If they did, they would not be subjecting K-2 children, in particular, to these tests that cannot have any validity simply because of the huge variation in cognitive development of these young ones.  This is Psychology 101, but they don't teach that, either, at the Broad boot camp for corporate wannabes.  I hope they had at least a short course in getting lawyered up for an angry parents' lawsuit, for one is surely brewing in Charlotte.  Power to the parents!:

Skeptical parents and adamant administrators are squaring off over a surge of new testing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, as teachers watch warily and brace for hours of new work.

Next week CMS will launch trial versions of 52 new tests, including an exam for kids as young as kindergarteners who must be tested one-on-one. The tests will be used to evaluate teachers, as the budget shrinks and officials prepare to lay off faculty.

Superintendent Peter Gorman acknowledged Wednesday that the tests put a burden on teachers and volunteers, especially in elementary schools. But he said they ensure that kids get the best possible instruction: "We can see who's a great teacher, who's a good teacher and who's a teacher that needs improvement."

Growing numbers of parents say the tests will waste class time and undermine learning.

"It's very upsetting. At a time when they are cutting teachers right and left, they find funding for this and it's taking away time in the classrooms," said Amy Wlodyka, who has kids at Crestdale Middle and Providence Spring Elementary.

An online petition from CMS parents protesting the use of standardized tests to evaluate teachers had 472 signatures as of Wednesday.

Most teachers have avoided the public fray, though a group from East Meck High is rallying opposition. That group will hold a second meeting next week. Some protesting parents say their children's teachers are rooting for them.

Gorman took his case for extra testing to his employees this week, when he emailed a five-minute video on testing and effective teaching. He'll hold a "webinar" on teacher effectiveness for faculty and parent leaders next week.

The debate over testing rages across the country. North Carolina is scaling back on its exams, and a popular documentary, "Race To Nowhere," encourages parents to resist excessive tests.

On the other hand, Superior Court Judge Howard Manning, who oversees a lengthy court battle over the state's quality of education, has weighed in for more testing. And Gorman noted that the federal government is preparing new national exams.

Testing tykes

North Carolina begins testing reading and math in third grade. CMS is paying $1.9 million to design year-end reading, math, science and social studies tests for K-8 and exams for the end of all high school classes.

In kindergarten through second grade, teachers or other adults will spend an hour testing each child on four subjects. The adult reads questions while the student answers verbally or completes a simple task such as circling answers.

All testing is to be monitored by another adult so teachers don't cheat on tests that rate their effectiveness.

For a standard class of 22 students, that's up to 44 hours of adult time spent on testing.

"It's crazy at a time like this," said Mary McCray, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators.

Gorman said it's considered "best practice" for teachers to test their own students, because young children respond best to someone they know. But he said assistants, administrators and other faculty could also do testing.

However, his 2011 budget plan calls for eliminating assistants in grades one and two

Parent protests

Katie Catron, a former teacher and member of the Cotswold PTA board, said she learned of the new tests last week, when the school issued a call for volunteers to cover classrooms for four days while teachers give a trial version of the new exams

She wrote Gorman and the school board, saying she won't let her kids participate.

"You are overburdening a system that is at a breaking point," she wrote. "I give full support to the staff at my children's school. This is one area that I must stand up for my children and other CMS students to say enough testing is enough. Find another way to evaluate your staff."

Gorman and Chris Cobitz, who oversees the new program, say they've gotten several requests for kids to be pulled out of the testing. But CMS won't allow that, they said.

Catron says that's not CMS' decision to make: "If I have to take my kids out of school next week, I will do it."

School board member Tim Morgan, who represents the southern suburbs, was peppered about the tests at a Providence Spring meeting last week and during a District 6 meeting with parents and state officials over the weekend.

Marion Idol, who attended the weekend session, says CMS "tried to kind of slip this in under the radar." The Providence High parent says good teachers can design better exams than district officials. . . .