ASD Information Not on Basecamp Radar

	‪Schools Matter: ASD Crosses Halfway Mark to Certain Failure ‪Dec 8, 2015 ... Vanderbilt Peabody has just released a research paper that examines the awful performance of ASD schools in Memphis, Nashville, and ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info
	‪Schools Matter: ASD Schools Still at Rock Bottom ‪Apr 5, 2016 ... Of the 11 Memphis schools that have been in the ASD the longest, all 11 are still in the bottom 10 percent — including three in the bottom 1 ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info
‪Schools Matter: Memphis Schools Matter: Details on ASD's Rigged ... ‪Jan 5, 2016 ... Memphis Schools Matter: Details on ASD's Rigged Takeover of Memphis School. ..: from the Commercial Appeal : Less than 1.5 percentage ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info
‪Schools Matter: ASD Advisory Councils in Memphis Calls ASD ... ‪Dec 22, 2015 ... ASD Advisory Councils in Memphis Calls ASD Process a "Scam". Last week Shelby County Schools called for a halt to Achievement School ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info

	‪Schools Matter: Barbic and ASD Corporate Skinheads Draining ... ‪Dec 24, 2014 ... Former charter CEO and current ASD superintendent, Chris Barbic, collects a salary that is larger than the superintendent of Shelby County ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info
‪Schools Matter: ASD Profiteers in Memphis Rebuffed at Raleigh ... ‪Nov 11, 2015 ... ASD Profiteers in Memphis Rebuffed at Raleigh Egypt Middle. The corporate predators of Scholars Academy have their work cut out for them in ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info
‪Schools Matter: The ASD and IZone Plan to Bankrupt Public ... ‪Mar 29, 2015 ... In three years, the ASD has taken 7,100 students and the $11,000 SCS would get each year for each student. Next year, ASD enrollment is ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info
‪Schools Matter: ASD Tries Massages and Cupcakes to Buy Support ... ‪Nov 9, 2014 ... Chris Barbic is back in action and was answering questions at an ASD Neighborhood Fair yesterday, where a total of 64 souls showed up for ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info

‪Schools Matter: What the ASD and Shelby County School Board ... ‪Nov 12, 2014 ... What the ASD and Shelby County School Board Can Count On Until Corporate Ed Packs Up and Leaves Memphis ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info
	‪Schools Matter: CorpEd Reeling in Memphis as ASD's Barbic ... ‪Nov 19, 2014 ... At this point, parents, teachers, and students in Memphis don't know which liar to believe less, as Hopson and ASD superintendent, Chris ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info
‪Support Legislation (SB975 and HB508) to Dismantle ASD ‪Mar 6, 2015 ... Support Legislation (SB975 and HB508) to Dismantle ASD. The following comment was offered by Karen Bracken to a post at TN Education ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info
‪Broad-Trained Liar and Non-Educators Running ASD in Tennessee ‪Nov 2, 2014 ... With Chris Barbic out of action, the ASD is being run by serial liar, Elliot Smalley. Smalley is trained by the Broad Foundation to do whatever is ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: ASD Follows Up Again on Charter Corruptionist Story ‪Sep 23, 2013 ... The ASD remains in response mode to this story and its follow-up, and as long as they are, we will remain responsive to them. Jeremy seems to ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: ASD's Mentor, the RSD, Is Near the Bottom in ACT ... ‪Feb 5, 2015 ... ASD's Mentor, the RSD, Is Near the Bottom in ACT Scores, Even in Louisiana. Mercedes Schneider recently took a brief furlough from plumping ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: More From Jeremy at ASD Responding to My ... ‪Sep 23, 2013 ... More From Jeremy at ASD Responding to My Education Agenda (Updated). Jeremy had some responses to my earlier 7 points for improving ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: ASD in TN Makes State Test the Only Grade that ... ‪Oct 1, 2013 ... ASD in TN Makes State Test the Only Grade that Counts. We have known for a long time that school grades are better indicators of later student ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: Have ASD Know Nothings Explain How They Chose ... ‪Oct 29, 2014 ... Have ASD Know Nothings Explain How They Chose American Way Middle for Hit List. Here is another grand example of another school, ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: Comments on ASD Takeover Plans in Memphis ‪Oct 29, 2014 ... Waiting in the wings are the corporate operators and their manager, the ASD, ready to open total compliance charter schools staffed with ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: ASD Backs Off Southside Middle ‪Oct 27, 2014 ... ASD Backs Off Southside Middle. I was getting ready to go to a meeting at South Side Middle School this afternoon to advocate against Shelby ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: How Did Cordova Middle School Avoid the ASD Hit ... ‪Oct 29, 2014 ... How Did Cordova Middle School Avoid the ASD Hit List? Is Cordova Middle too white to be handed over to a corporate reform charter chain ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: Governor Haslam Wants to Allow CorpEd's Barbic to ... ‪Apr 17, 2015 ... Tennessee's Achievement School District (ASD) was sold on the premise that its charter schools replace the lowest scoring public schools in ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: ASD and RSD Built on Empirical House of Cards ... ‪Oct 8, 2013 ... ASD and RSD Built on Empirical House of Cards and Mountains of Tax- Sheltered Cash. The NEPC has a completed a review of the ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: To Chris Barbic: There Will Be No Civility for Child ... ‪Sep 15, 2014 ... The Achievement School District (ASD) was set up to administer this task, and Chris Barbic was hired away from his job as CEO of a total ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: More on Coalition Meeting at South Side Middle ... ‪Nov 12, 2014 ... The ASD has pointed out that it, too is a governmental organization using public funds in an effort to improve public schools. Only non-profit ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: Achievement School District Responds ‪Sep 21, 2013 ... Every one of the Wall Street backed out-of-state charter chains that are favorites of the ASD are all non-profit corporations, and they are all ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: Memphis Lift, Sift, and Grift ‪Jan 8, 2016 ... A few weeks back the Shelby County Schools decided to stop sharing student demographic data with ASD, which had been sharing Memphis ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: Memphis Students and Parents Demand Green Dot ... ‪Nov 8, 2014 ... ... predators from Green Dot Schools stay clear of school property and the property of other local schools on the ASD hit list for next year. A clip:. ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: KIPP Memphis Flagship School 17th Lowest Scorer ... ‪Apr 20, 2015 ... In fact, we may ask when is the ASD going to take over KIPP Memphis Collegiate Middle. Could the ASD raise the scores of one of it favorite ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: Memphis Waking Up to Corporate Welfare Takeover ... ‪Mar 27, 2015 ... ... threatened with closure and absorption by the corporate I-Zone, when other schools in Memphis, both inside and outside the ASD and I-Zone ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: Failing KIPP School Set to Take Over Southside ... ‪Oct 23, 2014 ... The Achievement School District (ASD) has a new hit list of Memphis schools, all of them poor and black. Below is the list copied from the ASD ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: If You Think Ending Charter Co-location is a Good ... ‪Oct 31, 2014 ... If this new plan goes forward, ASD charters will get the ENTIRE BUILDING where they are now co-located, and the hundreds of public school ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: TN Achievement School Distict Official Granted ... ‪Sep 20, 2013 ... White has his own consulting business, has hired on as Director of Community Communications for the Achievement School District (ASD), has ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: Abusive Cornerstone Prep Attempts PR Comeback ‪Jan 27, 2014 ... The Achievement School District (ASD), which was formed in Tennessee to charterize the state's poorest schools in the same fashion that the ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: Barbic Prays for Someone to Believe Him ‪Mar 2, 2015 ... In case you haven't been keeping up, Barbic was hired as Superintendent of the ASD in May 2011. In May my calculator says it has been four ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: Memphis Ready to Turn Over $23 Million Head Start ... ‪Oct 15, 2013 ... Porter-Leath Partners with ASD to Provide High Quality Pre-K. Posted on: Friday, September 06, 2013. Porter-Leath has launched a ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: Huffman and Barbic Targets of Lawsuit in Tennessee ‪Sep 10, 2014 ... This lawsuit is brought by two individuals claiming $10 million in damages because they were denied charter operator authorization by the ASD ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: Memphis Commercial-Appeal Continues to Ignore ...‪ ‪Feb 2, 2013 ... The enrollment mix is expected to shift to non-district operators (including charter schools and the ASD), from 4% of total public school ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: Haslam Gives Corporate Reform Schools 9 More in ...‪ ‪Oct 16, 2014 ... ... any schools in Memphis or elsewhere in the state, the corporate swindlers are lined up to receive 9 more schools next fall from skinhead ASD ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: It Takes a College Newspaper to Tell the Real Story ...‪ ‪Sep 11, 2015 ... The ASD is Tennessee's state-run school district that takes over schools that perform in the bottom five percent state-wide. A primary concern ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info ‪Schools Matter: YES Prep Says NO to Teacher Town‪ ‪Mar 26, 2015 ... Labels: ASD, No Excuses, Yes Prep .... The ASD and IZone Plan to Bankrupt Public Educatio... Kasich Plans to Increase Charter Funding and ... ‪www.schoolsmatter.info

More on the so-called shortage of computer science grads: Hal Salzman

A petition to the US Congress, signed by Zuckerberg, Gates and others, for more computer science education is based on their claim of a huge shortage of computer science grads, which I have contested (http://skrashen.blogspot.com/2016/05/are-there-really-500000-computer-jobs.html)

Hal Salzman (Rutgers University) sent me his conclusion, from his statement  from his testimony submitted to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, 25 February 2016  at the hearing on "The Impact of High-Skilled Immigration on U.S. Workers."

http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3474CXX

"Current graduation rates indicate that projected employment demand specifically for computer science (CS) graduates can be met by about half of the current supply of 65,000 to 70,000 CS graduates (with at least a bachelor’s degree) each year, and the balance of demand can be met by those graduating with a range of other degrees, as is the historical pattern. Even if current industry hiring is for a much greater level of computer scientists than historical hiring patterns, the current pool of graduates would provide sufficient numbers of computer scientists to meet industry demand."

KIPP's Feinberg and Levin $alaries

The 2013 990s for KIPP Houston and KIPP Foundation show that no excuses non-profit charter schools can provide a fabulous level of personal income for the various chiefs in charge of these billion dollar enterprises.

Don't feel bad for Mike Feinberg, who is paid much less by the KIPP Foundation than David Levin.  Feinberg also pays himself out of KIPP Houston's account, which is the second chart below.  Click to enlarge. Note: Richard Barth, who was paid $426,457 is married to Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America.
 

Who Sustains the Education Writers Association?

I know--it's like the Clinton say--just because you are taking a lot of money from people does not mean that your priorities and messaging are in any influenced by those folks with all that cash to hand out. 

Anyway, if you have ever wondered why education writers are so seemingly ignorant about and/or absent from privatization of education issues, follow the money to find out who keeps those checks coming in to EWA.

An excellent proposal for Australia: Invest in libraries and librarians, not phonics checks.

Sent to the Australian Financial Review May 1

The London School of Economics study, contrary to the description in  "Simon Birmingham's 'excellent proposal'," (May 1), did NOT show a strong effect for phonics.  The positive impact wore off quickly, and was largely gone by grade 5. This result is consistent with other research showing that intensive phonics instruction only helps children on tests in which they pronounce words out-loud presented to them in a list.  It does not help them on tests in which they have to understand what they read.  Research consistently shows that the cause of real reading ability is doing a lot of self-selected pleasure reading.
Australian schools don't need phonics checks. They need a greater investment in libraries and librarians.  For children of poverty, the library is often their only source of reading material.

Stephen Krashen
Professor Emeritus
University of Southern California

original article: http://www.afr.com/leadership/innovation/simon-birminghams-excellent-proposal-a-phonics-test-for-year-1-students-20160501-goj8ps#ixzz47Sc3lYes
This letter posted at: http://tinyurl.com/gobe99a
Some sources:
Other research on phonics: Garan, E. (2001). Beyond the smoke and mirrors: A critique of the National Reading Panel report on phonics. Phi Delta Kappan 82, no. 7 (March), 500-506.Krashen, S. 2009. Does intensive decoding instruction contribute to reading comprehension? Knowledge Quest 37 (4): 72-74.
Self-selected pleasure reading: Krashen, S. 2004. The Power of Reading. Second edition. Portsmouth: Heinemann and Westport: Libraries Unlimited; Lee, S. Y. 2007. Revelations from Three Consecutive Studies on Extensive Reading. Regional Language Center (RELC) Journal , 38 (2), 150-170.
Impact of libraries: Lance, Keith. The Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement. http://www.lrs.org/impact.php; Krashen, S, Lee, S.Y. and McQuillan, J. 2012. “Is the Library Important? Multivariate Studies at the National and International Level.” Journal of Language and Literacy Education 8 no. 1: 26-36.

Why the test boycott

Sent to the Guardian, May 1, 2016

Barbara Ellen assumes that parents who opt their children out of tests are opposed to all assessment ("Time children learned a life lesson at school," April 30). Not true. The opt-out parents in the UK (and in the USA) are not against all testing. They are opposed to excessive and unnecessary testing based on inappropriate standards.
Stephen Krashen
original article: http://www.theguardian.com/profile/barbaraellen

Donald Trump and the bogus shortage of STEM workers.

S. Krashen, May 1, 2016

"... the impending shortage of scientists and engineers is one of the longest running hoaxes in the country" (Gerald Bracey, 2009).

"Over the years, (Bill) Gates has been a leading advocate for increasing the H-1B visa and green cards in the belief that the U.S. isn't producing enough high-skilled workers."  http://www.computerworld.com/article/2490207/technology-law-regulation/u-s--senator-blasts-microsoft-s-h-1b-push-as-it-lays-off-18-000-workers.html

It is clear that despite the outcry from the business world, there is no shortage of STEM workers (eg Is the U.S. losing the tech race? By Michael S. Teitelbaum, April 20, 2014, Los Angeles Times op-ed.) and in particular no shortage of computer science trained workers (No shortage of computer science graduates. http://tinyurl.com/jdht2mn).

Many people have concluded that the reason companies say there is a shortage in these areas is so they can bring in STEM workers from other countries and pay them less.  Several candidates for president have made reasonable proposals about this situation. One of them is (gasp) Donald Trump, who comments on the H-1B visa, which allows foreign workers to be employed temporarily in the US in certain special areas.

"(Trump's) proposal has two basic components. First is to increase the H-1B "prevailing wage" so the programme can no longer be used for cheap labour. The prevailing wage is the minimum wage that an employer must pay an H-1B worker. Right now that wage is set far below the actual wages paid to American workers. As a result, employers have a profit motive to replace Americans with H-1Bs. The second component of the proposal is to require employers to actively recruit American workers before turning to the H-1B programme. Both of these proposals would fix the H-1B so that it works as it is intended: to fill skills gaps in the American labour market. These proposals are consistent with those introduced by policymakers that span the ideological spectrum, from liberal Democratic Senators Richard Durbin and Bernie Sanders to conservative Republican Senators Charles Grassley, Ted Cruz and Jeff Sessions. "

from:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/52057221.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

KIPP Insists Feds Hide Attrition Numbers: ED Complies

We know that KIPP's high attrition among students and teachers has been documented since 2008, even though KIPP has gone to great lengths to hide the facts that most teachers last less than three year and that the majority of entering 5th graders never reach 9th grade.

Their secrecy, however, took on new dimensions when the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) recently requested student enrollment and attrition information from the U. S. Department of Education.  

Since the U. S. Government handed over at least $40,000,000 in taxpayer money to KIPP over a two year period from 2013 through 2014, it would seem appropriate, would it not, that the federal government provide the requested information to public watchdog groups.  

But, then, KIPP is not just any corporate charter chain.  The KIPP Model of "no excuses"schools is the chosen model among white philanthropists and investors, hedge funds, and businessmen for a 21st Century indoctrination of the poor that is based on cultural/character scrubbing and neurological re-wiring of children to make them immune to effects of poverty.  It is an aggressive and profitable agenda that hopes to re-shape urban education into a tool of paternalistic exploitation.

When CMD requested student attrition information about KIPP schools, ED bowed to KIPP's request to redact all information related to student attrition.   Would any of those Congressmen who demand public school accountability interested in knowing why the U. S. Education Department will not release this information?  After all, these are public charter schools, right?

Click charts to enlarge, although there is not much to see.  

NO SHORTAGE of computer science graduates

There is now a petition to congress to provide more support for computer science in schools, because “There are currently over 500,000 open computing jobs, in every sector, from manufacturing to banking, from agriculture to healthcare, but only 50,000 computer science graduates a year.” (“Offer computer science in our public schools,”; change.org/computerscience#CSforALL)
The petition is signed by a number of “business leaders,” including Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, state governors, and various heads of education organizations, including David Coleman of the College Board.
A footnote to the text of the petition notes that this data comes from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Not noted in the text is that the gap is a projection FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS (from 2014 to 2024).  We will need 500,000 more computer science grads in 2024. NOT RIGHT NOW.
If we are producing about 50,000 computer graduates each year, this appears to be enough.