Author Archives: educationalchemy

(click image to enlarge for detail) Looking closely at the chart (click to enlarge) you can see three central players in the education reform movement have all come from the same lineage: Sir Michael Barber (Pearson), David Coleman (College Board and CCSS), and Lou Gerstner (Achieve). Indeed, the stars have aligned for McKinsey and Co’sContinue reading “The Global Powerhouse Designing our Ed Reform Landscape: McKinsey and Co.”

Set out runnin’ but I take my time, a friend of the devil is a friend of mine -Grateful Dead- Is this any way to start off a new year? Are you scratching you head wondering…wondering why it is that Maryland has decided to become the PARCC fiscal agent? First of all, what does thisContinue reading “Maryland, PARCC, and Common Core: Dr. Lowery and the tangled web of corporate interest”

“Style is the answer to everything. A fresh way to approach a dull or dangerous thing To do a dull thing with style is preferable to doing a dangerous thing without it To do a dangerous thing with style is what I call art Bullfighting can be an art Boxing can be an art LovingContinue reading “On the Necessity of Creative Resistance to “Accountability””

Not feelin’ too good myself….(Joe Cocker) Seems I got to have a change of scene Cause every night I have the strangest dreams Imprisoned by the way it used to be Left here on my own or so it seems I got to leave before I start to scream But someone’s locked the door andContinue reading “Absurdity of reform: Should I laugh or should I cry?”

ALEC legislation to sell public education to privately run edu-tech empire and children’s data to private interests There’s a lot wrong with ALEC legislation, now, in the past, and undoubtedly into the future. I could fill volumes of pages of such concerns. But for the sake of focus, today’s blog drills down into their mostContinue reading ““Big Brother” Has an Ugly Corporate “Big Stepsister”!”

The next time you see a news article, a blog, or a Facebook comment going down the rabbit hole of confusion over whose purpose CCSS serves, please just cut and paste this brief explanation. It’s short and simple enough to paste into any FB comment box, or to send as a Letter to the Editor,Continue reading “Keeping the Message about “Reform” Clear and Simple”

Image from: http://kochcash.org/the-kochtopus/ Arne Duncan’s trying his darndest to cloak resistance to education reform as the mantle of either “crazy Tea Party” people or privileged “suburban moms” (his words, not mine). Nice way to deflect Arne, but it won’t work. You see, here in the trenches we are not all Conservatives. And we are notContinue reading “Common Core versus the Koch Brothers agenda for education: An untenable choice? Keep the billionaire corporate interest out of our opposition!”

Below is a guest post by Wendy Holmes (RI education activist) It appears that yet another “reform expert” may have something to hide We’re shocked….                                                            Continue reading “Rhode Islanders Examine Commish Deb Gist’s “Qualifications””

(image obtained from Oxfamblogs) There’s a lot of growing resistance to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). And there are a lot of reasons for this opposition: invasion of privacy of information, shoddy confusing content, federal and corporate intrusion, questionable standards in terms of content or developmental appropriateness, costs/expenditures being funneled to private corporations, andContinue reading “Why a Democratic Society Needs Public Education”

This piece is written to help clarify many misunderstandings about who designed the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), who supports it, and who opposes it. These clarification are necessary for any sustainable “coalition of the sane” to work together to dismantle it. I am not attacking my Conservative friends here. I think many of usContinue reading “FOUR IMPORTANT MYTHBUSTERS ABOUT THE COMMON CORE”