Seattle Schools Community Forum

When thinking of the Gates Foundation's work in the public education arena, there are not many wins to point to except for Common Core.  Of course, that's quite a large win even though many publications either don't know Gates funded that whole mission or they just leave it out of their writing about Common Core. I may have printed this editorial that appeared in June of last year in the Los Angeles Times   before but it bears repeating because of what the Gates Foundation says about itself.  About Common Core: The Gates Foundation strongly supported the proposed Common Core curriculum standards, helping to bankroll not just their development, but the political effort to have them quickly adopted and implemented by states.

Looks like someone's trying to revive the reviled Inbloom (the $100M public education data cloud that Gates created) by making a kinder, gentler one.  I, along with some other student data privacy advocates, see this as much less threatening than InBloom but I would have to see all the particulars before I could say it was okay.  From Washington Monthly:

I am a member of the Network for Public Education, a group started by elder education statesperson, Diane Ravitch.  One of our members sent this message today; I ask you to consider helping with input to elected officials on an issue around student data privacy for higher education. What we are asking for is an e-mail to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee.  The deadline was last Friday but it has been extended to the end of the day (EST) tomorrow, Monday the 27th.  Sample e-mail at the end of this thread. Send them to  consumerinformation@help. senate.gov Synopsis:

One the benefits of being able to hang in there for a long time is watching - however long it takes - for what you believe to be false and unworthy to slowly loosen (or lose) its grip. I mean, we now have the Gates Foundation ((apparently) throwing about $100M away on inBloom.  I'm sure they are resourceful and have learned something so all is not lost but it's a good thing they have deep pockets. (Plus the $500k they just blew on ConnectEdu that just folded last Friday.) So here are the troubling items: DFER, charter school mismanagement and charter school waitlists.

Second update:  a reply to inBloom's withdrawal from NY city parents who have been very in the thick of this fight. Yet the statement issued by inBloom’s CEO reeks of arrogance and condescension, and makes it clear that those in charge still have not learned any lessons from this debacle.   The fervent opposition to inBloom among parents throughout the country did not result from “misunderstandings”,   but inBloom‘s utter inability to provide a convincing rationale that would supercede the huge risks to student security and privacy involved. Contrary to the claims of Iwan Streichenberger and others,   InBloom was   not designed to protect student privacy but the opposite: to facilitate the sharing of children’s personal and very sensitive information with data-mining vendors,   with no attention paid to the need for parental notification or consent, and this is something that parents will not stand for.   In New York, the last state to pull ...

Do hedge funder managers and big investors like the Koch brothers and others invest just for the heck of it?  No, they want to make money and lots of it.  Public education is just that mother lode. From Education Week : It's already been a banner year for ed-tech startups , and we've only closed the first quarter. Ninety-nine startups in education have raised more than $500 million , a record in the past five years, according to TechCrunch , citing statistics from its  CrunchBase  database of technology companies, people, and investors. That compares to 20 companies raising more than $64 million during the same period five years ago.  However, it's not the greatest number of companies to be funded in a given quarter. Over the past five years, that happened in the second quarter of 2013, when 120 companies raised a total of $319 million. (There's an interactive map in the article.  In Seattle, there's a company called Actively Learn - ...

 Update: the state of Kansas has suspended their state testing after its testing vendor was cyber-attacked and hard. From Ed Week: While the cyber strikes scuttled the testing schedules of hundreds of schools across the state and left state officials scrambling to upgrade their security infrastructure, the full fallout is not yet known. "We're still in 'fix-it mode' right now," said Marianne Perie, the director of the Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation , or CETE, which develops and administers the exams. "We're putting out the fire before we have a chance to assess the damage." This year's administration of this year's exams is considered a pilot, and the results will not be used for accountability purposes. The content of this year's CETE exams covers mathematics and English/language arts in grades 3-8 and 11 and is aligned to the Kansas College and Career Ready standards—the Sunflower State's rebranded version of the ...

It's heating up. There was a great debate on Here and Now on NPR between Mary Fox-Alter, superintendent of schools in Pleasantville, N.Y., and Aimee Rogstad Guidera, executive director of the Data Quality Campaign (and note, DQC is a Gates group). A hugely important article appeared in the NY Times about a California legislator who is introducing a student data privacy bill.  Who can truly argue with this statement regarding students and their student data?  “We just think the public policy of California should be that the information you gather from students should be used for their educational benefit and for nothing else.” I believe Arne Duncan will be speaking on this issue today so I will have an update when details come in.

 From Stay Safe Online : Data Privacy Day is an international effort to empower and educate people to protect their privacy and control their digital footprint. Data Privacy Day began in the United States and Canada in January 2008 as an extension of the Data Protection Day celebration in Europe. Data Protection Day commemorates the January 28, 1981, signing of Convention 108, the first legally binding international treaty dealing with privacy and data protection. Data Privacy Day is now a celebration for everyone, observed annually on January 28.  Data flows freely in today's online world. Everyone - from home computer users to multinational corporations - needs to be aware of the personal data others have entrusted to them and remain vigilant and proactive about protecting it. Being a good online citizen means practicing conscientious data stewardship. Data Privacy Day is an effort to empower and educate people to protect their privacy, control t...

Sorry to be blunt but NOW is the time to pay attention to what is coming. There's a front-page story in the NY Times today on this issue.  I, along with several other activists, have several irons in the fire on this issue. I tell you - as parents - this should be the SINGLE issue to most concern you.    Why? There is NO ONE but you to protect your child's data.   Truly. Your child cannot just be another data point (or a brick in the wall) for any number of "researchers" or data collectors.  Where is the proof that more data makes better academic outcomes?  If you have been a parent for longer than a minute, you know that children and learning is a complex issue.  You, as a parent, know your child better than anyone and yet can you say, with complete accuracy, what is the best way for your child to learn?  In 3rd grade?  7th grade?  10 grade? Well, having 100 data points and throwing it at the wall and seeing what sticks is...

The big question; will Common Core survive and, if it does, will it be so beaten down that it's unrecognizable? Story One: Huge Common Core supporter, Governor Rick Scott of Florida , on Monday withdrew Florida from the group known as PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) consortium that is creating Common Core assessments.  From the American Enterprise Institute blog (never thought I'd type those words here): The Florida decision is especially significant for three reasons.  First, Florida has long been one of the states leading the charge. It has acted as a “fiscal agent” for one of the two major testing consortia, and its state superintendents have played an active role as champions of the Common Core effort. This isn’t some state in the chorus pulling back; it’s the drum major having second thoughts. Second, Florida’s decision appeared increasingly likely after former state superintendent Tony Bennett resigned this summer...

From Ed Week , are lawmakers finally connecting the dots between the Gates Foundation and Common Core?   Do tell. In Michigan, here is what representative Tom McMillin had to say two days ago, in response to testimony from Chester Finn, of the Fordham Institute, which can be counted among the architects of test-driven reform. McMillin points out that Chester Finn's colleague at the Fordham Institute, Michael Petrilli, had stated that after Arne Duncan hired four Gates Foundation staffers to high level positions in the Department of Education, "the Gates Foundation's agenda has become the country's agenda in education."  Finn said he disagreed, however he acknowledged that " the Gates Foundation paid for the development of the Common Core standards. There's no disputing that."  McMillin responded: And they also paid $6 million to Fordham (Institute) and then you guys evaluate the Common Core standards and decide if they're a...

One important note from the Board meeting - parent Mary Griffin spoke out about the issues around student data information, the inBloom student data "cloud" and FERPA and HIPPA (for students with disabilities).  She let the Board know that neither of those would protect student data if the district signed an agreement with a third-party allowing access to student information.  Director Sherry Carr, during her director comments, said she wanted clarity on this issue and asked for feedback from the district's legal counsel.  (I wrote to her and asked about when she wanted this and she said she wasn't sure she had a confirming vote from another director for this information.  She said she would check with legal counsel, Ron English.) I have been working with a couple of parents on this issue and I urge you to encourage the Board to seek this information.  Please write to them - schoolboard@seattleschools.org - and add your voice to this concern and ask for...

Here's what inBloom - the "cloud" student data system that the Gates Foundation is setting up says about students: Every student is an individual, with unique knowledge, abilities and learning needs. But the technology used in most K-12 schools today can make providing personalized instruction time-consuming and cumbersome for teachers. Meanwhile, states, districts and educators implementing the Common Core State Standards have set new goals for student learning, and they need effective tools and resources to ensure students meet those goals. Better, more integrated technology and data analytics can help by painting a more complete picture of student learning and making it easier to find learning materials that match each student’s learning needs. Unfortunately, creating the technology infrastructure to do this is often too expensive for most states and school districts. That’s where inBloom comes in. I feel like many parents are out there shrugging....

First off - read Anthony Cody's column from his Living in Dialogue slot at Education Week.  READ IT in its entirety.   Why?  Because it gives quite the total picture of Common Core and why so many - yes, including Tea Party folks - are against it.  Worried about it.  And will fight it.  You should be, too, if only to protect your child's privacy. Here's the basics from his column but again, READ IT: "1. Sharing of student and teacher data with third party developers of all sorts, with no guarantees of privacy.  As noted in this post, there are plans in place in some states such as Illinois and New York, and others as well, to collect massive amounts of data, which will be housed in a cloud based databank maintained by inBloom, a non-profit created by the Gates Foundation for this purpose."

  Update:  From a Colorado blog about children, School Belongs to the Children, a screenshot of inBloom's promotional video.  The accompanying article has some good information that I plan to draw from on what WE in Washington State need to do to stop this. This article   from Reuters really does a good job of explaining the issues around student data and privacy.  (I had seen this but a reader also alerted me to it; thanks). I keep getting asked, "What to do?"  I'll have a list of things you CAN and SHOULD do.  Our district can say no to a lot of this.   In a nutshell: A $100 million database set up to store extensive records on millions of public school students has stumbled badly since its launch this spring, with officials in several states backing away from the project amid protests from irate parents. The database, funded mostly by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , is intended to track students from kindergarten t...