Digital Learning Goes Back to School ALISON HAWVER MCDOWELL·THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2016

So I had a back and forth online with someone recently who didn't understand the significance of education/workforce badging programs and asked me to write something up. So my thoughts are below. Ultimately I think this is all going to be linked to the TiSA (Trade in Services Agreement) as they create a global market for digital education. https://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/news_...

How to create a global market for digital learning: (detailed background from Morna McDermott) https://educationalchemy.com/2014/1...):

1. Create a common platform of educational standards. Don't get distracted by CCSS-the uber set of standards is all pretty much in place now. https://ceds.ed.gov/

2. Make sure all the developers are using a common schema for educational item data tagging. http://scorm.com/ http://dublincore.org/dcx/lrmi-term...

3. Make PII data and data-collection a priority in schools. Don't limit yourself to academic performance. Layer in SEL and bio-metrics, too. These are all important for workforce development. Gather it via embedded assessments and gaming to make it more palatable. https://www.adlnet.gov/…/performance-tracki…/experience-api/

https://theconversation.com/how-com...

4. Focus on closing the digital divide by providing low-cost technology to districts with a majority of low-income students and by expanding broadband access to rural areas. For global, digital education to work, inexpensive internet everywhere must be put in place.

5. Expand 1:1 device initiatives. Design learning management platforms to be run on less-expensive tablets and chromebooks.

6. Systematically defund bricks and mortar educational systems. Allow facilities to decline, reduce human teaching staff, implement ongoing austerity budgets, etc.

7. Control the teacher training pipeline to make digital learning the primary delivery vehicle.

8. Drive families out of the public school system via punitive measures (high-stakes testing, IEP non-compliance, No Excuses etc.) and create a perception of public education as dangerous and/or ineffectual so people withdraw to do home school or private school.

9. Set up charter cyber schools to accommodate the new "home school" families. This will further destabilize public school systems.

10. Start to build up "virtual" public schools. In PA they are doing it through the county intermediate units. These will be cross-district, regional programs. Students will be encouraged to enroll in a "few" classes online via these programs. They will brand them differently than the cyber charters. They will market it as a savvy cost-saving measure. See PA Open Campus.

11. Global corporations purchase cyber charter companies to do R&D to refine their online learning platforms and extend their reach-see Connections Academy (Pearson owned) in 29 states.

12. Convince the public that online portfolios are better suited to the 21st century "gig" economy workforce than traditional diplomas/transcripts. Make it difficult to procure and access traditional credentialing avenues. See rise of Naviance use in schools. Push badging for non-academic skills.

13. Convince people that badging has merit and is a trustworthy measure of true skill. Continue to break down the "seat time narrative." Learning can happen "anywhere." You can earn badges anywhere, too-not just in school. ***If you do nothing else, watch this 6-minute video on “edu-blocks.”*** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zss...

14. Have legislation passed that allows for an increase in the use of credit-bearing ELOs (extended, expanded, enhanced learning opportunities)-preferably unlimited. Initially these programs will be before/after school and in summer, but once the community-based learning framework is in place, it can begin to usurp the role of bricks and mortar schools. Reduce seat-time funding requirements at a state level.

15. Blur the lines between high school and college through dual enrollment programs, many of which are delivered digitally. Couch it as "lifelong learning." Expand online AP classes to target niche markets and add legitimacy to the online learning model.

16. Get Federal legislation passed so for-profit online education providers can access student loan financing for online courses that will result in badges and micro-credentials.

17. Establish a common list of skill codes for the labor force that can be tied to the online portfolios and to screen job applicants more efficiently. There will be limited on-the-job training in the future. People will need to finance their own training.

18. Open up global education markets via TiSA (Trade in Services Agreement). Digital education controlled by multinational corporations (with a supplement of local project based learning) becomes the norm in the 21st century. If you are up for a short dystopian essay. It paints a compelling picture: http://vibrantlearning.aam-us.org/2...

*Don't count on the non-profits to step up and save education. The ELO / Learning Eco-System model will allow them to significantly expand their programming, and once they accept philanthropic monies or funding via "Pay for Success" or social impact bonds, they will not be in position to fight back. Certified teachers will be replaced by Americorps/Vista kids keeping track of the online portfolios, and newly-minted college graduates will have temporary-grant funded jobs staffing project-based learning at cultural and job-training centers. No more need for certified teachers. http://www.knowledgeworks.org/sites...

Opt Out Letters 2016-2017 Posted by Dawn Sweeney

Letter for online programs and assessments such as PSSA and keystone exam test prep, CASEL, surveys, questionnaires etc.

I am writing to inform you that [my child] be excused from all CDT, Study Island and any other computer assessments, questionnaires, surveys and programs.  If there is a computerized assessment or program my [son/daughter] must take, I require prior written parental informed consent.  I would also request an anonymous student login where [his/her] name or student ID is not attached or paper/pencil assessment where data mining would be limited. 

Please remove my child from any and all CASEL programs, including, but not limited to the programs listed below.

After much research regarding common core, Pennsylvania’s statewide longitudinal data system and its collection and sharing requirements, I have become even more suspicious and skeptical on the state's ability to secure data.  Since my [son/daughter] is not of legal age to legally bind [herself/himself] to ownership of [her/his] personal data, that responsibility falls on [her/his] parents.  Since the Pennsylvania Department of Education will not allow parents to opt out of the increasingly invasive data collection through PIMS I will remove [him/her] from the means for data collection. 

I am sure you can appreciate my desire to protect [name] from the possibility of identity theft at an early age.  While I do have concerns with the educational value, security and privacy of the common core aligned CDT, Study Island, GAFE (Google Apps For Education) and especially the new CASEL programs, my biggest concern with electronic assessments is data collection and privacy of my minor child and the adverse repercussions of personal data on college and career opportunities.

4Rs (Reading, Writing, Respect, and Resolution)

Al's Pals

Caring School Community

Competent Kids, Caring Communities

HighScope Educational Approach for Preschool

I Can Problem Solve

The Incredible Years Series

Michigan Model for Health

MindUP

Open Circle

PATHS (Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies) 

Peace Works: Peacemaking Skills for Little Kids

Positive Action

Raising Healthy Children

Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP) 

Responsive Classroom

RULER

Second Step

Social Decision Making / Problem Solving Program

Steps to Respect

Too Good for Violence

Tools of the Mind

Tribes Learning Communities

Source and descriptions of programs:

http://www.casel.org/guide/programs/

http://optoutpa.blogspot.com/2016/08/opt-out-letters-2016-2017.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OptOutPennsylvania+%28Opt+Out+Pennsylvania%29

Uganda Will Close For-Profit Schools Pushed by Gates, Zuckerberg, US, UK, and World Bank Posted on August 17, 2016 by janresseger

In a statement to the Ugandan parliament last week, Hon. Janet Museveni, Ugandan Minister for Education and Sports, explained that the ministry will close 63 private primary and nursery schools at the end of the term due to problems with licensing, safety and sanitation.  The schools are operated by one of the world’s largest private, for-profit education companies.

As this blog reported in April, Bridge International Academies is funded by the World Bank; American venture capitalists, New Enterprise Associates and Lean Capital; and philanthropists including the Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Pierre Omidyar.  Bridge is associated with the publishing and testing giant, Pearson.  It has also been supported by the United Kingdom Department for International Development.  Justine Greening, a Conservative Party member of the British Parliament who headed up the Department for International Development before being appointed earlier this year as British Secretary of State for Education, has been influential in promoting Bridge Academies.

According to its website, Bridge International Academies has expanded rapidly in Africa.  It opened its first school in Nairobi, Kenya in 2010 and operated 130 schools in Kenya by 2013.  In 2014 it prepared to expand into Uganda and Nigeria—operating seven academies in Uganda by February, 2015. Bridge currently operates 63 schools in Uganda. Now it is expanding into Liberia and India.

The Global Campaign for Education and a number of international education and human rights organizations released a statement at the end of last week supporting Ms. Museveni’s decision to close all Bridge International Academies in Uganda.  Respecting Ms. Museveni’s decision to close the schools based on immediate problems with licensing and hygiene, these international advocates for public education as a human right examine much deeper problems in the schools: “Bridge International Academies is a for-profit commercial chain of low-cost private schools backed by investors such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Pierre Omidyar (eBay), as well as the World Bank, and the U.S. and British Governments. It aims at providing education to 10 million pupils by 2025 and already runs over 450 schools in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and soon Liberia and India. The company has been particularly criticised for using a non-transparent system of entirely scripted and standardised curriculum mostly designed in the USA, delivered by untrained teachers reading the script from a tablet, while selling this scheme as ‘world-class education’ to poor people in developing countries in a bid to seek profits.  The decision to close BIA schools (in Uganda) follows several statements from United Nations (UN) human rights bodies as well as a report from a UK parliamentary watchdog that criticised BIA, suggesting that the development of these schools may lead to human rights breaches.”

The Global Campaign for Education’s press release quotes Frederick Mwesigye, Executive Director of the Forum for Education NGOS in Uganda: “The Ugandan education system suffers from many shortcomings. However, it does not mean that any investors can come in and make profit out of the situation by delivering low-quality education while disregarding national authorities and standards.”

Bridge International Academies released its own statement responding to the Ugandan government’s plan to close its schools.  In the statement Bridge declares that it will continue to operate through the semester, as Ms. Museveni has said the Ugandan government will permit.  During that period the company plans to, “work with the relevant educational authorities to uphold our commitment to our parents and communities to provide a world-class education to their children.”  Clearly the company hopes to be able work out its problems with Ugandan regulatory agencies.

In her  2007 book, The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein describes the response of the global marketplace to natural catastrophes and any kind of widespread failure of government services in the developing world: “I call these orchestrated raids on the public sphere in the wake of catastrophic events, combined with the treatment of disasters as exciting market opportunities, ‘disaster capitalism.'” (p. 6)

Klein argues that rapid expansion of privatization worldwide, like the emergence of Bridge International Academies—supported by the World Bank, the U.S. and British governments, and venture philanthropists like Gates and Zuckerberg—is a form of colonialism that perfectly exemplifies neoliberal ideology:  “(T)he ideology is a shape-shifter, forever changing its name and switching identities. (Milton) Friedman called himself a ‘liberal,’ but his U.S. followers, who associated liberals with high taxes and hippies, tended to identify as ‘conservatives,’ ‘classical economists,’ ‘free marketers,’ and, later, as believers in ‘Reaganomics’ or ‘laissez-faire.’  In most of the world, their orthodoxy is known as ‘neoliberalism,’ but it is often called ‘free trade’ or simply ‘globalization’….  All these incarnations share a commitment to the policy trinity—the elimination of the public sphere, total liberation for corporations, and skeletal social spending….” ( pp. 14-15

https://janresseger.wordpress.com/2016/08/17/uganda-will-close-for-profit-schools-pushed-by-gates-zuckerberg-us-uk-and-world-bank/

My Nana Is An Advocate" Dedicated to: Aiden and Ayir Dorsey, Tyhee and Tyharia Banks

My Nana is An Advocate

She takes me to Washington D.C.

I carry a sign that says

#HumansInvolved

My Nana is An Advocate

We went to our state capitol

I carried a sign that said

#PreKCounts

My Nana is An Advocate

We went to a community meeting

To plan to visit our city council members

Then we visited our city council members

I spoke about

#PlayingInMyCommunity

My Nana is An Advocate

She #Volunteers at The Paul Robeson House

I color pictures of the museum and Mr. Robeson when i’m there

I asked her, why is she an advocate

And she replied

“you may not understand today

But you will tomorrow.”

My Nana Is An Advocate

She takes us to so many places

Our favorite are The Please Touch Museum

And Free Library

I love my nana

#TheAdvocate

Philadelphia Public Schools are Getting Much Needed Resources Via The Community School Model?

The School District of Philadelphia and their lack of customer service has failed numerous communities for decades. Not sure why the families and communities had such a challenging time building partnerships with the district. Seemed the district was more into destroying families than building them. So our schools were taken over by real estate firms and corporations aka the School Reform Commission with the goal of closing our schools and then selling them for a dollar to real estate firms. While building prison communities versus safe productive residential communities. The private sector has gotten out of hand with their illegal take over of public resources.

Thankfully Philadelphia has a new Mayor who understands the importance of great neighborhood schools and building trusting relationships with our communities. Mayor Jim Kenney campaigned on the platform that he cared about his city and wanted to make our city a great city. What better way to make Philadelphia a city that cares about Philadelphians than to invest in one of our greatest resource, public education. Mayor Kenney and City Council President Darrell Clarke went on tours in others cities to learn about the community school model. I met with President Darrell Clarke office last summer to discuss my concerns about our public schools and they ensured me that our city was investing in much needed resources via the community school model. Mayor Kenney and President Darrell Clarke are staying true to their word and has opened nine community schools in Mayor Kenney first six months in office. Philadelphia is putting our families and communities first and this is our start in becoming a great city by connecting with our families and community stakeholders. No more profit over people!!

Thursday, August 4, 2016 State Representative W. Curtis Thomas and the Mayors Office of Education held a community roundtable for the discussion of the community school model. There was a presentation given by Holly Gonzales Deputy Director for Community Schools, Caitlyn Boyle Program Coordinator for Community Schools and their assistant. Followed by Q & A from families and community stakeholders. Great questions surrounding the needs of our most vulnerable members and data collection were asked. What we learned is that data will be collected to hold the school model accountable and transparent. Unlike turnaround schools who built resources and community partnerships only to have those partnerships dismissed with the new principal. The community school model will strengthen the current partnerships and encourage more partnerships within the community. The community school model focus on support services that aid our families by putting the needed services in our schools. Caitlyn Boyle was an educator in our Philadelphia public schools and shared with us that she had two students in her classroom who couldn't see the chalk board. She reached out to the families to find solutions to the students lack of participation and found out that the students could not see clearly and that the parents work load and distance to the eye doctor did not allow for the family to connect to an eye doctor. With a community school health care is priority. The entire family and community members can receive support services such as physical and mental health care that will allow them to build relationships and grow into productive citizens.
If you would like to learn more please visit 
http://www.phila.gov/education/Documents/Community%20Schools.pdf

A Community School Model, Sarah Shriver shares about the health clinic that she works in at St. Paul Central High School in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

Why Do People of Color Proudly Vote For Genocidal Politics #AfricansChargeGenocide

i guest the answer to my question is that we may have to lose damn near everything before we wake up. Why is so many people of color supporting Hillary Clinton, she doesn't care about anyone but her corporate cronies. damn our country is messed up in so many ways, but if you think i depend on sellout politicians to make a way you best think again.

Was hoping the democrats would correct their cheating ways and put Bernie on their platform. But no they are so desperate to continue their camouflage genocide that the bite they are going to get back i'm sure will take them all out. i'm before my time, have been told that since i was a toddler. i don't expect people to see what i see but i will tell you. Rather you here me or not is on you.

Know that i am documenting and plan to tell the story soon. my exploration started July 2010 and the first installment is what i'm working on. So many people of color just laid down or was misled by white people. So happy that i was at 6th and Lombard with Empress Chi and the few warriors that showed up. Learning from the best and life experience!!

Good News, there is a petition addressing the genocide going on in our country. Please sign!!

We, the undersigned, charge that the United States government has historically committed the crime of genocide against African people inside its borders, and continues to do so today, often with the complicity of many U.S. citizens.

It is in the interest of all freedom-loving peoples worldwide to unite with African people, colonized within the borders of the United States, in our struggle for our basic human rights of freedom from state-imposed violence and oppression and for self-determination and liberation with economic and political control over our lives and communities.

We will show that despite the heroic struggle of African people for our civil and constitutional rights during the 1960s, African people exist today under conditions in which the U.S. state powers not only fail to protect our health and well-being as expected under full citizenship, but continually inflict state or state-supported violence and terror on us.

Although millions of African people perished on the slave ships on the journey from Africa to the Americas, and though millions of African people were slaughtered by European and American colonizers throughout Africa, and though hundreds of millions of Indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere were murdered by Europeans, it is notable that the word genocide did not exist in the English lexicon until its coinage in 1944 in response to the Nazi government’s mass murder of European Jewry.

This petition recognizes that the term genocide is applicable to Africans in the US for the conditions they face historically and today.

 This petition is based on these conventions of International Law: 

1. The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;

2. The United Nations Charter;

3. The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights;

4. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;

5. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

6. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Evidence:

In this petition we present a synopsis of documented evidence proving the crime of genocide by the United States government against African people. The examples presented apply to every aspect of the definition of genocide and fit the punishable acts of genocide as defined by the U.N. Convention.

 The U.S. government is responsible for mass murders, mass and discriminatory imprisonment, and oppressive conditions in nearly every aspect of life, including state-sanctioned violence and murders, education, family life, reproduction, employment, healthcare and freedom of political assembly for African people in the U.S.

See the full petition for the full documentation of evidence: 

Next blog on this topic will expose the international genocide going on thanks to our country and their "All About A Salary and Not About Reality" mental. And then the black on people of color crimes. #HumansInvolved 

Why Do People of Color Proudly Vote For Genocidal Politics #AfricansChargeGenocide

i guest the answer to my question is that we may have to lose damn near everything before we wake up. Why is so many people of color supporting Hillary Clinton, she doesn't care about anyone but her corporate cronies. damn our country is messed up in so many ways, but if you think i depend on sellout politicians to make a way you best think again.

Was hoping the democrats would correct their cheating ways and put Bernie on their platform. But no they are so desperate to continue their camouflage genocide that the bite they are going to get back i'm sure will take them all out. i'm before my time, have been told that since i was a toddler. i don't expect people to see what i see but i will tell you. Rather you here me or not is on you.

Know that i am documenting and plan to tell the story soon. my exploration started July 2010 and the first installment is what i'm working on. So many people of color just laid down or was mislead by white people. So happy that i was at 6th and Lombard with Empress Chi and the few warriors that showed up. Learning from the best and life experience!!

Good News, there is a petition addressing the genocide going on in our country. Please sign!!

We, the undersigned, charge that the United States government has historically committed the crime of genocide against African people inside its borders, and continues to do so today, often with the complicity of many U.S. citizens.

It is in the interest of all freedom-loving peoples worldwide to unite with African people, colonized within the borders of the United States, in our struggle for our basic human rights of freedom from state-imposed violence and oppression and for self-determination and liberation with economic and political control over our lives and communities.

We will show that despite the heroic struggle of African people for our civil and constitutional rights during the 1960s, African people exist today under conditions in which the U.S. state powers not only fail to protect our health and well-being as expected under full citizenship, but continually inflict state or state-supported violence and terror on us.

Although millions of African people perished on the slave ships on the journey from Africa to the Americas, and though millions of African people were slaughtered by European and American colonizers throughout Africa, and though hundreds of millions of Indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere were murdered by Europeans, it is notable that the word genocide did not exist in the English lexicon until its coinage in 1944 in response to the Nazi government’s mass murder of European Jewry.

This petition recognizes that the term genocide is applicable to Africans in the US for the conditions they face historically and today.

 This petition is based on these conventions of International Law: 

1. The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;

2. The United Nations Charter;

3. The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights;

4. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;

5. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

6. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Evidence:

In this petition we present a synopsis of documented evidence proving the crime of genocide by the United States government against African people. The examples presented apply to every aspect of the definition of genocide and fit the punishable acts of genocide as defined by the U.N. Convention.

 The U.S. government is responsible for mass murders, mass and discriminatory imprisonment, and oppressive conditions in nearly every aspect of life, including state-sanctioned violence and murders, education, family life, reproduction, employment, healthcare and freedom of political assembly for African people in the U.S.

See the full petition for the full documentation of evidence: 

Next blog will expose the international genocide going on thanks to our country and their "All About A Salary and Not About Reality" mental. And then the black on people of color crimes. #HumansInvolved