| Conservative commentary: Texans' $1.423 billion to Pearson since 1998; Pearson's lobbyists Sandy Kress / Akin Gump |
Developing... |
| What Al Scardino has done: o Advisor to fellow Democrat Bill Clinton's presidential campaign o Bought England's oldest soccer team; within a year or two it was bankrupt. |
| OR MATH OR ABLE TO READ OR UNDERSTAND HISTORY |
| Marjorie Scardino's husband Albert Scardino By Peyton Wolcott Sat., Sept. 1, 2007 - 1:00 am |
| H o w w e t a k e b a c k o u r c h i l d r e n ' s e d u c a t i o n : o n e p e r s o n , o n e q u e s t i o n , o n e s c h o o l a t a t i m e - Copyright 1999-2008 Peyton Wolcott |
| P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |
How we take back our children's education: one person, one question, one school at a time. |
| FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of education issues vital to a republic. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C., Chapter 1, Section 107 which states: the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright," the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use" you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. |
| ATTENTION EDUCATORS AND ADMINISTRATORS: Every attempt possible has been made to verify all sources and information. In the event you feel an error has been made, please contact us immediately. Thank you. |
| Copyright 1999-2007 Peyton Wolcott |
| Following the money: From Sandy Kress to Akin Gump to U.K.- owned Pearson to NCLB--the collision of lobbyists, edu-vendors and government By Peyton Wolcott Updated Monday, September 3, 2007 - 10:00 a.m. |
| Pearson Education facts (from Pearson site) Pearson Education is the global leader in educational publishing. Our international business (outside the US) is three times bigger than that of our nearest competitor. 18m US school students learn English and Maths with a Pearson programme. Scott Foresman's Dick, Jane and Spot series have taught generations of Americans to read since 1930. 24,000 US schools are using Pearson Education technology to instruct children and monitor their progress. Half a billion people are learning English with Pearson Longman materials. 10,000 primary schools in the UK use digital materials from Pearson Education. 3.6m college students in America are using one of our online services. Nearly 100 million constructed response scores and 40 million exams were scored by Pearson Education in the US last year. Edxecel marks 9.4 million examination scripts each year, of which 3 million were marked on-screen in 2005. 1 in 3 US school children studies English or Maths with a Scott Foresman or Prentice Hall textbook. 3.5m people qualified in our testing centres in 2005. |
| Pearson programmes and testing centres Scott Foresman Pearson Education Pearson Longman Edxecel online services Prentice Hall |
| 2006 Pearson to acquire Chancery Software Ltd 31 May 2006 (Pearson press release) Pearson, the world's leading education company, today announced the acquisition of Chancery Software Ltd., a leading provider of student information systems (SIS) in the K-12 US school market. Over the past 20 years, Chancery has built a range of software tools to help schools and districts collect and manage student information such as enrollments, scheduling, attendance, grading, and student performance. Chancery is the second largest SIS company in the US market with an installed base of 6,000 schools and recognized capabilities in building, installing and supporting customized systems for large school districts. Pearson is the market leader in the enterprise and student information systems business with an installed based of more than 16,000 schools. It provides SIS solutions for K-12 school districts combining student information, assessment, reporting, and business solutions to fulfill the accountability requirements set by No Child Left Behind through its SASI school server-based product and its Centerpoint web-based offering. These products lead the SIS market for small- and mid-sized school districts. Last week Pearson also announced the acquisition of PowerSchool, the third largest school SIS provider, from Apple. Chancery and PowerSchool will be integrated into a single company, Pearson School Systems, operating under the leadership of Mary McCaffrey. Steven Dowling, president of Pearson's School Companies, said: "Student information is central to our goal of helping schools raise student achievement through personalized learning. The acquisitions of PowerSchool and Chancery transform our SIS business, doubling its size and enabling us to offer the pre-eminent software solutions for all levels of schools and districts (small, medium, and large). All three businesses have a long and successful history of investment and innovation, and together we will continue to develop new services to help schools achieve their goals." "The large districts that Chancery supports require a very high level of customization and support as they build and install their systems. Chancery has a great deal of experience and talent in this area and will bring a lot to Pearson." About Pearson Education Educating 100 million people worldwide, Pearson Education is the global leader in educational publishing, providing scientifically research-based print and digital programs to help students of all ages learn at their own pace, in their own way. Virtually all students and teachers in America learn from a Pearson program at some point in their educational career. In the U.S., nearly 25,000 schools use Pearson technology to help instruct K-12 students and manage how they are doing. Pearson Education is a business of Pearson, the international media company (LSE: PSON; NYSE: PSO). About Chancery Software Chancery Software (www.chancery.com) is one of the leading providers of Student Information Systems for K-12 schools, districts, classrooms, and homes. Chancery solutions offer accurate real-time information on more than thirteen million students to one million educators every day. Built to address the challenges faced by today's districts, Chancery Student Management Solutions are uniquely aligned to meet the accountability and reporting requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. With over 20 years of industry firsts and implementations, Chancery's customized SIS solutions meet the needs and budgets of diverse schools and districts throughout North America. For more information: Pearson Simon Mays-Smith/ Deborah Lincoln: +44 (0)20 7010 2310 Wendy Spiegel: +1 (212) 782 3482 |
| Corporate (from Pearson site) For over 20 years, Chancery has been in the business of creating Student Information Systems (SIS). Working first at the school site level, we designed solutions for the Mac and Windows platforms—our award winning Mac School® and Win School® SIS. Over six years ago, we introduced "Open District®," our first web-enabled solution and began moving the key features of our site-based products over to this new platform. During that time we also recognized the need for a fully web-based, centralized, totally integrated solution using web services and employing n-tier architecture. Four years ago, we began building a new and integrated SIS solution from the ground up—Chancery SMS™. This architecture separates the user interface (browser) from the back-end database, giving you flexibility in your platform and database selections as well as critical business logic in the middle tier (which is where our application resides). This allows for flexibility, integration, security, and the enhanced functionality we've spent years developing. We are very proud of the experience we've gathered during our more than 20 years of developing SIS, which manages data on over 13 million students. And we're excited about our Chancery SMS solution—which we believe will take your student information to new levels and help you not only meet, but also exceed NCLB and state reporting requirements. We also believe it takes more than just a great product to help your school district get the most from the technology you are using. This is why we offer the industry's widest and most flexible range of technical support and customer services to help you get the highest benefit from your partnership with Chancery. |
| More about Houston ISD's dropout rate |
| www.nottscountyfc.pr emiumtv.co.uk |
| ISSUES RAISED RE SANDY KRESS, AKIN GUMP |
| "A powerful Washington, D.C., law firm with unusually close ties to the White House has earned hefty fees representing controversial Saudi billionaires as well as a Texas-based Islamic charity fingered last week as a terrorist front....Another longtime partner is Barnett A. 'Sandy' Kress, the former Dallas School Board president who Bush appointed in January to work for the White House as an 'unpaid consultant' on education reform.... In addition to the royal family, the firm's Saudi clients have included bin Mahfouz, who hired Akin, Gump when he was indicted in the BCCI banking scandal in the early 1990s." |
| Per Scott Parks re Sandy Kress: "Lobbyist a go-to guy on school policy, but some question his motives." Asked about the serv- ices Kress provides to corporate clients, he says, "I don't want to talk too much about what I do for my clients because I don't think they like that." |
| EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE SANDY KRESS BIO Sandy Kress, Partner skress@akingump.com 1-512-499-6234 fax: 1-512-703-1112 Austin; Practice Areas: Public Law and Policy Telecommunications and Information Technology Sandy Kress served as senior advisor to President Bush on Education with respect to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Mr. Kress previously served as president of the board of trustees of the Dallas Public Schools. He has served on two statewide committees to recommend improvements to Texas public education. His practice focuses on public law and policy at the state and national levels. Appointed in 1998 by Governor George W. Bush, Mr. Kress serves on the Education Commission of the States. He has also served as counsel to the Governor's Business Council and Texans for Education, and as a member of the Texas Business & Education Coalition and the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund Board, which will spend more than $1.5 billion over the next 10 years to bring technology to Texas schools. Mr. Kress was appointed by Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock to the Educational Economic Policy Center. He was later asked to chair the Center's Accountability Committee. This committee produced the public school accountability system that was later adopted into Texas state law and recognized as one of the most advanced accountability systems in the nation. Mr. Kress was also appointed by Lieutenant Governor Bullock to serve on the Interim Committee to study the Texas Education Agency. Prior to joining Akin Gump, Mr. Kress was a partner in the Dallas law firm of Johnson & Wortley, P.C. He also served as deputy assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department. Mr. Kress received his A.B. in 1971 from the University of California, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received his J.D. with honors in 1975 from the University of Texas School of Law, where he served as president of the student government. Mr. Kress is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the District of Columbia Bar, and is involved with many civic organizations. He serves on the board of directors of the Gladney Center. Mr. Kress has also served on the boards of the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce, the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas and the University of Texas Law School Association, and as a member of the board of governors of the Dallas Symphony Association. ___________________________________________________ NOTE: The above was published on ETS' site with no date. |
| Educational Testing Service |
| Sandy Kress' $150 million a year plan Leaders of the newly formed Texans for Excellence in the Classroom--an offshoot of sorts of the Govern- or's Business Council-- visited the Chronicle late last week to rally support for a comprehensive reform initiative that they hope will put an ''excellent teacher in every classroom'." ...Leaders say the plan would cost Texas an extra $100 million to $150 million a year. It's money well spent, they say, because research shows that highly effective teachers can close achievement gaps over five years. "That's how serious this is," Sandy Kress, once a senior education adviser to President Bush, told the Chronicle. "We cannot lose another generation." |
| Results in Dallas: Dropouts, cheating "Sandy Kress...has a lot in common with George W. Bush. Their 'involvement' with education reform has nothing to do with children and everything to do with their own personal agendas. Both men continually misrepresent or distort the truth even when confronted with the cold, hard facts. Sandy's "accountability" measures created a system that gave principals and teachers the green light to falsify and cheat on test scores and attendance records....And what did DISD have to show for all of Sandy's "great" work? Hispanic dropouts and pushouts, low graduation and retention rates, soaring truancy, and the saddest result of all...illiterate graduates who tested well on TAAS! |
| "I have just three 'go to' websites: The Texas Legislature, Texas Longhorn sports, and Eduwonk" -- Sandy Kress NOTE: EduWonk is run by Andrew Rotherham, a former Clinton White House advisor who is also connected to The Broad Foundation (below, 2002). |
| EDUWONK.COM |
| The elephant in the room is how much the testing process itself is costing us. Remember that NCLB was sold to a Republican White House by a Democratic lobbyist, surely the lobbying coup of the century. Estimates for developing, publishing, administering, grading, and reporting NCLB-required statewide tests: $517 million during the 2005-06 school year. (SOURCE-- Eduventures) Per Education Sector, "some testing company executives peg the number somewhat higher, at $700 million to $750 million." |
| N C L B |
| Here's the thing with Sandy Kress. You never quite know when he discusses public education--whether he's worrying aloud or cheerleading--which hat he's wearing. A good example would be this past spring when Sandy was alerting folks across the U.S. to the danger of any changes to the No Child Left Behind Act, of which he is generally credited as being the architect. David Sanger wrote in The New York Times in May that, "President Bush's senior education adviser, Sandy Kress, warned today that a movement in Congress to modify the president's education plan by removing requirements to test students annually would 'cut out the heart and soul' of the effort to overhaul America's schools." |
| The question Now, then. Was Sandy worried as NCLB's architect about his pet project's being diminished by those--including conservatives and schoolteachers and their administrators--who don't get NCLB, those who maybe think any collaboration undertaken with Democratic Senator Teddy "Don't worry about the pregnancy, Mary Jo, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, I've inherited enough money to support two families" Kennedy is inherently suspect? Or was Sandy speaking as a lobbyist for his client Pearson which |
| Mary Jo Kopechne, Teddy Kennedy |
| company's revenue stream would dry up considerably if our public schools suddenly quit buying Pearson's tests? |
| A CLOSER LOOK: PEARSON'S CHANCERY SOFTWARE June 1, 2006 eSchool News " Making its second acquisition of a major competitor in less than a week, Pearson School Systems announced yesterday that it is purchasing Chancery Software Ltd., a leading publisher of student information systems... " |
| Dear Friends: While I very much appreciate the inclusion by Harvey Kronberg and his staff in today's above-named QR commentary, no one from QR contacted me in the course of their researching or writing this report; I would have characterized my questions and comments differently regarding Sandy Kress, whom I have contacted on multiple occasions in order to invite correction of anything factually incorrect. Further, not sure how QR arrived at the statement that Mr. Kress, "is not Pearson’s lobbyist in Texas," given the information below available at time of this writing on the Texas Ethics Commission website. Have we entered the area of defining "is"? Perhaps a change has been made to the TEC webpage not reflected in this list below copied this past hour from the TEC site. -- Peyton |
| TEXAS ETHICS COMMISSION 2007 Lobby List with Concerns (Employers and Clients) Sorted By Concern Name Part III - (M-S) Printed August 28, 2007 Pearson Education 1 Lake Street Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 Bryan, Beth Ann (00055189) 300 West 6th Street Suite 2100 Austin, TX 78701 Type of Compensation: Prospective Amount: Less Than $10,000.00 Client - Start: 01/19/2007 Term Date: 12/31/2007 Carter, Janis L. (00039065) 401 Congress Avenue Suite 2100 Austin, TX 78701 Type of Compensation: Prospective Amount: $10,000 - $24,999.99 Client - Start: 01/10/2007 Term Date: 12/31/2007 Foster, Wendy M. (00056685) 401 Congress Ste 2100 Austin, TX 78701 Type of Compensation: Prospective Amount: $10,000 - $24,999.99 Client - Start: 01/22/2007 Term Date: 12/31/2007 Kress, B. Alexander (00032037) 300 West 6th Street Suite 2100 Austin, TX 78701 Type of Compensation: Prospective Amount: Less Than $10,000.00 Client - Start: 01/08/2007 Term Date: 12/31/2007 Valenzuela, Joe D. (00050742) 401 Congress Ste. 2100 Austin, TX Type of Compensation: Prospective Amount: $10,000 - $24,999.99 Client - Start: 01/10/2007 Term Date: 12/31/2007 www.ethics.state.tx.us/tedd/conlob2 007c.htm |
| QUESTION: Why would Gov. Perry--elected as a Republican by Republican voters--appoint a Democratic lobbyist whose edu-vendor clients include Pearson as Texas' next education commissioner? Especially if they've made millions from government programs like NCLB he helped design? What if the kicker is that he sends his own son to a private school? |
| Pearson logos |
| Houston ISD dropout rate whistleblower Bob Kimball (PHOTO--CBS) |
| "HISD's software system gets an 'F' for frustration," wrote Jennifer Radcliffe last October in the Houston Chronicle, citing $600,000 in overtime expenses for district employees. "Houston's launch of Pearson School Systems' Chancery soft- ware has been troubled since August, when thousands of student schedules weren't done in time for the start of school." |
| REPORTS OF PROBLEMS WITH CHANCERY FLORIDA - "Orange County Public Schools is jettisoning a glitch-prone software program that gave the parents of middle-school students headaches rather than their children's grades. After nearly two years of waiting for the company to fix the problems, the district is looking for a new vendor to create a program that will give parents, teachers and students access to critical information." COST: $3.8 million (SOURCE--Orlando Sentinel) MARYLAND - "The Howard County district...has reported repeated problems since installing Chancery last summer. In that district, report cards were late and had errors." (SOURCE--Houston Chronicle) TEXAS - "I wonder why the Klein ISD problems were not mentioned in this story. There were quite a few very heated Klein ISD School Board discussions about the failure of this software to deliver on what it promised, and the resultant extra costs to the district. I remember hearing that Pasadena ISD was not happy with it either. I wonder just how many school districts out there bought this software." (SOURCE--Anonymous entry/Houston Chronicle blog) |
| QUESTIONS RE HOW CHANCERY IS PURCHASED BY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (1) Why did Reggie Moore, Gledich and Thompson purchase "flawed" software with "poor reviews"? "Orange County Public Schools Chief Operations Officer Nick Gledich....and Chief Information Officer Charles Thompson acknowledge the software rollout was flawed from the start. The district went ahead with the middle-school system despite poor reviews from other schools testing the program." (SOURCE--Orlando Sentinel) (2) Was Pearson a TAS/MUS sponsor in April at the Boerne Tourney? Who did the Pearson vendor play golf with at the TAS/MUS conference? |
| Fast forward: Chancery HISD champion resigns Houston ISD has announced that "Reggie Moore, the 46-year-old chief operations officer, was leaving 'to pursue other opportunities.' Moore, who came to the district from the private sector in 2004, oversaw the district's police, transportation, food service, maintenance and technology departments. Most recently, Moore, who earned $164,424 a year, made the news for overseeing the rollout of Chancery." |
| Reggie Moore |
| QUESTION: Is a "big bet" really a bet when Pearson's lobbyist is friendly with the White House? And its lobbyist helped draft NCLB? |
| QUESTION RE EDU-VENDOR PEARSON How did Houston ISD purchase $18.4 mil in 'flawed' Canadian Chancery software with 'poor reviews' from U.K. vendor Pearson? Will it help HISD's 40-50% dropout rate? By Peyton Wolcott Wednesday, September 5, 2007 - 8:38 a.m. |
| How Chancery connects with HISD's dropout rate We won't know for some years if Chancery has succeeded in providing the district with sufficient student information that the actual dropout rate drops to the 1.3% level it claimed in 2002 when then-HISD administrator Bob Kimball blew the whistle on the district's dropout reporting practices. For now, Kimball confirmed by telephone last night that Houston ISD's actual dropout rate had been determined to be in the 40-50% range by a group of scholars who met at last October at a conference at Rice University; sponsors included the Rice University Center for Education, Children at Risk, and the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University. Hats off to Fox News in Houston for highlighting this issue by interviewing Bob last week as the new school year began. |
| 60 MINUTES / CBS The 'Texas Miracle' 60 Minutes II Investigates Claims That Houston Schools Falsified Dropout Rates Aug. 25, 2004 It was called the “Texas Miracle,” a phrase you may remember because President Bush wanted everyone to know about it during his 2000 presidential campaign. It was an approach to education that was showing amazing results, particularly in Houston, where dropout rates plunged and test scores soared. Houston School Superintendent Rod Paige was given credit for the schools' success, by making principals and administrators accountable for how well their students did. Once he was elected president, Mr. Bush named Paige as secretary of education. And Houston became the model for the president’s “No Child Left Behind” education reform act. Now, as Correspondent Dan Rather reported last winter, it turns out that some of those miraculous claims which Houston made were wrong. And it all came to light when one assistant principal took a close look at his school’s phenomenally low dropout rates – and found that they were just too good to be true. --------------------------------------------------- “I was shocked. I said, ‘How can that be,’” says Robert Kimball, an assistant principal at Sharpstown High School, on Houston’s West Side. His school claimed that no students – not a single one – had dropped out in 2001-2002. But that’s not what Kimball saw: “I had been at the high school for three years, and I had seen many, many students, several hundred a year, go out the door. And I knew that they were quitting. They told me they were quitting.” Most of the 1,700 students at Sharpstown High are under- privileged immigrants -- prime candidates for dropping out. One student was Jennys Franco Gomez. She dropped out of Sharpstown in 2001 for an all-too- familiar reason: she had a baby. “My baby got sick, and I don’t have nobody to take care of my baby and take it to the doctor,” she says. The high school reported that Gomez left to get a GED, or equivalency diploma, which doesn’t count as a dropout. But Gomez says she never told school officials anything of the sort. All in all, 463 kids left Sharpstown High School that year, for a variety of reasons. The school reported zero dropouts, but dozens of the students did just that. School officials hid that fact by classifying, or coding, them as leaving for acceptable reasons: transferring to another school, or returning to their native country. “That’s how you get to zero dropouts. By assigning codes that say, ‘Well, this student, you know, went to another school. He did this or that.’ And basically, all 463 students disappeared. And the school reported zero dropouts for the year,” says Kimball. “They were not counted as dropouts, so the school had an outstanding record.” Sharpstown High wasn’t the only “outstanding” school. The Houston school district reported a citywide dropout rate of 1.5 percent. But educators and experts 60 Minutes checked with put Houston’s true dropout rate somewhere between 25 and 50 percent. “But the teachers didn’t believe it. They knew it was cooking the books. They told me that. Parents told me that,” says Kimball. “The superintendent of schools would make the public believe it was one school. But it is in the system, it is in all of Houston.” Those low dropout rates – in Houston and all of Texas - were one of the accomplishments then- Texas Gov. George Bush cited when he campaigned to become the “Education President.” At that time, Paige was running Houston’s schools, and he had instituted a policy of holding principals accountable for how their students did. Principals worked under one-year contracts, and each year, the school district set strict goals in areas like dropout rates and test scores. Principals who met the goals got cash bonuses of up to $5,000, and other perks. Those who fell short were transferred, demoted or forced out. --------------------------------------------------- Kimball took his findings about Sharpstown High to CBS affiliate KHOU-TV, which first reported the dropout scandal. Then, he went to State Rep. Rick Noriega. In Noriega’s largely Hispanic, mostly poor district, many kids start high school, but never finish. “In my district in particular, where I have many of my high schools, 1,000 ninth-grade students, yet only approx 300 or so will walk the stage four years later and receive a diploma. A big question should go off in people’s heads, where are the other students?” says Noriega, who asked the state to find out. Investigators checked half of the city’ s regular high schools. They reviewed the records of nearly 5,500 students who left those schools, and checked how the schools explained it. They found that almost 3,000 students should have been, but weren’t, coded as dropouts. The audit substantiated Kimball’s allegations. “The problem is the lack of integrity that’s being demonstrated when you say there’s such a low dropout rate, when we know, everyone knows, that 30 to 40 percent of the kids are dropping out of schools," says Kimball. 60 Minutes wanted to ask Houston school officials about Kimball’s charges, but they wouldn’t talk on camera. They said they wouldn’t “get a fair shake.” But they did meet off camera, and they argued that the audit proved outright fraud only at Sharpstown High. At the other schools, they contended, the false statistics were due to “confusion” about the complex state system for coding students, and sloppy bookkeeping. They conceded, however, that Houston’s “official” 1.5 percent dropout rate was not accurate. Those officials also urged 60 Minutes to get a better picture of the Houston school system on by talking on camera to Rob Mosbacher, a Houston businessman, school supporter and Republican activist. “I think the district looks at the challenges it has, and sets high expectations. And that’s something that makes all of us very proud. Because they’ve been making the progress that shows that expectations can be realized,” says Mosbacher. 60 Minutes also tried to talk to Paige himself, but he declined. His spokesman said the dropout controversy broke after Paige left Houston to become education secretary. And he said the phony statistics at Sharpstown were the work of a few individuals. Paige’s spokesman suggested that 60 Minutes talk to Jay Greene, a leading expert on dropouts at the Manhattan Institute. Greene supports the kind of accountability reforms Paige enacted in Houston. But this is what Greene said when asked what he thought about Houston’s “official” dropout rates: “I find that very hard to believe. It is almost certainly not true. I think it’s simply implausible. I think a reasonable guess is that almost half of Houston’s students do not graduate from high school.” Greene also points out that Houston’ s dropout problem is no worse than that of school systems in many other large American cities: “I think they are doing about as well as most urban school districts, which is to say not very well … I don’t think they’ve been doing super well.” --------------------------------------------------- Houston also won national acclaim for raising the average scores on a statewide achievement test that was given to 10th graders. Principals were judged on how well their students did on the test. But at Houston schools, Kimball says, principals taught addition by subtraction: They raised average test scores by keeping low- performing kids from taking the test. And in some cases, that meant keeping kids from getting to the 10th grade at all. “What the schools did, and what Sharpstown High School did, they said, ‘OK, you cannot go to the 10th grade unless you pass all these courses in the 9th grade,” says Kimball. What's wrong with that? Wouldn't this help students get the basics down before moving on? “Because you failed algebra, you may be in the ninth grade three years, until you pass the course. But that’s not a social promotion if you just allowed the student to go to 10th grade, just you know, let him take algebra again, and work on it there.” That’s just what happened to Perla Arredondo. She passed all her courses in ninth grade, but was then told she had to repeat the same grade and the same courses. “I went to my counselor’s office, and I told her, ‘You’re giving me the wrong classes, because I already passed ‘em,” says Perla. “So she said, ‘Don’t worry about it. I know what I’m doing. That’s my job.’” Perla spent three years in the ninth grade. She failed algebra, but passed it in summer school. Finally, she was promoted – right past 10th grade and that important test -- and into the 11th. Without enough credits to graduate, Perla dropped out. While she worked as a cashier, a secretary, and a waitress, she learned an important lesson: “I know I can’t get a good job without a high school diploma. You know? I can get a job as a waitress. I mean, and I don’t wanna be doing that all my life.” Why? “For my dad and mom. You know, I wanna give ‘em, I want them to be proud, you know,” says Perla. “That’s another thing I want. I want them to be, you know, proud of what I am.” --------------------------------------------------- Gilbert Moreno has seen many Perla Arredondos. He runs a school filled with dropouts. “There are some horrible stories,” says Moreno, who is director of the Association for the Advancement of Mexican-Americans, which operates a private, non-profit charter high school for disadvantaged kids. “A youngster passed, say, five different subjects, passed the English, but wasn’t given the algebra, and then was later told, at the end of the year, ‘Well, you’re not gonna pass to the 10th grade. You never passed algebra. You never took algebra,’” says Moreno. “And the youngster goes, ‘I never knew this.’ And it looks almost that there was an attempt to maybe identify some certain students and not give them the required curriculum.” There is no state audit to back up this claim, but Moreno points out that many Houston high schools have bulging ninth grades, and very small 10th grades. One school, he says, held back more than 60 percent of its ninth-graders. School officials say students are held back because they’re not ready for the next grade. They deny that they were held back to avoid the test. Students and teachers at Moreno’s charter school showed 60 Minutes that dropouts are not a lost cause. Former dropouts get help here to stay in school. Classes are small, there is daycare for students with children, and programs to combat drugs and gangs. There was determination, ambition and hope in their voices. Roscio dreams of becoming a cartoonist. “I’m really good at drawing,” he says. “Right now, I want to go to med school and continue to become a pediatrician,” says Victor. And Vanessa dreams of becoming a journalist. --------------------------------------------------- Noriega says Houston school officials focus on statistics instead of real problems: “That’s the issue. It’s the kids, stupid. And people continue to wanna spin around it all, and lose sight of it all. And it’s Kimball, and it’s just one school, and it’s this and it’s that. And it’s not.” If that sounds like a political statement, it’s because questions about the Houston school miracle are now being raised in Washington. And Education Secretary Paige, who declined to give 60 Minutes an interview, responded to those questions in a speech in Houston just before Christmas 2003: “Critics come after the school district in Houston. Not Sacramento, not Denver, Boston or Los Angeles. It is Houston that they put on the front page. They come after you, not because of an interest in quality education, but because of where you live.” And in the case of whistle-blower Kimball, school officials have denounced him as incompetent, and transferred him to a primary school for kindergarten through second grade, where he is the second assistant principal. “The district felt that, by sending me down there, somebody who’s taught at university level, taught at high school level, and middle school level, would be humiliated at a low primary school, but I’m telling you that I love it,” says Kimball, who adds he isn’t going to quit. --------------------------------------------------- After 60 Minutes broadcast that story, Robert Kimball filed a whistle- blower suit against the Houston School District for retaliating against him. The school board dropped its reprimand and paid Kimball $90,000. Kimball resigned and is now teaching at a local university. A few weeks later, three top school board officials, including Superintendent Kay (sic) Stripling, resigned their posts. State Representative Rick Noriega, a major in the Army Reserves, is now on active duty in Afghanistan. |
| Supes golfing with vendors during TAKS week |
| THE WORLD ACCORDING TO PEARSON (From Pearson's site) Pearson at a glance Pearson is an international media company with market-leading businesses in education, business information and consumer publishing. We lead our markets in quality, innovation and in profitability. We draw on common assets, capital, processes and culture. With more than 29,000 employees based in 60 countries, we are a large family of businesses that are alike in sharing the same aim: a focus on making the reading and learning experience as enjoyable and as beneficial as it can possibly be. Pearson is listed on the London (PSON) and New York (PSO) Stock Exchanges. In 2006 our businesses had sales of £4,423m ($8,669m) and adjusted operating profit of £592m ($1,160m). Pearson Education The world's leading education company. From pre-school to high school, early learning to professional certification, our textbooks, multimedia learning tools and testing programmes help to educate more than 100 million people worldwide - more than any other private enterprise.... Financial Times Group The Financial Times Group, one of the world's leading business information companies, provides a broad range of business information and multimedia services to the growing audience of internationally-minded business people.... The Penguin Group The world-famous Penguin brand is the label of quality from novels and classics to cookbooks - and much more - around the world. We publish an unrivalled range of fiction and non-fiction, bestsellers and classics, children's books and illustrated reference treasure chests in over 100 countries. (SOURCE--Pearson) |
| CHANCERY Student Management Software (From Pearson's website) District Administrator Challenge Need to secure district funding, ensure district performance, and meet NCLB requirements. As head of the district, you are invariably looking for funding sources— much of which is dependent upon the schools under your jurisdiction meeting state and federal achievement and reporting requirements. Your performance is under constant scrutiny by both the school board and the community. These groups want to know how your district is performing and they want to know that the money invested in student achievement has been wisely spent. |
| Solution The reporting and data mining capabilities in Chancery SMS lets you respond quickly to inquiries, create effective funding applications, meet No Child Left Behind requirements, and make better decisions for the district. Chancery SMS helps you understand and analyze student data and ensure district funds are employed in ways that have a direct impact on your students’ educational achievement. |
| PEARSON EDUCATION (from Pearson site) Through acquisitions, strategic alliances, and organic growth, we have put in place all the pieces necessary to create the world's leading learning company. These pieces include the most comprehensive range of educational programmes; leadership in testing, assessment, and enterprise software; and the very best in online consumer and professional learning. We are engaged in these activities for every age and level of student - from pre-school through kindergarten, primary and secondary school, college and university and on into professional life. Pearson Education's international business has been growing rapidly in recent years, and we now have a presence in over 110 countries. |
| UPDATE: final FY 2005- 2006 numbers now in TEA checks in the mail to Pearson: $135,500,000 Raising questions for any consideration of Pearson or other lobbyists (inclu- ding Sandy Kress) as Texas' next edu-missioner By Peyton Wolcott Updated Fri., Sept. 7, 2007-5:32 p.m. |
| 2006-10-13 4,299,072.35 2006-10-18 102,554.25 2006-10-19 88,672.55 2006-10-20 157,571.47 2006-10-25 62,750.46 2006-10-26 280,216.09 2006-10-27 64,679.81 2006-10-30 4,990.50 2006-11-02 70,107.08 2006-11-03 231,793.67 2006-11-08 259,421.55 2006-11-09 116,172.27 2006-11-10 126.00 2006-11-13 17,591.36 2006-11-15 26,547.00 2006-11-16 80,825.27 2006-11-17 58,026.91 2006-11-21 201,201.62 2006-11-24 22,956.09 2006-11-29 31,972.30 2006-11-30 10,049.20 |
| NCS PEARSON INC 2006-09-28 3,831,697.00 2006-10-19 1,847,622.00 2006-10-31 2,905,758.00 2006-11-09 447,486.00 2006-11-21 3,192,006.00 2006-11-30 1,280,785.00 2006-12-19 3,726,515.00 2007-01-18 2,851,141.00 2007-01-25 206,420.05 2007-01-26 89,767.00 2007-02-14 5,000.00 2007-02-20 6,087,045.00 2007-03-01 27,377.00 2007-03-21 8,667,964.00 2007-04-19 13,364,700.00 2007-04-20 484,421.00 2007-05-10 6,869,667.00 SUBTOTAL FIRST 3 QTRS. $ 55,885,371 |
| 2006-12-06 44,612.80 2006-12-07 42,672.68 2006-12-08 11,852.13 2006-12-13 21,520.23 2006-12-14 34,267.87 2006-12-15 4,882.83 2006-12-20 2,884.75 2006-12-21 61,666.84 2006-12-27 387.38 2006-12-28 8,690.14 2007-01-03 722.00 2007-01-04 25,464.33 2007-01-05 5,005.14 2007-01-10 2,077.00 2007-01-11 35,941.82 2007-01-18 25,100.36 2007-02-01 121,344.08 2007-02-07 202,853.44 2007-02-08 10,325.96 2007-02-09 60,371.34 2007-02-12 33,908.54 |
| 2007-02-15 416,540.50 2007-02-20 509.60 2007-02-21 24,689.15 2007-02-22 4,635.20 2007-02-23 18,721.53 2007-02-27 42.10 2007-03-01 27,635.16 2007-03-02 9,691.83 2007-03-14 28,742.55 2007-03-15 14,862.70 2007-03-22 31,029.87 2007-03-23 1,210.00 2007-03-28 1,507.25 2007-03-29 1,614.68 2007-04-04 13,135.69 2007-04-18 78,978.25 2007-04-20 2,789.14 2007-04-27 2,012.10 SUBTOTAL FIRST 3 QTRS $ 7,622,196 |
| The following represent $135,500,000 in checks paid to Pearson Education/NCS Pearson by Texas taxpayers via the Texas Education Agency during the most recent fiscal year (09/01/06 - 08/31/07); these checks are posted on TEA's website. For the record, as of this week, the Texas Ethics Commission lists Sandy Kress as Pearson's paid lobbyist. (Full current list of Pearson's Texas lobbyists below far left in greybar.) Many thanks once again to Gov. Rick Perry and to Interim Commissioner of Education Robert Scott for posting TEA's check register online earlier this year -- the first and only state department of education to do so in the U.S.! |
| 2006-10-10 48,500.00 2006-12-14 137,781.00 2006-12-15 29,110.00 2006-12-22 46,995.30 2007-01-25 1,140,739.50 2007-02-14 46,130.60 2007-04-12 1,394,031.70 2007-04-26 106,506.90 2007-05-02 45,710.50 EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE SUBTOTAL FIRST 3 QUARTERS $ 2,995,505.50 |
| And many thanks to the alert late-night reader who suggested a revisit of the Texas Ethics Commission lobby lists, where we find other Sandy Kress clients, Educational Testing Service and Edvance Research, Inc.; here are some of the checks TEA wrote to these two businesses during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year. |
| NCS PEARSON |
| PEARSON EDUCATION |
| 2007-03-29 41,878.73 2007-04-27 42,380.63 2007-05-29 47,535.41 EDVANCE RESEARCH INC SUBTOTAL FIRST 3 QUARTERS $ 131,794.77 |
| EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE |
| EDVANCE RESEARCH |
| Lobbyist Sandy Kress (L) Pearson's "Big Man on School Reform" (Caption source--Scott Parks/Dallas M. News) (R) Marjorie "Marj" Scardino, Pearson's CEO |
| TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY - FISCAL YEAR FY 2006-2007 TOTALS NCS PEARSON INC $ 93.6+ million PEARSON EDUCATION TOTAL: $ 41.9+ million TOTAL PAYMENTS $ 135.5+ million |
| A closer look at Edvance Research, Inc. By Peyton Wolcott - Friday, September 7, 2007 - 5:41 pm |
| AN UPDATED CLOSER LOOK THE GOVERNOR'S BUSINESS COUNCIL, THE COMMISSION FOR A COLLEGE READY TEXAS, and EDVANCE RESEARCH, INC. Registered lobbyist for the first two, chair of the third: Sandy Kress By Peyton Wolcott Updated Thursday, September 13, 2007 - 1:45 a.m. |
| 2003 PRESS RELEASE re TCCRT "2003 Governor Perry has directed the Governors Business Council to organize the series of College Ready Summits around Texas to unite the business community and the education establishment in the common goal of lowering dropout rates and improving college readiness of graduating high school students....The College Ready Summits build upon the Texas High School Project (THSP), a $130 million public-private initiative organized by Governor Perry. THSP partners the State of Texas, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to benefit at-risk students and encourage high school graduation. "The public sector and the private sector must work together to solve the problem of high school dropouts," added Perry. "If we expect the Texas economy to be prosperous tomorrow, we must first equip our high school graduates to succeed today." (SOURCE--Gov. Perry press release) |
| Sandy Kress (PHOTO--PBS) |
| ________________________ "No Child" graphic source: Pennsylvania Citizens for Science |
| * "Multiple Case Study of the Fiscal Conditions that Exist in Five California School Districts under State Receivership," by Christine Lizardi Frazier (2006). |
| What are REL's? In an effort to help educators and policymakers use research as a basis for improving schools and ensuring that all students receive a challenging and effective education, the U.S. Department of Education has awarded $51 million to operate 10 regional educational laboratories in FY 1996, the first year of a 5-year contract. The laboratories will operate along two major themes. One will be to examine ways in which the various pieces of comprehensive reform programs (e.g., standards, curricular alignment) can be put together to effectively support high levels of learning for all children. The second will be to develop workable strategies for "scaling up" effective teaching and learning practices. In addition, each of the labs has been assigned a specialty area that will serve to expand and direct its development and applied research activities and to develop national prominence in its respective area. The regional laboratories are currently authorized under the Educational Research, Development, Dissemination and Improvement Act of 1994 and were initially funded in 1966 |
| The Broad Foundation's Broad Prize for Urban Education, Capitol Hill (Oct. 2, 2002) (PHOTO and CAPTION--US DOE) |
| And while it's easy to see that the Democratic governor who hatched GBC in 1994 (grey box above) might have needed some assistance in creating a more business-friendly climate, you might also wonder why then-Gov. Bush continued the GBC |
| THE GOVERNOR'S BUSINESS COUNCIL INC 816 CONGRESS AVE STE 1100 AUSTIN, TX 78701-2471 Status: IN GOOD STANDING - EXEMPT CORPORATION Registered Agent: JUSTIN YANCY 515 CONGRESS AVENUE, SUITE 1780 AUSTIN, TX 78701 Registered Agent Resignation Date: State of Incorporation: TX File Number: 0131395601 Charter/COA Date: May 25, 1994 Charter/COA Type: Charter Taxpayer Number: 17525800607 PRESIDENT LEE M. BASS 201 MAIN ST., SUITE 3200 FORT WORTH , TX 76102 CHAIRMAN LOUIS BEECHERL 5950 CEDAR SPRINGS ROAD, SUITE 200 DALLAS , TX 75235 CHAIRMAN ROBT. G. DAVIS 9800 FREDERICKSBURG ROAD SAN ANTONIO , TX 78288 |
| Handcuffed 1994 Governor's Business Council chair Ken Lay escorted by FBI agent into Houston courthouse, 2004 (PHOTO--Richard Carson/REUTERS) |
| 1994 Governor's Business Council chair Ken Lay 10 years later en route to court (PHOTO--Michael Stravato/AP) |
