The Sunday Education Weekly Reader: 10.23.11

Welcome to the Sunday Education Weekly Reader for 10.23.11. Stories this week highlight what the educational waivers for NCLB reauthorization mean (it's more federal control, not state determined solutions), a humorous look at Arne Duncan and his redrawing of our "maps", the question of why government is picking winners and losers in educational delivery and the wisdom of this practice, and the Kentucky Commissioner of Education finds himself in Rio de Janiero thanks to Pearson, an educational vendor for the state.

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Will you say goodbye to your great teachers in your school district?

Oak Norton writes about the redistribution of teachers (The Marxist Redistribution of Teachers and Forced Common Core Standards) that may be coming to YOUR school district. Do you like your teachers? Are they effective in your school? That's too bad. They may be reassigned. Ask YOUR superintendent and school board what plans they have to ensure the "highly effective" teachers in YOUR school are not reassigned to failing schools.

It's part of the waiver agreement Missouri is going to apply for...and 38 other states at the time of this writing.

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Arne Duncan states the United States must "change our maps".

This article from The Washington Fancy takes the Secretary of Education at his literal word.

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Is the educational technology bandwagon the Federal Government is jumping on creating the educational equivalent of Solyndra?

Jay P. Greene wonders about the track record of the Federal Government picking winners and losers and directing the private sector in public education.

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Should the Kentucky Commissioner of Education accept an all expense paid trip to Rio de Janiero from a courting vendor, give the vendor the business after the trip, and then declare there is no commercial interest on behalf of the vendor?

Following on the heels of the last piece, Pearson (a pre-determined CCSSO education vendor) treated school district officials in Kentucky with a trip to Rio de Janiero just prior to securing a $58 million contract for multi-year testing assessments.

The Kentucky Education Commissioner said "it was a great opportunity as a commissioner to learn what our global competition is doing in education and the economy". That's an interesting statement by the Commissioner. I thought technology was the heralded savior for our students and nation. Technology will make us all global without having to travel overseas. Why couldn't the commissioner learn about global education and economy via how students will be learning in the future? That would have saved so many carbon footprints.

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Educational thought for the week:

Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice. Wayne Dyer

(Maybe we'll see this self-determination embodied in the Common Core standards...or not).