The Horace Mann League Blog Post

The HML Weekly Blog UpdateMay 21, 2012
In This Issue
Cost of Standardized Testing
K-12 Advocacy Groups
Documentary on Christian Education
Article Headline
Lies About US Education
Article Headline
Article Headline
How Standardized Tests are Affecting Public Schools 
By Valerie Strauss
 
Florida's standardized testing program is being misused and has "severely impacted student learning."
 Click here to access the article

New K-12 Advocacy Groups Wield State-Level Clout By Stephen Sawchuk and Sean Cavanagh

If there is a clear sign of the growing influence of a new breed of national education advocacy organizations, it surely lies in their entry into state-level politics. 

 

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Greetings!

Some great articles this week, but if I had to pick one, it would be the study of Florida's testing program and the related loss of instructional time and funding for other essential programs. Some good information to share with board members and state policy makers. 

Of course, you comments and suggestions are always welcomed.
Thanks for taking a look at the HML Blog Postings.
Jack McKay,  Executive Director, The Horace Mann League 
New Reconstrucitonist Documentary Wants Public Schools To "Give Children An Explicitly Christian Education"

 

Homeschooling activist, Colin Gunn, is set to release a new documentary in June on the perils of the public education system. Guinn's film, "IndoctriNation: Public Schools and the Decline of Christianity in America," features leading Christian Reconstructionists.

 

"ALEC Exposed in Wisconsin: The Hijacking of a State"
 
The Madison-based Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) released a new report that details the exclusive network of corporate lobbyists and special interest groups that influence the Wisconsin legislature through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
 
Telling Lies About US Education
 
by Diane Ravitch
It's called the State Government Leadership Foundation, and it sounds a lot like ALEC. 
I was not surprised to encounter the usual corporate reform ideas, like school choice, ending tenure, and evaluating teachers by student test scores.
What astonished me was the education reform sector opens with a little graph titled "America the Illiterate?" 
Privatizing Public Education in Philadelphia?
 
Philadelphia is about to take a fateful step.  The goal is to have a school district where the central district is phased out and a large portion of the students are enrolled in privately managed charter schools.
Foundation Cash Boosts Education Advocacy Groups: 
Private foundations are playing a growing role in financing the nonprofit educational wings of several prominent K-12 advocacy groups, according to reviews of the foundations' grant records and annual tax filings.
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