Rich Boyz 4 Reform

Posted on May 3, 2013 by edushyster2012

In their first official foray into Massachusetts politics, DFER spent big but came up short.

Say you’re a young man who is all about *crushing* the achievement gap and you just happen to have a cool $20K of daddy’s money to plunk down in order to influence an important local election. But who do you support? Do you go with the first-generation Haitian-American who would be the first minority OR woman to represent a part of Boston still scarred from the busing wars of the 1970′s? Or do you go big and bold, backing the white guy with the Irish name from a powerful South Boston family of the sort that has dominated this part of Massachusetts for decades? Continue reading →

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Steve Perry Talks to White People

Posted on April 25, 2013 by edushyster2012

Dr. Steve Perry, America’s “most wanted educator,” thrilled Minneapolis by “bringing it” and “raising the roof.”

This week found America’s “most wanted educator” venturing to perhaps the reformiest place in America: Minneapolis. There, Dr. Steve Perry delighted the reformer-heavy crowd with his unique brand of high-octane, high-expectations roof raising, including referring to teacher unions as “roaches” and regaling the audience with tales of children who are literally dying from excuses. In this special guest post, an embittered veteran teacher (is there any other kind???) weighs in on what she and her low-achieving colleagues learned from Dr. Perry’s visit—or what they would have learned had they not been too lazy to attend. * Continue reading →

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If It Smells Like a Skunk…

Posted on April 22, 2013 by edushyster2012

Michigan officials have launched a bold and secret project known as Skunk Works to create “value schools.”

Someday, in our bold choice-tacular future, once-stifled students will be able to choose the educational option of their choice. Choice chosen, they will then swipe their EduCards to pay for 21st century skills building served up steaming and blended. And should they have any Edu Bucks left after choosing their choice, they can spring for extras like AP courses, athletics or super cool cyber courses. What’s that, you say? Such a choice-tacular future is already in the werks in none other than Michigan, USA? Why we must go there directly to smell the odeur de choix for ourselves… Continue reading →

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The Next Gates Thing

Posted on April 18, 2013 by edushyster2012

At last a tool to weed out bad teachers: the edu-drone

Coming to a classroom near you: advanced edu-drone technology.

A sophisticated algorithm has calculated that visionary and change agent Bill Gates produces approximately 3.7 excellent transformational ideas per day. (Note: due to a glitch in the program, neither bad ideas nor ideas that Gates himself is ‘walking away from’ are included in this calculation.) So what’s the next Gates idea that will at last enable our low-achieving educators to guide their hopelessly-stifled charges across the achievement Rubicon? The buzzing in your ear is not merely the result of excessive wine boxing, dear reader. That’s an edu-drone circling overhead and you and your low expectations are in its sights. Continue reading →

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Excellence Goggles: Seeing the World Like a New York Times Writer

Posted on April 17, 2013 by edushyster2012

Excellence goggles like these are de riguer among New York Times writers.

The New York Times has long been known as “the grey lady” referring to its historical tendency to present a higher-than-usual proportion of copy to graphics (thank you, Wikipedia!). But might that moniker also refer to the thick cloud of ganja smoke fog of excellence through which the Times’ many excellent writers view the world? What else but a serious case of the “excellence goggles” could possibly account for the current state of education “reporting” at the nation’s most excellent newspaper? So reader, if you’re playing along at home, now is the time to strap on your own goggles and gaze in astonished rapture at the edu-landscape the way that it appears to a New York Times writer. Note: If you are wondering why everyone suddenly appears so small, it is because you are looking down on them from the acme of Mt. Merit, home to the select tribe known as homo excellentus as well as a few friends in high places. Here’s a peek at the world as seen through excellence goggles… Continue reading →

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EduShyster

Keeping an eye on the corporate education agenda, in Massachusetts and beyond

Rich Boyz 4 Reform

Steve Perry Talks to White People

If It Smells Like a Skunk…

The Next Gates Thing

Excellence Goggles: Seeing the World Like a New York Times Writer