Ohio, a Pearson State

Not a good month for Pearson

 

The Pearson Corporation is a multi-billion dollar United Kingdom enterprise which has grown from a construction company to include newspapers, entertainment enterprises such as amusement parks, and book publishers among its holdings. In 2000 Pearson spent $2.5 billion to acquire an American testing company in an effort to increase its profits through securing contracts to produce standardized tests and test preparation materials

 

(http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/pearson-education-115026.html). It has been given enormous control over K-12 public schools in Ohio by the Ohio legislature and governor.

 

Pearson effectively controls what is taught, who graduates, and even who gets a second chance at a high school diploma through the General Education Diploma (GED) examination. Recently Comcast was prevented from acquiring Time Warner because the federal government determined that Comcast's control of 60% of the market was too great. But that market share pales compared to the 100% Pearson has been granted by the State of Ohio.

 

Since 2013, Pearson tests even license teachers in Ohio. Because the tests are designed and graded by Pearson, the company and its employees determine what teachers need to know in all particular teaching fields-English, science, history. Colleges must address what Pearson puts on the tests so that their students will be licensed to teach in Ohio initially and, later, when a teacher seeks professional advancement.

 

By 2018, Pearson end of course exams in designated subjects in grades 9 -12--PARCC Tests--will determine if a student receives an Ohio high school diploma. PARCC tests-Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and careers-are to be based on Common Core State Standards (CCSS), developed with primary input from Pearson.

 

In January of 2014 Pearson produced a revised GED exam---a new version of the GED that is to be taken entirely on-line. The pass rate fell 90 percent because the test now measures college readiness rather than what was actually learned in high school.

 

Pearson controls the curriculum by defining the knowledge and skills a student must master. Pearson assures us the CCSS will be rigorous; i.e. that at least thirty percent or more of students taking the tests will fail. An educator such as Dr. Louisa Moats, who was a contributing writer of CCSS, is just one of many of those critical of the jump to test and fail (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/child-development-central/201401/when-will-we-ever-learn). These standards for which Pearson oversaw the development, helped by tax free money such as an $88 million dollar grant from the Gates Foundation, in turn require the development and selling of both on-line materials and textbooks to prepare the teacher to teach to the test. Pearson produces the materials from which the teachers teach and the tests that tell us if they have performed satisfactorily. In Ohio they have no competitors. If your school "fails" then send your child to a Connections Academy, a Pearson for-profit Charter advertised on their GED webpage.

 

Teachers, parents, and concerned citizens have criticized the tests on a number of grounds-the number of tests, the time the tests take, the appropriateness of the questions, the secrecy about the test questions, the spying on students' social media, the use of the tests for punishment, teaching to the test, the ignoring of the arts, the expense and failure of the technology for administering the tests, and the tremendous cost to taxpayers. The mania for testing and collecting volumes of data are destroying our education system and creating a world of big profits for the Pearson corporation and Big Brother-ism--all approved by our Ohio Legislature and Governor and supported by Federal legislation-No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.

 

 

 

William Phillis

John Oliver on testing and Pearson


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A tangled web we weave. The British are coming maybe the Libyans too.

According to the “Financial Times” a publication owned by Pearson,The Sovereign fund of Libya initially took a 3.27 per cent stake in Pearson. 3.27% is a significant stake in what is the largest educational publishing company in the world. Pearson is a $9 Billion giant that dominates textbooks, testing, teacher evaluation, IT platforms for schools, and may have the largest investment in lobbying of any publishing company operating in the United States. Pearson is also a major supplier to states who have adopted the Common Core Standard. So why does it matter that Libya may have had or still has a stake in Pearson?

According to a February 2012 study by Citizens for National Security about Muslim Biased textbooks in Florida, four are published by Pearson. Act for America conducted a 2011 study of Muslim-biased textbooks in America and concluded that Pearson published 13 titles where significant Muslim Bias was uncovered. At the time of the stake, Qaddafi was leader in Libya, and promoted his radical brand of Islam. The Arab world, and the Muslim Brotherhood have shown great interest in using education in the United States to indoctrinate American students about Islam. This publication reviewed Pearson’s 2013 World History, a high school level textbook, as an example of strident Islamic Bias. According to Stanley Kurtz in the National Review the Saudis have made strong gains in penetrating American schools:

Pearson is a leading proponent of the common core standards.  They own Connections Education which run the Connections Academies and Nexus Academies.

Virtual Drop out Schools

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/successful-dropout-schools-are-turning-from-white-hat-computer-model-1.491112

Cui Bono (who profits)
Again, profits over results and students.

"With computers replacing teachers and a school day shortened to four hours, the model was profitable.

Funding was and is given on a per-pupil basis. Within a year of opening, enrollment at Bowery Street swelled to 2.5 times the building’s occupancy limit by serving students in shifts and assuming a high rate of absenteeism, according to an administrator who now operates a competing educational management company.
“Students are overenrolled for each session due to the high absence rate, which is not unexpected for this at-risk population of high school dropouts,” David Stiles told the school’s board in 2000. Stiles has since parted ways with White Hat. He now works for Cambridge Education Group, a subsidiary of a Florida company that operates Invictus High School in Cleveland and Towpath Trail in Akron, among other schools.
In 2010, a Florida school district investigated a Life Skills facility, which it sponsored. The investigation found that White Hat over-reported 37 students to the state, which overpaid the company $101,000."

Now Pearson wants into this profitable action by setting up their own drop out schools with the assistance of ex- White Hat employees such as Ray Lambert.

Follow the Money

Cui Bono (who profits)

As noted in a prior post, virtual schools in Ohio are currently a $218 million dollar (per year) experiment.  Pretty soon you are talking about real money and real millionaires. 

It is not the teachers or administrators who are getting rich.

Pearson bought Connections Education which includes the Connections Academy Schools and Nexus Academy for $400 million.  They have since branched out to international schools and are marketing all over the world.  They are also a major force behind the common core standards.

Private equity firm Apollo Management LP is selling Baltimore online schooling company Connections Education LLC to U.K. publishing giant Pearson plc for $400 million, Pearson said Thursday, Sept. 14.
Apollo and Sterling Partners, the target's minority owner, will pocket nearly the entire amount because Connections Education has little debt, a person familiar with the company said.
The two PE firms evidently will turn a profit. In September 2004, according to a financial filing, they paid $12 million to buy the business from Educate Inc., a K-12 education services provider Apollo had purchased for $283 million the previous year.
It isn't known how much additional capital, if any, New York-based Apollo and Baltimore-based Sterling have put into Connections Education since then.
Apollo executives were unavailable for comment. Sterling did not return a message seeking comment.
Connections Education has enjoyed spectacular growth over the past seven years. It posted less than $6 million in revenue the year Apollo and Sterling bought it.
This year, revenues are likely to hit $190 million, Sterling said.
Through its Connections Academy business, the company provides online instruction to more than 40,000 students in grades K-12. It operates "virtual" accredited public school in 21 U.S. states.
"Virtual schooling is an attractive choice for a growing group of American parents, and in the next decade it will take off in other countries," Pearson chief executive Marjorie Scardino said in a statement.

There are some justifiably angry folks as to the privatization of public schools, control of testing, and the pushing of private curriculums by Pearson.  An effort is underway to boycott Pearson.

http://unitedoptout.com/boycott-pearson-now/

 

 

As noted in an earlier post, the Connections Academy Pricing plan:

 

"a representative of Connections explained that its services were available at three price points per student:

Option A: $7,500, a student-teacher ratio of 35-40 to 1, and an average teacher salary of $45,000.

Option B: $6,500, a student-teacher ratio of 50 to 1, with less experienced teachers paid $40,000.

Option C: $4,800 and a student-teacher ratio of 60 to 1, as well as a narrower curriculum