In Michigan It's All Business, As Usual

To get a clear picture of how corporate America, represented by the Business Roundtable, has pushed aside parents and local school boards to call the shots in our public schools, one need look no further than the "tougher" high school graduation requirements Michigan Governor Granholm signed into law last April.

As I wrote earlier, when discussing education reform it's easy to bury a reader in information, and that's just what I'm about to do to you. If you hang with me though, I think you'll find it worth the ride.

First, we need some background.

In 1989, the Business Roundtable, an organization of about 160 of the country's wealthiest companies, developed a set of education reform goals. These were based in large part on the principles of "Total Quality Management," a production model intended to streamline manufacturing, eliminate waste, and produce high quality consumer goods (e.g. cars, curling irons, those little plastic things at the ends of your shoelaces, etc.).

The BRT agenda was marketed as "Outcomes-Based Education," and its looming implementation in my district resulted in one of the few board of education meetings that had to be moved to the high school cafeteria (and seats were still scarce). Parents were troubled by the fact that many of the outcomes were character goals rather than academic goals, and they considered character education to be within the purview of family, church, and community rather than government. Silly parents.

The outcry was strident enough that the OBE initiative withered on the vine. It withered, but it didn't die. Undeterred, and now smarter (Note to self: Them parents is ornery!), the BRT in 1995 developed the "Nine Essential Elements of a Successful Education System." Gone were the outcomes, replaced instead by eerily similar standards, benchmarks, and grade-level content expectations. The remaining components also were strikingly similar to the original education reforms developed in 1989. This "new" agenda would become the basis for America 2000, and later the No Child Left Behind legislation. In 2004, when NCLB was up for reauthorization, it would be the BRT who successfully lobbied legislators to keep the strongly criticized high-stakes testing provisions in place.

In 1996, the BRT joined with the National Governors Association to form Achieve, Inc., "a bipartisan, non-profit organization that helps states raise academic standards, improve assessments and strengthen accountability to prepare all young people for postsecondary education, work and citizenship." This is from Achieve's website (www.achieve.org). A member of Achieve's board was then-Governor John Engler of Michigan.

This brings us back to my home state. The BRT has representation in each of the 50 states to push its agenda. Its branch office in Michigan is the Michigan Business Leaders for Education Excellence, part of the state Chamber of Commerce (www.michamber.com/mblee/aboutindex.asp). Note: For the BRT franchise nearest you, check out Kathy Emery and Susan Ohanian's handy chart in Why is Corporate America Bashing Our Public Schools?

In 2002, the MBLEE published "Education Now," a study of the state's progress in implementing the BRT's "Nine Essential Elements" (www.michamber.com/mblee/images/en2002.pdf). If you scroll to the second page you will see a list of participants that includes (former) Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Watkins, Jeremy Hughes (then with the Department of Treasury), Michael Flanagan (then with the Michigan Association of School Administrators), Barbara Markle of MSU, Kathleen Straus (President of the State Board of Education), and Wayne Kuipers of the State House of Representatives.

Remember these names. You'll need to know them for the quiz.

Fast forward to 2005. Watkins has been forced to resign by Governor Jennifer Granholm, who now sits on the board of Achieve. She appoints Michael Flanagan the new Superintendent of Public Instruction. Mr. Flanagan, in turn, charges Chief Academic Officer Jeremy Hughes with the job of forming a task force to examine high school graduation requirements. The resulting 13-member task force would also include Barb Markle, Mike Schmidt of Ford Motor Company (more on him in a bit), and Jamey Fitzpatrick of the Michigan Virtual High School, among others.

The justification for the task force was based on the ominous sounding, almost-but-not-quite-scientific study "The Expectations Gap - A 50 State Review of High School Graduation Requirements," published by Achieve, Inc. (see Susan Ohanian's comments regarding this study at www.susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.html?id=3543).

The task force was provided with background readings recommended by "school redesign consultant" Diane McMillan. Oddly enough, much of the material was from Achieve, Inc.

Five states were chosen to study as possible models for graduation requirements - Arkansas, Massachusetts, Oregon, Indiana, and Rhode Island. Why these five? Because they all happen to participate in the American Diploma Project, another venture of the folks at Achieve, Inc. (www.achieve.org/files.ADPsummary_5.pdf).

I'm sensing a pattern here.

Of course others on the task force couldn't resist an open cookie jar. Included in the proposed graduation requirements was an mandatory "e-learning" credit. Students would have to earn at least one credit during their high school career over the Internet. This brilliancy came from Jamey Fitzpatrick, head of the Michigan Virtual High School, where, coincidentally, students will be able to earn their e-learning credit.

Wow. Didn't see that one coming. I mean, what were the odds?

Along with the Michigan Merit Core, the proposed curriculum included the "21st Century Applied Learning Core," adapted from the website of the "Partnership for 21st Century Skills" (www.21stcenturyskills.org - we'll look at them in a later post).Turns out, in addition to his job at Ford Motor Company, task force member Mike Schmidt is on the staff at 21st Century Skills. His bio on their website (www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=153&|temid=70) also notes his participation in implementing Goals 2000 and School-to-Work legislation during his time in Washington D.C. under the Clinton Administration.

A centerpiece of the Michigan Merit Core is the inclusion of Algebra 2 as a requirement for graduation for everyone (though students may opt out by chopping down the largest tree in the forest with a herring). And where did this masterstroke come from? If you can't guess by now, you haven't been paying attention (and you're not going to do very well on the quiz either).

Achieve, Inc. of course.

Pointing to a 1999 study by Department of Education researcher Clifford Adelman (www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/toolboxrevisit/toolbox.pdf), Achieve, Inc. claimed that students who took math classes beyond Algebra 2 were more successful at earning college degrees. On paper this appears to be true. What the data does not show is whether or not it was the higher math they had taken that caused these students to be more successful. Stop and think for a moment. In my experience, Algebra 2 and the math beyond it are generally elective classes. Students who voluntarily enroll in these challenging courses, I have observed, tend to be stronger, more motivated students to begin with and likely to do well in college because of innate qualities they already possess (e.g intelligence, perseverance) prior to taking trigonometry or calculus.

Both Adelman and Achieve were careful not to make the claim that higher math caused students to be more successful in college. They didn't have to. All they had to do was point to the (simplified) numbers and imply that such was the case, then let the easily fooled stumble to the desired, but unfounded, conclusion. Of course, there's also the allure of requiring Algebra 2 for everyone. It just sounds so rigorous, doesn't it?

Chew on that as you try and help Timmy with his Algebra 2 homework (Excuse me, Mr. Smith, but someone has stolen all the numbers from my math book and replaced them with the lesser used consonants, two vowels, and some of the those symbols from my keyboard that I never understood).

Most of the other data at Achieve's website (www.achieve.org/node/332) justifying more rigorous curriculum is just laughable. Check this out (comments in parentheses are mine):

"College students who had to write a lot in high school, including term papers and research reports, say they are more prepared for college-level writing." (Compared to whom? Their identical self in the parallel universe who didn't do a lot of writing in high school?)

"Non-college students who took Algebra 2 or higher are far more likely to say they are prepared for the math they will face at work." (Apparently these students were also psychically gifted. If and when they actually get a job, they'll get back to us and let us know if they were right.)

"Three-quarters of non-college students who did a great deal of writing in high school say they are well prepared for the quality of writing expected at work." (And they never lie on surveys either!)

Sprinkled throughout the notes from the task force's meetings, like goose poop on a freshly mowed putting green, are comments that reflect the attitude of its members toward students, parents, and Michigan's history of local control. Here's a sample:

"State vs. local control will be first issue that political (sic) discuss."

"Carrot and stick - state endorsed diploma"

"It's okay to tell kids what to do."

"Don't let kids and parents opt out. Cause them to opt in."

"Recommendations need to limit the scope of decision-making at the local level."

"Compulsory age for attendance raised to 18!"

"Find things we agree upon to stave off the complainers."

"Opt out should be defined by MDE/SBE not left to local."

"Incentives and hammers are further down the line for 'real world' change."

"Central control from state to push past local control stodginess."

"Opting out has to be hard so kid will say 'forget it.'"

"We have a responsibility to our economy to not let kids opt out."

"Kids achieve through benevolent dictatorship."

"Make it difficult for them to get out."

"Parents will whine so we need a challenging system."

"We need to provide a vision for how teachers teach."

"Some of these schools need a 'kick in the pants.'"

The State Board of Education, meanwhile, had been trying to figure out how to market the new requirements. To this end, Achieve, Inc. Vice-President Matt Gandal addressed the board at its August meeting (www.michigan.gov/documents/AugMinutes_139183_7.pdf). In 2004, Gandal and Achieve, Inc. President Michael Cohen had received recognition as "Rotten Apples In Education" by researcher/writer Gerald Bracey. They were so honored for their habit of misrepresenting data to further Achieve initiatives (www.america-tomorrow.com/bracey/EDDRA/rottenapples2004.pdf).

Gandal's advice to the board included, among other things, starting with "recommended" before removing to "required."  This was the same strategy seen before in Michigan in the 90's when the state proposed a "mandated" core curriculum. The resulting protests by parents (those annoying parents again) against a "one-size-fits-all" curriculum forced the state to change the term "mandated" to "suggested." Later, by bullying school districts based on their MEAP scores (the test was based on the "suggested" curriculum, so if you wished to do well on it, the state "suggested" you align your curriculum to theirs), and enticing parents with the carrot of the Merit Awards, the state made their "suggested" curriculum as all-controlling as any legislation could have.

The State Board of Education, headed by Kathleen Straus, approved the proposed graduation requirements at its December 13, 2005 meeting. In another striking coincidence, it was Senator Wayne Kuipers who introduced it as SB 1124 on March 9, 2006.

The Department of Ed. started publishing "Leading Change," a newsletter featuring articles written by the task force members citing Achieve, Inc. "research" to tout the tougher curriculum (I breathlessly await the Fall 2006 issue). Seven public hearings were held around the state, with task force members present to answer concerns about the new requirements. Since few people were privy to the origins of the proposal however, nobody asked the right questions.

The legislation breezed through Congress (House vote 95-11, Senate vote 37-0) and was signed into law by Governor Granholm on April 4, 2006.

To sum up: The new high school graduation requirements are a part of the agenda of the Business Roundtable. The rationale for the change was invented. The superintendent's task force was stacked. The "research" provided to the task force was shoddy and/or misrepresented. Parents were excluded (purposefully, because the state had riled parents twice already and didn't want a third course of butt whup). Legislators were either complicit (Wayne Kuipers) or clueless (the other 131 who voted for the legislation). Governor Granholm was onboard from Day One (and in case you think things would be different under Dick DeVos, please note his wife Betsy is listed as a participant in the Education Now 2002 study).

And so control of education in Michigan has been stripped from parents and handed over to the Business Roundtable, a group that views our children as "human capital" and the task of educating them no more complex than manufacturing a good toaster.

To that I say, "Thank god." Thank god there is a group of wealthy elites who know what our children need better than we do, and is brave enough to meet secretly, plot quietly, lie skillfully, and commit massive fraud against every parent in the state to make its vision come true.

For those of you who live outside Michigan, stop laughing. This show has either already played in your state, is playing in your state, or will be playing in your state soon. Please learn from our experience.

I must go now and put my brave little toasters to bed.

Scott

Comments

[BlueWaterTeacher]

This is a brilliant piece. Thank you. My daughter attends school in Port Huron. Here all math students must achieve a 70% or higher on every chapter test to pass a math course. The tests count for 80% of their grades...Here's the kicker...so many students are failing that the District put them in computer labs so they can teach themselves...punch the keyboards until they get that 70%. My daughter talked to her friends in these "classes." They aren't learning anything. The District said students had to show a 70% proficiency to prove they are ready to move on to the next required math class. Again, so many students are failing, they are being moved into second semester sections even thought they failed the first. It's a travesty.

[Scott]

It's sad, isn't it. What we're witnessing is the predictable outcome of the business model applied to children, the attitude that humans are no different than parts in a machine, and that education is no more complicated than assembling a toaster. If you think that way about children, then sitting them down in front of a computer and calling the result "learning" is acceptable. Those of us who actually work with kids know better.