Like Hitting One's Head Against a Brick Wall

Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation couldn't care less about "engaging" in dialogue with teachers. He's got a scam going, and he is going to continue to peddle it, as long as states and school districts are hurting financially and need to look to funding elsewhere.

Gates knows it all even if he knows nothing. His foundation needs to be gotten rid of because it is a tax-exempt scam which is actually political in practice.

The Education Wars II

Bill and Melinda continue with their scheme to destroy public education, something of which they know nothing about:

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced Thursday a $335 million investment in teacher effectiveness, with major grants for experiments in tenure, evaluation, compensation, training and mentoring in three large school systems and a cluster of public charter schools.

Through the grants, which amount to one of the largest privately sponsored school improvement initiatives in recent years, the foundation aims to reshape how policymakers approach teaching. Its goal is to focus on performance rather than qualifications.

The winners, picked from 10 applicants, are: Hillsborough County (Fla.) schools, in the Tampa area, to receive $100 million; Memphis schools, $90 million; Pittsburgh schools, $40 million; and five charter networks in Los Angeles (Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, Aspire Public Schools, Green Dot Public Schools, Inner City Education Foundation and Partnerships to Uplift Communities Schools), $60 million.

More
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In a rare bit of good news for teachers, substitutes in L.A. regain their seniority rights.
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The Education Wars

Naturally the usual suspects are involved in a report about a "report card" of the nation's school districts.

More flexibility. States and districts must empower schools and principals, develop student-based funding policies, and reinvent education management.

* Better accountability. States and districts should hold individuals and organizations responsible for performance, reform teacher pay, and develop stronger data systems for the collection and dissemination of information.

* More capacity. To makes schools flexible and innovative, states and districts should provide teachers with focused professional development and encourage the research and development of promising practices.

* Stronger reform environment. States and districts should support efforts to create common academic standards as well as promote the development of entrepreneurial organizations.

Given how bad administrators are in public schools, the LAST thing we need is to give them MORE power.

Of course these bastards want to do away with the "step system" of teachers' salaries, which are roughly based on the civil service system.

The Education Wars

Bill and Melinda Gates are out to screw teachers over, and the unions aren't doing one damned thing to stop this trend towards privatization.

Not one fucking word about administrators. It's all the teachers' fault.
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As if teachers don't already know test scores are lousy tools in judging teacher "effectiveness." After all, kids don't even take the tests seriously to begin with, so it's nothing but a load of crap and excuses for throwing teachers out so as not to pay higher salaries and benefits such as retirement.