“Raise Your Hand’s Bogus Reform”
by Donna Garner
9.18.13
http://educationviews.org/raise-your-hands-bogus-reform-by-donna-garner-9-18-13/
Principal Michelle Rice has been the principal of Copeland Elementary School in Cy-Fair ISD, Texas, for four years. She has graduated from the REEP (Rice Educational Entrepreneurship Program) which is a scholarship program designed and supported by Raise Your Hand.
Raise Your Hand is the brainchild of Bill Ratliff (Thomas and Bennett Ratliff’s father, Ratliff Clan has made millions lobbying for Microsoft); Mike Moses (*who makes tens of thousands from his superintendent search firm among other education-related and lucrative sources of income), Charles C. Butt (owner of HEB supermarkets), Susan Kellner (whose husband is CEO of Continental Airlines), and other groupies.
Here are excerpts from Principal Rice’s glowing testimony posted on the REEP/Raise Your Hand website:
Striving toward a 21st century mindset seemed the most logical next step in the development of my campus…To truly understand this approach, one must have a clear grasp of 21st century skills. It is not simply the idea of technology integration in the classroom. Instead, the 21st century model couples strong academics, the three R’s (reading, writing, and arithmetic) with the four C’s (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity) to create a strong educational environment that launches students on a learning quest…http://www.raiseyourhandtexas.org/blog/ryhtreep-partnership-michelle-rice-principal-of-copeland-elementary-explains-her-innovative-plan-for-the-new-school-year/#.UjoDjGSG2K0
After reading Principal Rice’s glowing account of Copeland Elementary School, I decided to see how well this campus did on the latest Texas Education Agency’s 2013 Accountability Ratings. Surely after Rice’s “fabulous” training with REEP/Raise Your Hand, her school’s scores must be very noteworthy.
To gather my data, I used the following link on the Texas Education Agency’s website because it contains a composite screen of all of the campuses/districts in Texas along with their latest 2013 accountability ratings: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/2013/statelist.pdf
COPELAND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NOT SUPERIOR AT ALL
When I looked under the 2013 Accountability Ratings for Copeland Elementary School
(Cy-Fair ISD), what did I find? This elementary school contains K-5 students and has an enrollment close to 1,000 students. Guess how many Distinction awards among 40 like-characteristic campuses Copeland Elementary School received on the 2013 Accountability Ratings…NONE! That means no Distinction award in English/Language Arts, no Distinction award in Math, and no Distinction award for being in the Top 25%.
EXPLANATION OF 2013 ACCOUNTABILITY RATINGS – DISTINCTIONS COLUMNS
The three Distinctions columns are indicative of superior performance because they are based upon objective data that rates academic achievement (the primary goal of the public schools.) The campuses/districts are only compared with their same like-characteristic group of 40.
The first column under Distinctions means outstanding academic achievement in English/Language Arts/Reading.
The second column means outstanding academic achievement in Math.
The third column means the campus/district was in the Top 25% of schools among the 40 like-comparison group of campuses.
REEP/RAISE YOUR HAND NOT TRANSLATING INTO SUPERIOR STUDENTS
Principal Rice and Copeland Elementary School may be utilizing REEP/Raise Your Hand’s 21st Century technology integration, but it is obviously not translating into academic achievement for the students. In truth, that was probably not Rice’s real motive for going through the REEP/Raise Your Hand administrators’ program. The candidates who graduate from REEP/Raise Your Hand (Mike Moses’ brainchild) are undoubtedly first on his list when he is hired by school districts to help them search for a superintendent. “The good old boy (or girl) network appears to be alive and well in Texas.”
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE MIKE MOSES FAMILY
*The Dallas Morning News found multiple dubious behavior patterns during Mike Moses’ watch as Dallas ISD superintendent.
Allegations have surfaced about out-of-control spending with school credit cards, lost dollars for health plans, abuse of federal e-rate funds, irregular technology vendor contracts, misspent federal bilingual education funds, costly deals with Kinko’s, apparent conflicts of interest involving Voyager Expanded Learning, contributions by computer vendors, questionable bond sales, multiple teacher grievances, eyebrow-raising private consultancies, lucrative Coca-Cola contracts, and special privileges for vendors participating in the Education Research and Development Institute (ERDI) conferences.
Mason Moses is the son of Mike Moses and is an employee who is financially tied to CSCOPE/TESCCC/ESC’s.
Donna Garner
