Comments on: The Global Privatization of Education Policy: Lorna Earl Conflict of Interest is the Tip of the Iceberg

By: George Thompson

George Thompson — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:00:19 +0000

Del, you are welcome to republish this, as is anyone. Please add the quotes around obvious quotations, where they were lost when this was uploaded. If you would like to further conact me, please leave an email address.

By: Del Milbrandt

Del Milbrandt — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:33:15 +0000

Would love to reprint this article in Dialogue which is the membership newspaper of the Elementary Teachers of Toronto. Please advise.

By: ONTARIO ADVISOR FULLAN TEAMED WITH PASTOREK IN NEW ORLEANS REFORM: CHARTER SCHOOLS ON ONTARIO’S “NEXT HORIZON” | Dailycensored.com

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:11:37 +0000

[...] to partnering with governments to promote Microsoft-friendly reforms in over 100 countries. http://dailycensored.com/2009/11/06/the-global-privatization-of-education-policy-lorna-earl-conflict... Fullan’s books have become handbooks for the kind of reform Microsoft wants, as may be deduced [...]

By: ONTARIO ADVISOR FULLAN TEAMED WITH PASTOREK IN NEW ORLEANS REFORM: CHARTER SCHOOLS ON ONTARIO’S “NEXT HORIZON” | Dailycensored.com

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:11:37 +0000

By: Michael Fullan’s role in the global privatisation of education policy « Socialism and Education

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:34:09 +0000

[...] Michael Fullan is a leading international education consultant who is a key adviser to to the Labour government in Britain and to the Ontario Ministry of Education. In this extract from his article The Global Privatization of Education Policy George Thompson argues that Fullan has significant business connections which stand to gain directly from his reforms. The article was published on November 6 in the Daily Censored, an independent blog and news source based at Sonoma State University, USA. Read it in full at http://dailycensored.com/2009/11/06/the-global-privatization-of-education-policy-lorna-earl-conflict... [...]

By: Cindy Spackman

Cindy Spackman — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:44:37 +0000

Excellent investigation and report. Michael Fullan, in particular, has long been held up in the educational community, specifically in the post-graduate study community, as a fount of educational policy wisdom that one would be wise to quote in a formal paper to one’s professor, so much so that an entire generation of post-graduate students drip his name from their lips without necessarily considering the long-term consequences of embracing his ideals, ideals which this article clearly link to his own personal financial success. I have nothing against trying to succeed financially as a writer, consultant, or what have you. But a government has to keep the welfare of the people at the forefront of its agenda, or it is a poor government. To blindly follow these self-styled pundits without question suggests laziness at best.

By: David Banerjee

David Banerjee — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:49:59 +0000

Fascinating material. Thank you for this excellent review.

By: Obama’s Firing of Watchdog a Lesson for Canadians | Dailycensored.com

Obama’s Firing of Watchdog a Lesson for Canadians | Dailycensored.com — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:14:53 +0000

[...] Canada, as we have seen in “The Global Privatization of Education Policy” (http://dailycensored.com/2009/11/06/the-global-privatization-of-education-policy-lorna-earl-conflict... ) the use of public services by consultants from the private sector for personal gain is the new [...]

By: George Thompson

George Thompson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:19:45 +0000

Thank you for publically responding. You are the first to do so. It is troubling indeed that there simply is no public dialogue about privatization in Canada even as it’s happening. It’s like the P-word has been banned. Not because the Ministry of Ed. needs to discipline anyone (it’s too late, and their replacements are interchangeable), but because we are witnessing NCLB expand predictably northward along with such changes as Bill 177– which presses schools for commercial improvements and uses test scores to create “failing schools” scenerios as we have seen in the US, Australia, UK, New Zealand, Mexico etc. Boards with failing schools will need “intervention” (better known as restructuring). We also see privatization spreading through the global Assessment Industry, headed by the multi-billion dollar a year ETS (ETS is in Canada,now, too), and its “Assessment Institute” branch, headed by Rick Stiggins, which published the “Assessment Manifesto” which Ontario and the rest of Canada is following to the letter. Assessment is the tail aligning the dog. Once everybody’s “aligned” it makes education into a neatly packaged commodity for quick transfer to for-profit providers. The research industry and edupreneurial scholars (like all of the OISE leaders mentioned in my article) are co-enablers of the movement as they get to constantly measure and re-define the need for “achievement” according to what’s being sold (ie. Character Ed., Boys Literacy Academies, Turnaround Leadership, Benchmark Assessment, Data Interpretation as a steroid for EQAO scoress, Data Warehousing, Differentiated Instruction).

By: Doug Little

Doug Little — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:09:44 +0000

George and Daily Censored, let me add my name to the thank you list along with Annie’s. I provided a link to this story in the last issue of the Little Education Report and my weekly hits jumped by almost 2000. This story is rapidly making the electronic rounds in Canada, not just Ontario. I am not nieve but still surprised it has not broken through in the mainstream media, of course this is the reason you exist but what is the difference between this and the eHealth scandal, the Lottery scandal and so on? Keep up the great work.