Broad Superintendent Academy discussed by Education Week

On another post Anonymous wrote:

"FOCUS ON: LEADERSHIP
Critics Target Growing Army of Broad Leaders
As the number of influential school leaders trained by the Broad Superintendents Academy grows, so does the criticism surrounding the program.
June 7, 2011 - Education Week

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/06/08/33broad_ep.h30.html

“Broad training . . . has drawn impassioned criticism from people who see it as a destructive force in schools and districts.

They say Broad-trained superintendents use corporate-management techniques to consolidate power, weaken teachers’ job protections, cut parents out of decision- making, and introduce unproven measures .

Sharon Higgins, who started a website called the Broad Report in 2009 after her school district in Oakland California had three Broad-trained superintendents in quick succession, each appointed by the state.

She said she grew alarmed when she started seeing principals and teachers whom she called “high-quality, dedicated people” force out. She contends in her blog that Broad superintendents are trained to aim for “maximum disruption” when they come to a district, without regard for parent or teacher concerns.

“Its like saying, let me come to your house and completely rearrange your furniture because I think your house is a mess. . . adding that other parents around the country have reached out to her to complain about their own Broad-trained school leaders.”

Pittsburgh Public Schools has been invaded by the Broad Foundation trainees and "residents" including the current and just previous superintendent.

(More to follow.)"

"More on BROAD:


Superintendents Academy grows, so does the criticism surrounding the program.
June 7, 2011 - Education Week

‘Corporate Training School’
“Likewise James Horn, an associate professor of education policy at Cambridge college in Massachusetts, keeps up a drumbeat of criticism in the blog School Matters. In one post, he referred to the academy as “Eli Broads corporate training school . . .for future superintendents who are trained how to use their power to hand over their systems to the Business Roundtable.”

“In an interview, Dr. Horn said that school officials trained by the program, graduate with a hostility to teachers. . .

Dr. Horn points not only to the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, but also the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation, as examples of what he sees as a worrisome trend of “venture philanthropy” in education. Venture philanthropists typically emphasize the imperative of getting results for their investment and maintain close ties to the organizations they fund.”

“What venture philanthropy is doing seems to me to be wielding influence not to help public institutions but to destroy public institutions or take control of them. Mr. Horn said, “This is a dangerous place, where corporations and government get mixed up.”

THE EVIDENCE IN PPS SUBSTANTIATES THE CLAIMS IN THIS EDUCATION WEEK ARTICLE AS PPS CONTINUES TO DECLINE AND SEEMS WELL ON ITS WAY TO BEING “DESTROYED AS A PUBLIC INSTITUTION” UNDER BROAD CONTROL."