The American Thinker - Will Ayers and Obama radicalize our schools? »
Posted By pc25 1 year, 1 month ago in NewsAs more evidence emerges of the close ties between former Weatherman Bill Ayers and Presidential candidate Barack Obama, questions are being raised about the level of competence displayed by Barack Obama when he headed the Chicago Annenberg Challenge for 4 years in the early 1990s. Apparently, his sole try at an executive position was a bust; tens of millions of dollars dolled out and wasted with no discernible improvement for the intended beneficiaries, schools and students in the Chicago Public Schools.
However, a more urgent question should focus on the future. Will a President Obama be influenced by the radical ideas concerning education propounded and promoted by Ayers?
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pc251 year, 1 month ago
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Our schools already haved a radical agenda as evidenced by this story
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http://www.propeller.com/story/2008/11/07/youtube-...
YouTube - Obama-Supporting Teacher Bullies Soldiers Daughter for Choosing McCain
Judging by Obama's failure when he headed the Chicago Annenburg Challenge and with his stated mission to "overhaul" our graduate schools of education, things will only get worse before they get better. This is the "playpen" that Ayers has used to continue his own revolution. Ayers began developing his views while attending Columbia University's Teachers College in 1984 (Obama is also a graduate of Columbia University).He came under the influence of Maxine Green, a professor with radical views regarding the role of teachers and education. Stern wrote:
Greene told future teachers that they could help change this bleak landscape by developing a "transformative" vision of social justice and democracy in their classrooms. Her vision, though, was a far cry from the democratic optimism of the Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr., which most parents would endorse.
As demonstrated in this video this kind of change is not the change that we need for our children, and this type of a teacher is not the kind of teacher we WANT for our children.
Our schools are in bad enough shape today and if Obama and Ayers have their way things will only get worse.-
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hyperbola1 year, 1 month ago
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Well it didn't take long. Here is the ZionCon right of the "American" Thinker still trying to dupe Americans and dictate how we should run our country. You fell for their propaganda by denying that Obama would make any changes. Let's look at what they object to:
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from the article:
""""Homelessness, crime, racism, oppression-we have the resources and knowledge to fight and overcome these things.
"We need to look beyond our isolated situations, to define our problems globally. We cannot be child advocates . . . in Chicago or New York and ignore the web that links us with the children of India or Palestine.
"In a truly just society there would be a greater sharing of the burden, a fairer distribution of material and human resources.""""
Frankly that sounds like an admirable goal. We would be better off to send the ZionCon israel-firsters off to their country of primary loyalty. -
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jordan111 year, 1 month ago
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You think you found something new going on in our schools? In 1972 when my daughter was 9, McGovern ran for President. Her classroom had debates over the election, and the teacher asked who would vote for McGovern. When my daughter raised her hand, the teacher asked "why." She said "my mommy doesn't trust Nixon." The teacher said "your mother is stupid!" My daughter told her "well you're a witch," and promptly got kicked out of school. The next day she was reinstated, with an apology from the teacher. ('mommy' took no nonsense from schools).
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For you to suggest that schools are filled with teachers of one particular political ideology is absurd, & shows your lack of appreciation or knowledge of problems in our schools that have been manifesting for decades, from all types of thinking. -
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mesodude1 year, 1 month ago
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"Our schools are in bad enough shape today and if Obama and Ayers have their way things will only get worse."
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--Yes, yes...We know, pc. We heard cons all the last 8 years as Republicans (and Americans, more importantly) have lost over and over again...If the Democrats get in control we should just expect Armaggedon. The diabolical Dems will bring us liberalism, hedonism, socialism, communism, marxism, exorcism, really bad hair days...blah blah... We've listened to cons playing Henny Penny for the last 8 years (at least) and your fear and smear attempts are just not working anymore, pc. When will you cons realize that the more shrill you become in your panic to keep or regain power, the more sad, desperate, and pathetic you look? No one likes, trusts, or wants to be around sad, desperate, and pathetic people, pc. It's time for you to grow up and end the paranoia-fueled lies and smears. This *will not* help the GOP in the short or long run. It just won't work. ;-( -
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Dionys1 year, 1 month ago
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Take a hint. YOU LOST! Big time.
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Your fear and smear tactics won't do anything but make you look like a pathetic little whining loser. Which you are, granted, but I'd think you wouldn't want to look that way.
If Obama does ANYTHING for Education, you should be happy because then your children (should you ever find someone who would let you reproduce with them -- or find someone who you can pay to have your little GOP monster children) won't have to fail out of the craphole schools Bush created with his No Child Left a Dime act. -
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Pecossam1 year, 1 month ago
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pc25, I know of a three-step program that would completely undermine Ayers' and his associate's radical plans for American Education:
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#1. Vouchers
#2 Vouchers
#3 Vouchers
It's a damn shame that we allowed the Teachers Unions to become so strong as to wag the tail of both state and federal education establishments, for as long as they retain this power, we'll never have VOUCHERS, which are the only REALISTIC answer to the INDOCTRINATION of America's children.
The one way in which American parents can retake control of their school districts (at least here in California, and I would imagine most other states), is to pass something similar to the Federal Hatch Act, which prohibits U.S. Government employees from officially supporting or donating to ANY candidate(s) Unfortunately this election/donation/legislation cycle has been established in California, the ULTIMATE QUID PRO QUO.
Such an ACT would also help the States fend -off what have become the unreasonable demands of other state employee unions' which lead to deficit spending to cover their overtime, retirement, and medical plans. -
sailrComment removed: Retracted by user
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Beau78901 year, 1 month ago
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Here's something conservatives will love:
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http://www.propeller.com/story/2008/11/09/obama-an... -
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Goppy1 year, 1 month ago
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My God in Heaven.
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Are y'all STILL pushing Ayers? LOL!!! Y'all are just too funny. Too, too funny.
And look at the topic ... education no less.
This, from the same people who DEMAND that our children to learn Creationism in school ... sometimes along with, and sometimes IN PLACE OF Evolutionary Science!
Like I always say ... I really don't mind these types of stories. In fact, I'm even going to prop this story.
Stories like this show Americans exactly how intellectually dishonest y'all really are.
Propagandists for a failed ideology.
Advocates for a failed President.
Partisan till the end. -
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Sandokan1 year, 1 month ago
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ARE YOU KIDDING ME? YOU PEOPLE ARE JUST PLAIN IDIOTS!! HOLY S..T!!! IT IS A GOOD THING THAT WE STAYED OVERSEAS, AFTER OUR TOUR OF DUTY WITH THE MILITARY...
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THE DODDS (DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DEPENDENT SCHOOLS) SYSTEM, FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT UNDERSTAND EDUCATION SYSTEMS, IS ALIVE AND WELL ...THANK GOD! AT LEAST THE CHILDREN GOING TO THOSE SCHOOLS ARE BEING EDUCATED - TOP GRADUATES IN MOST COLLEGES THEY ATTEND AFTERWARD.
OBVIOUSLY ALL YOU GOING TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEMS TRULY DO NEED SOMETHING NEW. LOOKS LIKE ANYTHING IS BETTER THEN WHAT YOU PEOPLE ARE GETTING NOW.
ABSTRACT LADDER IS MOST LIKELY A STRANGE CONCEPT TO YOU ALL....
THERE ARE SO MANY ISSUES IN THE REAL WORLD TO WORRY ABOUT ...AND YOU THINK UP CRAP LIKE THIS????? -
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hyperbola1 year, 1 month ago
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Frankly pc25, Ayers sounds an awful lot more of a responsible american patriot than the author of your article.
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What a Long, Strange Trip Its Been by Bill Ayers
Bill Ayers looks back on a surreal campaign season.
http://www.propeller.com/story/2008/11/08/what-a-l...
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GLee1 year, 1 month ago
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boots72Comment removed: Spammer16 Replies
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ForrestPhelps1 year, 1 month ago
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To Klarissa:
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I can't speak for Kowabunga, but as someone who has given you a goodly amount of neg's for your comments, I thought I'd take this opportunity to address our differences.
I don't think you are un-American, but I do think your absolute hatred of anything you don't agree with makes you come across to many as dictatorial, which is un-American to most of us on the left. Your willingness to gleefully jump on the fringe attacks on all things to the left makes you sound shrill.
I can honestly say the following: I did not vote for McCain over Obama, but I could have voted for McCain over Gore. I didn't get that opportunity because of Rovian politics, which I find abhorrent.
I do think Bush has been terrible for our country, and (without any evidence, I fully admit) I think this administration has committed crimes.
I'm not meaning to be personal here. I usually try to be friends with everyone, even those who I disagree with. So please don't take the above comments to mean I think that of you. There is a difference between how a person is and how a person is perceived. In the same vein, I have seen you make comments that I think show you have a big heart and have many qualities everyone would call good.
In future, I plan on cutting way back on my neg's for you and many others on this site, now that the "heat of battle" - the election - is over. I was using neg's to quickly convey my disagreement with content. Now I plan to take the time to comment along with a neg.
I expect I'll be reading more of your comments concerning our new President. I hope they are well-reasoned and insightful. I expect we'll be disagreeing a bit, but I promise to remain civil. If you think I'm not, please call me on it. Sometimes, I can get carried away.
Heck, just yesterday, I had TWO pieces of apple pie after lunch.
Take Care,
Forrest Phelps -
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k9kssr1 year, 1 month ago
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KowabungaComment removed: Retracted by user35 Replies
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beavith11 year, 1 month ago
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last year of college? i'd say that explains that.
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you exhibit passion without experience. certainty in the face of uncertainty. judgement without evidence.
you have drunk the kool aid. you've heard charybdis' siren song and don't have the strength to fight it.
first of all, the 'test crazy' No Child Left Behind was a democratic plan that had been proposed for years and years. you had those mock tests because your teachers weren't educating you. they were indoctrinating you to pass those tests. your district administrators rammed those tests down your throats to save their own skins.
its not insanity if its reality. i'm sorry that you are ignorant of the facts, along with 2000 of your close friends.
graduate. get a job. pay your taxes. if that doesn't wake you up from your stupor, nothing will.
when i was in college, way back before the USSR broke up, i used to read Pravda. every time i'd put it down, i'd walk away and shake my head saying that these 'clowns actually believe this stuff'. its amazing. i'm shaking my head saying that 'you clowns actually believe the stuff you've been spoon fed.'
read 'atlas shrugged' . then read the communist manifesto. then compare and contrast.
'aren't even americans'? you have no clue as to what you are saying... -
PsychoHosebeastComment removed: Spammer, Abusive2 Replies
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rosecityfriend1 year, 1 month ago
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nostalgia1 year, 1 month ago
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Find a university in your state which offers a degree in elementary education
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Go to the website of the university and take a look at the classes required to get a degree in the field
You are in for a real SHOCK
Nothing will change in public education until the universities change the courses required to get a degree in the field
Go to your local high school
Ask them to show you the degrees held by the teachers - they will try to make it sound like that information can't be released or there is no need for you to see that information
This is especially important for the teachers in math and science
You will be lucky to find a few math majors. Physics and chemistry majors are even more difficult to find
Difficult to teach critical thinking skills and encourage questioning when you have people teaching in fields where they have no in depth knowledge -
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PsychoHosebeastComment removed: Spammer, Abusive
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sailrComment removed: Retracted by user
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GehlLady1 year, 1 month ago
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I'd rather our public schools taught the sciences, math, language, and civics classes needed to be productive person that can hold a job, and pursue higher education if desired. That means they know how government is structured, not an ideology, they know how to balance a check book, they can speak successfully in a job interview, and comprehend what they read. A political agenda doesn't belong in public schools. If they have these skills, then hopefully they would have the skills to make good decisions on the rest of their educational studies.
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pc251 year, 1 month ago
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http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/site/c.kjJ...
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U.S. 15 year-olds lag in math and science on international test
n math and science U.S. 15 year-olds are being outperformed by the majority of their peers around the world according to a recent NCES report Highlights from PISA 2006: Performance of U.S. 15 Year-Old Students in Science and Mathematics Literacy in an International Context. Top performing U.S. students compare similarly to their high performing peers in other countries in science, but not in math. PISA also assessed student reading, but no U.S. reading scores were reported due to a error in printing the U.S. version of the test. -
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pc251 year, 1 month ago
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http://www.civiced.org/papers/articles_mb_june00.h...
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Schools Lag Because Focus Not on Capacity to Reason
American schools have been many things over the centuries: the world's first true universal public education system, a decentralized municipal forum for sincere ambition and hopeful good efforts, indoctrination channels, oases of political correctness, the envy of the world in science and math, edge-leaders in social progress, the root-structure of the most vibrant university culture in the world, and now, largely insufficient, as competing with the world's best.
The reason for this decline, is that the focus in education policy has moved away from the original guiding principle: that a democratic society must have in all of its citizens, a reserve of reason and common sense, a perspective about society's shared values, and an ability to help guide the innovation that with time helps to steer a nation toward a better, more just future. -
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sailrComment removed: Retracted by user
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Klarissa1 year, 1 month ago
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mesodude1 year, 1 month ago
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Klarissa, once again, I must force you to mow your own lawn before griping that my trees need to be pruned. You people have made an absolutely mockery of not only science but education in general. Speaking of poor educational credentials and a failure to grasp the Constitution...Sarah Palin? You can't be freaking serious. And just listen to the way you've defended Bush's mental and verbal atrocities over the years while suggesting that education is something high falutin, "elitist" and radically left. I can't believe what I'm reading from some of you cons. ;-(
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Shankari25Comment removed: Retracted by user20 Replies
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Klarissa1 year, 1 month ago
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MSK- It is never to late. Attend your local school board meetings - or run yourself. Get a community group together to help the school board emphasize the 3 Rs.
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Do you have a jr. college in your area - attend their meetings, or make it a point to write letters about courses you think you local taxpayers should know about.
Have you attended a college? I find it disgraceful that certain speakers, mostly of a different political persuasion than the faculty, are prevented from speaking on campuses. Some of these were high level government officials.
Let your school know that free speech starts at home, in this case, the college campus.
Be ever alert locally.
Think of it as a wagon wheel. You are on the outside, the local level.
Next comes the county (serve on your party's campaign?). Then state, then regional, and finally Washington.
What we do at the local level works its way up, very, very, very slowly.
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mntnman444Comment removed: Spammer, Hard Banned
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genereaux1 year, 1 month ago
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I am for a radical agenda in our schools, like teaching geography, civics and current affairs. Apparently Sarah Palin slept through her classes. Until we demand our candidates in the house, senate and especially the presidency are required to take a basic entry level competency test, we will remain subject to "celebrity" politics. Stay in school kids...you don't want to turn out like Sarah Palin!
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DenCuddy1 year, 1 month ago
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At the college where I work at we have to spend 2 hours a week with each student to teach them how to think and work in teams. The No child left behind legislation has crippled our next generation to be obsessive memorizers. While this may help you pass a test, it does not help you solve a problem. In life we encounter problems each day, not so much tests. NCLB has failed and comparing results in reading, science and math from around the globe confirms it.
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gsmittle1 year, 1 month ago
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"The No child left behind legislation has crippled our next generation to be obsessive memorizers. While this may help you pass a test, it does not help you solve a problem. "
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Every so often on one of my multiple-choice tests, I'll ask a question where "None of the above" is NOT the answer. Almost every student sees "None of the above," doesn't read the rest of the answers, and assumes "None of the above" is the correct answer.
Why? NCLB has caused our schools to teach how to take a standardized test rather than how to reason.
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ETproductions1 year, 1 month ago
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As more evidence emerges of the close ties between Right Wing Domestic Terrorist http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/note-sarah... and the Republican RIght, questions are being raised about the level of competence displayed by Right Wing-nuts when they head ANYTHING.
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mrdpavo1 year, 1 month ago
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Already bashing him and he's not even in the Whitehouse yet.
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There was nothing radical about the ideas of the annenberg foundation.
Walter Annenberg, the head of the foundation, is a well-known philanthropist and conservative Republican. Annenburg (a friend of Reagan’s) CHOSE Ayers to sit on his board.
The CAC funded programs with the following purpose: teacher training, music education, support for new school council candidates, afterschool programs, education research, improvements for literacy and arts programs and initiatives to strengthen parental involvement in public schools.
The foundation was supported by a Republican governor and included on its board prominent local civic leaders, including one former Nixon administration official who has given $1,500 to McCain's campaign this year.
Walter & Leonore, are the founders of the foundation, and are the ones who gave Bill Ayers the $49M grant and put him on the board.
Leonore, a Republican, has endorsed McCain. She also DONATED THE MAX OF $2300 TO McCAIN'S CAMPAIGN IN MAY 2008.(apparently McCain's campaign was funded by terrorist-supporters!)
The Annenberg's have donated to Republican candidates over 100 times in the past few elections cycles. Her campaign contributions have gone to the likes of George W Bush and Fred Thompson.
Obama has had no relationship with Ayers as a U.S. senator.-
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Klarissa1 year, 1 month ago
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MRD, You are right about "following purpose: teacher training, music education, support for new school council candidates, afterschool programs, education research, improvements for literacy and arts programs and initiatives to strengthen parental involvement in public schools."
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However, what the foundation actually did with the money once the Annenbergs handed over control is open to question.
Wikipedia says: " The Research Consortium was responsible for assessing the impact of the expenditure of the Challenge's grant money. Ironically, they concluded that the $110 million spent in Chicago over six years had little or no impact on outcomes for students.
The Chicago Annenberg Challenge received a grant of $49.2 million from the national Annenberg Challenge based at Brown University. The grant was to be matched 2:1 by private donors. By 1999 the Chicago Challenge succeeded in raising an additional $60 million.
Other CAC board members were prominent Chicagoans from both the private and non profit sectors.
[edit] Legacy
The project appears to have failed to achieve any of its stated, measurable educational goals. For example, a comprehensive study by the Consortium on Chicago School Research concludes:
"Results suggest that among the schools it supported, the Challenge had little impact on school improvement and student outcomes, with no statistically significant differences between Annenberg and non-Annenberg schools in rates of achievement gain, classroom behavior, student self-efficacy, and social competence."[5]
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DenCuddy1 year, 1 month ago
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What will republicans bitch about when things improve?? That they got a tax break? That manufacturing has begun a comeback?? That Iraq is stable and our troops are home?? That someone finally crushed the taliban?? That our schools have improved?? No, they'll find something inconsequential like they always do.
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jordan111 year, 1 month ago
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Actually, anything the new Congress tries to do will be filibustered by CONS, because they won't want to see democrats looking good. The fool followers of CONS will bitch that Congress isn't doing anything, ignore that their hero's are putting the nations needs on hold with their antics, & we'll have four more years of nothing.
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purpleicon1 year, 1 month ago
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Want to talk terrorist ties ? How about the Bushes being buddy buddy with the Bin Ladens ? They had a terrorist son who orchestrated the murder of almost 3000 Americans...Why not go after president Bush about his relationship with the Bin Ladens ?
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maceandemma1 year, 1 month ago
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Are you a Teacher? Do you spend time in our schools? Or are you an expert because you listen to the partial truths spread by those who want to see public education fail? Are you an expert simply because you went through the system?
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No Child Left Behind Failed our schools and hopefully will soon be gone or at least funded. Before you badmouth the system spend some time with it. When Asked, most parents rate their child's school in the B+ to A- range yet rank the nation's school system as failing. Why the disconnect? Please think about it.
K. Hooper
BA Ed/Sped, BA Soc/EthnicStudies, MA Ed -
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lloydm651 year, 1 month ago
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businessbooster: Are you stupid or what,I used to live down the street from a lady from the U K I thought she was an isolated case,.Then again maybe you know something we don.t,because we in the U S don't know a damn thing about him.I would venture to guess I know more you than I do about Obama.I know you are a citizen of the United Kingdom.I do not where Obama comes from.I believe his home is in Chicago,but not where his heart is.He seems to be enthralled with Africa,loves Kenya,and since his election he has become French.The one thing I know for sure he's not near the American symbol of a president.
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lloydm651 year, 1 month ago
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nostalgia,Your probably right about teachers in the class room.Here in Dallas,TX the DISD due to a screw up in the budget had to lay off over three hundred teacher including math,and science teachers,but take a wild guess who was exempted from these cuts,all bilingual teachers.Most from off shore.
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SwampFox-82ndComment removed: Retracted by user
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Harbeas1 year, 1 month ago
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maceandemma, I also question many of these people's comments. I am married to a teacher and have daughter wjo is a teacher. One is a Parochial school teacher and the one is a public school teacher. It is generally regarded that the parochial school system produces better results than the public one(and wonders, without any government intervention).Because of the nclb the teacher must spend too much time teaching the children how to pass nclb tests. This time could be much better spent teaching more important subjects. It is a known fact that increased parental involvement is a critical fact in producing better students. Yes, we must continue to make sure our teachers are well qualified, but we don't need some dumb political program that doesn't work and takes vasluable teaching time away from the teachers and students..
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