As Superintendent Goldhardt exits the Manchester public schools, what can you expect? Not much! Based on what was reported you can expect more dumbing down courtesy Manchester Proud.
Think of Manchester Proud as the community organizers paid to implement failed fads from education reformers.
Here are my concerns about Manchester Proud that I posted on social media back in 2019. Things have become much worse since the involvement of Manchester Proud in the district:
Manchester Proud has also come to the BOSC to advocate for joining the Council of Great City Schools (CGCS). During the discussion with some of the BOSC members about the $30,000.00 membership fee, Mr. Brensinger indicated that he would not consider the request by Manchester parents who want funding to go towards materials in the classroom. Instead he said this kind of significant expenditure should be used to pay a membership fee to CGCS. I understand this is an effort to design a strategic plan, but if that plan is going to revolve around unproven or disproven politically–contrived education reforms, rather than meeting the needs expressed by the parents, then this does not bode well.
CGCS is a political organization funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to “promote and coordinate successful implementation of the new common core standards in major urban public school systems nationwide ” The Gates Foundation lists CGCS as a partner on their web site.Here is a list of grants awarded to CGCS by the Gates Foundation so that they could advance their political objective:2008 $3,735,8662010 $ 100,0002011. $5,446,6152013 $ 614,9542013 $2,000,0002015 $1,600,017
CGCS’s political objective has a clear bias which runs counter to what scores of parents said they wanted for their children in Manchester during the debate of the Manchester Academic Standards.
Manchester Proud, Superintendent Goldhardt, Mayor Joyce Craig, and the School Board members who have allowed this catastrophe to happen under their watch should never be in charge of a school district again.
Manchester will now embark on more dumbing down measures by implementing the Competency-Based Report Card.
“The move to competency-based learning was one of the recommendations in the 2020 Manchester Proud plan. “
What does this mean to Manchester? Take a look at this article I wrote back in 2013: (OBE=Outcome Based Education =Competency Based Education)
OBE was implemented in New Hampshire High Schools through a grant from The Nellie Mae Foundation. The Nellie Mae Foundation’s primary goal when offering grants to schools, is to focus on “community organizing efforts“. As you can see on page 1, the focus is not on academic excellence but on community organizing. Note that Saul Alinsky is referenced at the end of page one.
OBE has been criticized for in its efforts to change the attitudes, beliefs and values in students. Parents have noted the deemphasizing of academic subject content in favor of soft-skills often times called “workforce skills”. This has left educators trying to determine what actual content should remain in the curriculum.
How does one objectively test students on broad-based outcomes? That too has been a concern to those using traditional grading practices. This could be one reason that some schools in New Hampshire are removing traditional grades.
It’s difficult to grade students objectively if you are grading their attitudes, values and dispositions, so they must change the grades to something subjective. If they are grading your child’s attitude on race relations, you can’t do that objectively.
Competencies will eventually become digital badges. KnowledgeWorks is promoting SEL/ 21st Century workforce data badges (credentials) instead of diplomas. Portrait of a Graduate data badges are not “Homegrown” are not “locally developed” diplomas, they are interoperable data badges and a step toward the Learning Ledger (Silicon Valley playbook called it bitcoining education). (h/t Cheri Kiesecker)
Here you can see that Chris Andriski, Asst. Superintendent of SAU16, in conjunction with 2Revolutions, addresses a Portrait of a Graduate. Remember 2Revolutions describes every white person in New Hampshire as a White Supremacist. Manchester also teamed up with the Marxist organization to develop the Manchester district plan.
With Dr. Goldhardt leaving, the district is moving ahead with more initiatives that do nothing to help the students learn to read, write, add and subtract. They are simply following the federal fads that further dumb down public schools.
You would think at some point, someone in this school district would start talking about academic achievement and literacy. We’ve heard members of the public plead for a return to the basics. These parents told the BOSC to stop with the fads and shiny electronics and go back to math facts and grammar exercises. They were looking for leadership, not those who followed the status quo that leads to failure.
Organizations like Manchester Proud or Reaching Higher New Hampshire push the status quo, which does nothing to help your children to read and write. So why are they still involved with guiding this district?
Manchester certainly has more challenges than most school districts, but it’s no excuse for failing their students.