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National
Center for Education and The Economy (NCEE) aka “America’s
Choice” is coming to a State Near “You”
February 7, 2005
Introduction written by: Kim Geyer of Mars Research &
Retrieval Services
Article (to follow) Written and Permitted for Website Posting
by Julie Quist of MN’s EdWatch.
The National Center on Education and the
Economy or the NCEE, as was once
known, was formed initially as an action group which originated
from the Carnegie Foundation Board, a liberal, national think
tank, which is one of the most influential in education across
this country. These think tanks are compiled of not-for-profit
foundations with billions of dollars in assets dedicated to
social change, not necessarily for the benefit of children
realizing their maximum learning potential in education. The
Carnegie Foundation’s board of directors in past years
has consisted of influential players such as Hillary Clinton,
David Hornbeck, who is currently in Pennsylvania, Ira Magaziner,
David Rockefeller Jr., and Marc Tucker.
Many of the education reforms being introduced
at the federal and state level are not coming from teachers,
the superintendents, or school boards. They originate in think
tanks such as the Carnegie Foundation or at the University
of Pittsburgh’s Learning Research & Development
Center with Director Lauren Resnick who collaborates with
Marc Tucker, President of the NCEE. NCEE which has now more
recently and intentionally been altered in name only is now
known as “America’s Choice”. What stays
the same is the mission of NCEE or America’s Choice,
which has had a long sustaining goal in uniting America’s
educational system with its economic system based on the communistic
idea of directly linking education to jobs. As educator, author,
and activist Donna Garner of Texas suggests the following
in her writing:
“NCEE promotes performance-based,
constructivist, fuzzy curriculum which emphasizes the affective
domain (feelings, emotions, opinions) which is assessed subjectively
based upon the value system of the evaluator. Subjective assessment
leads to grade inflation and the Lake Wobegon Effect. Multicultural/politically
correct curricula becomes the mantra rather than knowledge-based,
academic content which honors the great works and thinkers
of the world. NCEE's purpose is to force our school children
into social engineering which will eventually create a socialistic
society where 10% of the people are well educated and the
other 90% are worker bees who act out of emotion rather than
reason.”
The NCEE utilized its money, power and influence to lobby
Tucker’s plan through Congress, especially in 1994 when
three key pieces of legislation were passed and enforced throughout
all fifty states. (A more Historical account of this legislative
process is contained in my article entitled “The Unfunded
Mandate Reform Act of 1995” which is on the Policy Page
of this website.) In it, the plan came out in HR6 (Title 1
reauthorization), Goals 2000 legislation, The School To Work
Opportunities Act of 1994 and most recently The Workforce
Investment Act of 1998…all three legislative bills mirror
one and other in language and concepts. In fact, in some cases,
whole paragraphs were lifted and inserted into the legislation.
This legislation since the 1990’s has restructured the
education and the economic systems as we once currently knew
them to be. The public grapples at the reforms and gradual
decline in public education and despite the millions of dollars
of local taxpayer and government investments, the results
have been stagnant over the past two decades…we
wonder why?
Instead of pointing the finger at one and
other locally and statewide…we need to trace back to
the root of the system, which leads us to the NCEE’s
agenda to transform a country from traditional schools and
a free economy to the new nationally managed single system.
Currently, as of this date, states are being brought into
their appropriate places by legislation driving a restructuring
movement in the state’s government and its workforce
development. It is crucial for states and their policymakers
to not only be aware, but, to recognize the driving forces
behind such legislation and policy being put out in front
of them. Let’s hope Pennsylvania’s General Assembly
has enough sense and vision to see it coming before it’s
here and passed through legislation impacting not only all
our students and classrooms, but, each and every citizen’s
place of employment. But, don’t take my word for it,
read on, and see what Minnesota is currently dealing with
in terms of dealing with Marc Tucker’s “America’s
Choice” agenda. Furthermore, do your own investigation
into the matter…it may make all the difference for each
one of us.
Kim Geyer
Mars Research & Retrieval Services
February 7, 2005
"Issues
and Action in Education" is an e-letter produced by
EdWatch, a nonprofit organization at http://www.edwatch.org.
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Clinton Education Agenda Being Pushed in
Minnesota
Senate Republicans refuse to sign on
February 5, 2005
If Minnesota is any indication, Marc Tucker's new for-profit
National Center for Education and the Economy (NCEE), will
be coming to your state. In Minnesota, Tucker will be conducting
a private briefing for legislators-only on what is being billed
as "transformational issues and trends affecting public
education today." "Transformational education"
is understood to mean what the McGraw Hill textbook website
defines as existing for the purpose of "the transformation
of society."
Less than twenty-one months after the Minnesota
legislature overwhelmingly repealed the Profile of Learning,
Marc Tucker a close Clinton ally and recognized architect
of the federal education take-over (Minnesota's Profile of
Learning), is privately selling his curriculum to state legislators,
beginning Feb. 9th. No media, no staff, and no public are
allowed into three nights of private wining and dining by
Tucker and his associates from the National Center for Education
and the Economy.
Background
Marc Tucker is known for his infamous letter [this is a pdf
link] to First Lady-elect Hillary Clinton after the 1992 presidential
election in which Tucker wrote:
"We [will] have a national system of education in which
curriculum, pedagogy, examinations and teacher education and
licensure systems are all linked to the national standards
[federal curriculum]..." [p. 3]
Tucker and his NCEE organization have been key players in
the development and implementation of transformational education
in our country, largely through his influence in the crafting
of the Goals 2000 and School-to-Work legislation of 1994,
his America's Choice curriculum, and his New Standards Project.
Tucker's letter to Hillary Clinton proposed a plan which,
Tucker explained, came from a meeting of key players he brought
together. One of those participating in his planning meeting
was Lauren Resnick, a partner in his New Standards Project,
and another speaker at the private briefings to Minnesota
legislators.
In his letter to Hillary, Tucker described
his plan for transforming education this way:
"To propose concrete actions that the Clinton administration
could take between now and the inauguration, in the first
100 days and beyond... We took a very large leap forward in
terms of how to advance the agenda on which you and we have
all been working a practical plan for putting all the major
components of the system in place within four years, by the
time Bill has to run again." [p. 1]
All this laid the foundation for Goals 2000, School-to-Work,
and the radical national standards (federal curriculum) in
civics, history, social studies, geography, and math. (See
the book FedEd.)
Tucker's NCEE changes to "for-profit".
According to an article in Education Week, November 17, 2004,
Tucker's star is fading under the Bush administration. Federal
grants that were "once lavished on it" are harder
to come by. As a result, last year, Tucker's NCEE reinvented
itself as a for-profit company, with Tucker himself as the
majority shareholder. The EdWeek article states:
"Like other nonprofit initiatives involved in comprehensive
school reform, America’s Choice no longer can attract
the large sums of money that foundations and the federal government
once lavished on it for research and development. Instead,
it sees its future tied to the delivery of services to help
schools improve... That growing market niche for services
has been richly supported by federal grants and by funding
distributed by states. Some states have endorsed and steered
districts toward specific improvement programs or lists of
programs...Mississippi, for example, has a contract with America’s
Choice..."
Tucker went on to explain to EdWeek that America's Choice
needs new money to expand to serve thousands of schools, rather
than hundreds. Tucker's group has used more than $100 million
of foundation and federal grant money over the past 15 years
to develop its curriculum and training materials. Now those
resources "have largely dried up," Tucker stated.
How did Tucker get a private presentation
to MN legislators?
St. Paul Superintendent Pat Harvey is a protégé
and former employee of Marc Tucker. She has aggressively promoted
America's Choice in St. Paul schools, and next week she keynotes
Tucker's national conference on America's Choice in Orlando,
Florida. Harvey's office also played a key role in getting
Tucker's group three private briefings with the legislators.
In a slick insider job, an employee from
Pat Harvey's St. Paul School District headquarters approached
the Democrat Senate Majority Leader and the Republican Speaker
of the House with a proposed letter to be sent out to all
legislators signed by the legislative leaders, directing legislators
to attend three evening forums and receptions in February.
Called "the Capital Forum Series 2005," the forums
are sponsored by the Minneapolis Foundation, which also receives
hundreds of thousands of dollars in government grant money
($390,000 in 2003).
The forums are about "transformational"
education. As the letter to legislators stated, the forums
are about "transformational issues and trends affecting
public education today that may have significant impact on
into the future." Transformational education is all about
changing society, not about educating the student. (See McGraw
Hill textbook website.)
The forums are also about changing Minnesota's
laws and schools. The letter to legislators stated that the
forums will "reflect on educational policies we can enact
now that will affect long-term outcomes for Minnesota's children."
The first forum features Marc Tucker himself on Feb. 9th.
On Feb. 16th and on Feb. 23rd, two other close Tucker associates
are featured, one of them being Lauren Resnick (see above).
In other words, Tucker is pushing his radical transformational
agenda.
Senate Minority Leader Dick Day and Senate
Republicans refuse to sign on.
Tucker maneuvered himself and his new NCEE into being personally
promoted by Minnesota legislative leaders. Three of the legislative
leaders were quick to sign the letter. The Republican Senate
minority, however, refused.
If Tucker and the NCEE make their appearance
in your state, make sure your legislators know who they are,
and insist that knowledge-based education be given least equal
time.
Julie M. Quist
EdWatch Director
==============================================
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