Last week in This teacher has a super power to help her young students learn to read the Boston Globe introduced us to a new “superpower” a “research backed practice” endorsed by “experts” based on the “science of reading, or scientifically based research on how to teaching (sic) reading.” Relax. It’s just the Globe promoting…
Category: Barr Foundation
How the Boston Globe and Barr Foundation Rig the Discourse II: Voices for Academic Equity
We had another fine example yesterday of “What wealthy people do is rig the discourse” in the Boston Globe’s story about high school graduation requirements based upon a report by Voices for Academic Equity. Nice name—but what is Voices for Academic Equity? The Globe story is Half of all Mass. high schools don’t abide by…
The Barr Foundation and the Boston Globe “Rig the Discourse”
When I wrote Barr Foundation K-12 Interest Groups Throw Their Weight (and Dollars) Around in May I closed with a quote from Anand Giridharadas, “What wealthy people do is rig the discourse.” That is where I should have started and added “and the Boston Globe helps.” So here is The Barr Foundation and the Boston…
Barr Foundation K-12 Interest Groups Throw Their Muscle (and Dollars) Around
The Barr Foundation Family of K-12 Interest Groups has had a heady two days with a story in the Barr funded Boston Globe touting a poll commissioned by the Barr funded Education Trust from the Barr funded MassInc Polling Group with remarks from Keri Rodrigues of the Barr funded National Parents Union and Lisa Lazare…
Banned in Boston Globe: Coverage of Barr Foundation’s K-12 Interest Group Spending
As I wrote yesterday in Latest on the Barr Foundation K-12 Interest Group Team, 2022, from 2017-2022 the Barr Foundation spent over $14,000,000 to support K-12 interest groups in Massachusetts. The twist is, Barr also helps fund the Globe’s K-12 interest group coverage. So, we have the unique situation in which Barr funds K-12 interest…
Latest on The Barr Foundation K-12 Interest Group Team, 2022
Billionaires pour millions of dollars into K-12 interest groups in Massachusetts with almost no public accountability. The interests have upbeat sounding names like “Democrats for Education Reform,” “Educators for Excellence,” and “National Parents Union” but make no mistake, they exist to promote the policy preferences of oligarchs. The public deserves a full accounting of who…
What the Globe Left Out of “MTA Exerts More Power”
The Boston Globe is messing with my Golden Years and I don’t appreciate it one bit. I really want just want to play some Sudoko and rest up for the blue plate special but then the Globe goes and prints something like MTA exerts more power amid a wave of teacher strikes, generating praise and…
Banned in Boston (Globe) II: the Barr Foundation/Hostetter 2021 Political Team
Last year I published The Barr Foundation-Hostetter Political Team to set out non-profit advocacy spending by the foundation of Boston billionaire Amos Hostetter through 2020, then the most recent data available. Today I’m updating that with donations through 2021 and the addition of some additional advocacy groups. And no, uh-uh, fuhgeddabouditt, no way will you…
More on Walton and Barr Stakes in Voices for Academic Equity
Last week the Boston Globe’s Opinion page announced the principle that the funders of interest groups should be identified to the public! I almost swooned! But I recovered fast when I saw that it meant only union funded interests and not the Globe’s corporate allies. Boy Scout helpful as I always am I posted Boston…
New “Ed Reform” Coalition Shows How Media Allows Billionaires to Control Narrative
According to a State House News Service report picked up at WWLP a coalition called “Voices for Academic Equity” has formed to oppose teachers’ unions efforts to amend the MCAS law. The story doesn’t say whom the coalition members represent. Simple: it’s the familiar story of capital vs. labor. But you wouldn’t know it because…