(Hat tip to Lisa Hoffman, Arizona’s best source of information about Arizona-ALEC Model Bill connections.)
This is the third try for a bill giving “Imagine Learning” what is essentially a no-bid contract to supply ELL learning software to Arizona schools. It passed the House with bipartisan support (and bipartisan opposition) in its current incarnation, HB2485. The first try was SB1319 in 2010, sponsored by Sen. Al Melvin and then-Senator John Huppenthal. The second try, SB1239, was a solo attempt by Melvin in 2013. (More details in an earlier post.)
I wonder if Democrats sponsoring and voting for this bill realize it’s taken nearly word for word from a piece of ALEC model legislation, K-12 Technology-Based Reading Intervention for English Learners Act, approved by the ALEC Board of Directors January 9, 2014. I also wonder if Democrats are aware that Imagine Learning funds ALEC at its second highest level, along with some of the country’s biggest special interests, or that Imagine Learning is the darling of conservative privatizers everywhere.
The graphic at the top of this post shows one part of the Arizona bill that comes almost straight from the ALEC model bill. A larger graphic after the jump shows a few more of the many obvious similarities. (Note the {Insert State} direction so Republican legislators will know how to “tailor” the bill for their states.) You can go through AZ and ALEC versions yourself and find lots more.
This article appears in Mar 13-19, 2014.
Giving a bill a hearing means nothing. This is a bill which is not going to the finish line. However, we should develop a statewide consensus on extraordinary software and purchase a statewide contract on that software. This would bring the cost down by as much as 50% for all schools. Most of the cost of this software is marketing.
Falcon9, this is a bill that got somewhere — through the House. That’s better than it did before. And it has a raft of sponsors, not just Melvin and Huppenthal. That means it’s making progress toward eventual passage.
Is the Imagine Learning product bad because it’s supported by ALEC? No. But I say to Democrats (and to Republicans who want to think for themselves rather than being pawns of outside interests), caveat emptor. Knowing who’s selling can give you an idea of what you might be buying. Tread carefully.
Stop writing laws to make individual entrepreneurs and/or their companies wealthy at the expense of our children’s learning. When will the GOP understand that our kids futures are not for sale?
If that bill passes imagining learning is what Arizona children will have to do, because they won’t be doing any actual learning.
David Safier is the best monitor of education-related legislation we have. This Imagine Learning bill is one more ALEC-sponsored intervention into the state’s legislative process.
This is part of public education dismantling. Who needs teachers if you can stick a kid in front of a computer every day?
Safier’s comment above: “knowing who’s selling,” is important as it gives insight into the big picture agenda of those who pretend to care about public education.
Just google “Imagine Learning and Jeb Bush” for starters.
Thomas Jefferson knew the importance of public education. He set aside land for public education. It’s only a matter of time before Ted Cruz refers to Jefferson as a Communist.
Many thanks to David Safier. Students who are acquiring English continue to be segregated from their mainstream peers for three to four years on average. This bill, if passed into law, will serve to isolate the students even more, further denying them the most valuable kind of language acquisition experience: on-going, daily face-to-face communication with their English-speaking peers. Computers are no substitute for human interaction.
I teach ELLs, and I can tell you that the current adoption used in my school is more than adequate…it is culturally sensitive, conforms to much of the Common Core (love it or hate it), and is published by National Geographic/Cengage Learning. Much training and professional development hours have gone into this adoption, and the accountability and assessment tools are technology based. Student responses cannot be tampered with or misconstrued, and each Unit builds upon the next. I cannot see how a state-mandated learning model that cuts out interaction with the teacher and other language learners in a small group setting (and in the mainstream classroom) is necessary. Learning software is a tool, but it is not going to be able to replace student/teacher interaction, and if students are going to learn English properly, they need to have discussion, sharing, and presentation to hone their skills. Software cannot provide or replace human interaction, or the value of full immersion…including honoring the students’ first language and culture.
Chava and Ronni couldn’t have said it better, technology in the classroom should enhance communication for meaningful purposes and in authentic contexts, not limit it. Since the implementation of the Arizona Structured English Immersion (SEI) program in 2006 (HS 2064), funds for basic staffing and resources to serve ELL students within the given structures have continuously been denied or limited. I am glad the legislation is finally wiling to pass a bill that enforces the use of state funds to enhance ELL student services… if only our legislators had the best intentions and knowledge of effective practices, of course.
Despite “Falcon9” claim to the contrary the language in HB2485 is IN the budget bill passed by the Arizona House.