Big Money, Career Connected Learning & Playing Partisan Politics in Washington State.

This article comes to us from Seattle Education. The author is Carolyn Leith. Here’s our summary of what she says. Please read the entire article.

• Meet Suzi LeVine, former Swiss Ambassador, local money bundler for the Democratic party, ex-Microsoft executive, and current thought leader and brand evangelical for career connected learning.
• Ms. LeVine raised $500,000 for President Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012. In total, LeVine raised 1.3 million in support of Obama’s Presidential ambitions.
• In GeekWire, LeVine explains how her corporate background in tech helped her grasp the value of Switzerland’s apprenticeship program – an education system which helps companies train and grow their own human capital. LeVine sees this as a big plus because it keeps companies from competing – or poaching – each other’s talent.
• Since returning to the United States, LeVine has been on a mission to introduce career connected learning in Washington State.

• Kids as Capital and School as a Workforce Development Pipeline

• LeVine’s proposed rearrangement of our public education system prioritizes the needs of Corporate America over students.
• Students are almost an afterthought, a raw material to be sorted and developed based on how much future value they can create for their employer.
• This isn’t about creating jobs and opportunities for kids – that’s the sales pitch.
• What career connected learning is really about is catering to the needs of business, by creating “an employer driven system of education and training.”
• LeVine’s plan only has kids spending 1-2 days a week in an academic setting – which doesn’t necessarily mean at school – it could be defined as visiting an off-site drop-in center run by a community partner or having kids log-in to software from home.
• LeVine also loves the idea of project based-learning. So, maybe public high schools will be replaced with charter schools like the one operated by Big Picture Learning in partnership with the Highline School District.
• Is anyone protecting the students? State Superintendent Chris Reykdal is already working on how to sell career connected pathways to school districts.

Does this concern you? If so what will you do about it?