Tales of the Heliosphere

So, criticize Barack Obama for his association with William Ayers and one response will be that Ayers was Chicago's Citizen of the Year. It's true, but here are some facts.

Ayers was chosen Citizen of the Year because he was instrumental in securing a $49.2 million grant for school reform from the Annenberg Foundation. (Here.) The money was used for the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.

So what did all that money buy Chicago in terms of education reform? Not much.

"The results of an August 2003 final technical report of the Chicago Annenberg Research Project by the Consortium on Chicago School Research 'suggest that among the schools it supported, the Challenge had little impact on school improvement and student outcomes, with no statistically significant differences between Annenberg and non-Annenberg schools in rates of achievement gain, classroom behavior, student self-efficacy, and social competence.'" (Here.)

So, students didn't benefit but Ayers got himself a veneer of respectability.

-tdr

Labels: America, Elections, Politics