This past week many people on social media have been expressing concern about a video promoting the Los Angeles Unified School District’s adoption of a health-screening data portal that was developed by Microsoft in partnership with Anthem Health, the country’s largest membership health system. Anthem is affiliated with Blue Cross Blue Shield in fourteen states. The Daily Pass portal feeds data to Stanford and Johns Hopkins Universities, both with extensive ties to pay for success finance, as well as to UCLA where Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock the world’s largest asset manager, obtained his MBA.
In this 90-minute conversation with Kevin Jenkins of Urban Global Health Alliance I went into detail regarding concerns I have around weakened student data privacy protections, pay for success provisions in the Every Student Succeeds Act, planned expansion of tele-health and tele-therapy services through Medicaid, community school wrap around services, and the potential for social welfare systems to be weaponized against low income families with school-age children. In order to scale outcomes-based contracting deals tied to education data, social-emotional data, and healthcare data, social impact investors need for students to be assigned a digital identity that will aggregate data for predictive analytics and assessment of investor “success metrics.” I believe that is the end game for medical status passports like Daily Pass. You can access the slides from the presentation here.
For further reading:
A Letter of Chicago’s Teachers On The Perils of Pay For Success Finance And Wrap Around Services
The Family-Friendly Schools Act: A Set UP For “Soft Policing” Schools To Profit Impact Investors?
Could Community Schools Be Today’s Sugar Refineries?
What Could Be Wrong With The Community School Model? Revisiting A November 2015 Piece, Post FEPA
This is a relationship map, with a detail showing Microsoft’s activities, about the LAUSD’s adoption of Daily Pass. Interactive version here.
A few years back I co-founded with Anita
Hoge (PA) Child Abuse in the Classroom, a national group to repeal ESSA and restore FERPA. We created this group to address all the concerns mentioned in your article. We fought to stop ESSA but when that failed we created Child Abuse in the Classroom. We held our Press Conference at the Capitol in Indiana because of Indiana House Rep. Rokita who sponsored the House bill. And of course there is deep state Mike Pence. Anita has written extensively on ESSA and the plan to bill Medicaid by school system long before ESSA was even written. She sued the state of PA and won in the 90’s for testing and scoring student behaviors and attitudes. But Anita knew the plan for schools to bill Medicaid was in the works long ago. It is is cash cow. I highly recommend looking up her writings on ESSA. The Child Abuse in the Classroom website is still on line. childabuseintheclassroom.com
Thank you, Karen Bracken for making these connections and helping folks inform ourselves with seeing the broader systems of government hosted/sponsored/subsidized/effected maliciousness creeping throughout society Without the governmental sponsors from both Ds & Rs, that global army of criminal cabals would shrink wrap itself. Mike Pence is a stellar example. On one day, he lets peeps know he is running for POTUS in ’24; next day or so he lets peeps know he needs a pacemaker. Stuff happens when we deprive ourselves of needed oxygen.
What do you use in place of google classrm ??? I heard you say in another video that you refused it.
Hello Alison. Those of us who grasp the larger picture cannot thank you enough for the giant effort and energy you are channeling toward sharing information and emphasizing goodness. Massive hugs and love to you.
The interview you did with Kevin was great. The dialogue between the both of you just flowed and a lot of excellent information was expressed in a cohesive package for your audience to digest.
I listened to your Concentric Sky commentary and the desire to enable people of like minds to be able to gather (virtual or in-person) and make a positive difference. It sounds like inroads are being made in this direction – Bravo!
I recently became aware of a format that may further this gathering-for-good. I realize your time is limited; however, if you have a few moments to read here and there, I think you will find a book by Lynne McTaggart titled The Power of Eight worthwhile. This book will introduce you to the ‘format’ concerning ‘gathering-for-good’ previously mentioned.
Warmest regards, beauty, and blessings to you,
PiPoe
If there are groups to fight against this pandemic, where are they? It has to be worldwide.
I’m an African-american/Pan-Africanist activist. I was mentored, and a friend of the late Steve Cokely. I really appreciate and respect the work, sacrifice and effort of Alison McDowell! She’s doing many of the things that Steve Cokely was doing (especially during the early 90s)… “Naming the Names” was Steve’s mantra, and he spent thousands of hours researching the sources and individuals/corporations that were the roots of anti-human behavior.
We all must follow her example (just as many revolutionaries followed the work of Cokely), because this is how we protect and honor her efforts. Listening to her videos and podcasts is helpful, but taking up her lead is extremely valuable and ultimately even more effective. Ashè