MARK TUCKER BIO http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/99/10/mtucker.txt Who is Marc Tucker? He has no degree in education or business management. His background is actually closer to that of Smith, his radio interviewer. Before launching his career in school reform, Tucker worked as a lighting designer and cameraman for a Boston public television station. Date sent: Thu, 15 Jul 1999 16:41:07 To: fredb001@dreamscape.com From: Lynn M Stuter Subject: Re: Mark Tucker At 04:37 PM 7/15/99 -0400, you wrote: >Loop, >I am looking for information on Mark Tucker. Some of our principals are >reading books he wrote, like, "High Standards for All". I heard he was >involved with the socialist or Communist Parties in some way. Is that true? >What is his back ground and what is his purpose? > >Francine > Who is Marc Tucker? The following is from a piece that appeared in the "Democrat and Chronicle", March 14, 1993. He has no degree in education or business management. His background is actually closer to that of Smith, his radio interviewer. Before launching his career in school reform, Tucker worked as a lighting designer and cameraman for a Boston public television station. In 1986, Tucker was working at the Carnegie Corp. in Washington. He's just finished writing "A Nation Prepared" -- a response to the 1983 report "A Nation at Risk," in which the Reagan administration warned that America's public school studentss were falling behind their counterparts in other developed countries. (Think this nobody from nowhere, with no education and no background, writing "A Nation Prepared" was a coincidence?) Bio on Tucker: Age: 53 (in 1993) Born: Newton, Mass, a Boston suburb Education: Graduated from Newton public schools. Bachelor's degree in philosophy and American literature, Brown University, 1961; studied theater engineering and technical theater production at the Uale University School of Drama; Master of Special Studies with a concentration in Telecommunications Policy, George Washington University, 1982. Jobs: • Lighting director, cameraman and researcher for the president of PBS affiliate WGBH-TV in Boston, 1962-70 • Assistant executive director, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, and education research institute in Portland, OR, 1971 (remember that Ron Havelock's "Change Agents Guide to Innovation in Education" was produced there shortly thereafter) • Associate director, National Institute of Education, U.S.Dpeartment of Education, 1972-81) • Researcher in Washington DC, exploring the use of computers and telecommunications in education, on a grant from the Carnegie Corporation, 1981-84 • Executive director, Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy, Washington, 1985-87 • President, National Center on Education and the Economy, 1988-present. Was also professor of education at the University of Rochester, 1988-90 Family: Plans to marry friend of 15 years, Kathy Bonk, this Memorial Day (May, 1993). Has two sons from a previous marriage: Matthew, 26, and Joshua, 24. Family and friends describe Marc Tucker as a driven, introspective man. He grew up in Newton, Mass, an upper-middle-class suburb outside Boston that prided itself on its acclaimed public schools. The brothers say their family wasn't as financially well-off as most in town. Their father was an office manager for a company that made children's furniture. Roger Tucker, who helps manage a database for the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, says their mother was a "genius" -- a woman with undergraduate and graduate degrees from Radcliffe and Harvard whom Roger describes as deeply introspective. She has several stays in mental hospitals, Roger says. Marc Tucker says only that his father felt he couldn't take care of the boys on his own, so they often were sent to foster homes or orphanages. The Tuckers' marriage was not a happy one, and both boys "adopted" other families as their own, says Roger. ... Roger says one of the most influential people in his brother's life was his sixth-grade teacher in Newton, Eugene Gray. Gray hosted a children's show much like "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" on Boston public-television stateion WGBH, where Tucker would later find his first job. "Marc has always held him up high as what teachers should be like," says Roger. "He has an excitement in giving, which should be the basic notion of teaching. He was very nurturing." (Quite obviously, Tucker judges all by his own life's experience) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some insight into Tucker's socialist philosophy, comes from a piece in "Education Week", July 13, 1994: Tucker says his own commitment to that concept has deeply personal roots. He grew up in foster homes in Newton, Mass., and attended Brown and Yale universities on full academic scholarships. The scholarship to Yale, however, required him to work 16 to 20 hours a week for no pay. That left him little time tot get a job to pay for room and board. He subsited on leftover breakfast rolls from a local coffee shop until he collapsed in the spring of his first year at Yale. He was hospitalized for two months while he recovered from the effects of malnutrition. He never finished his graduate courses at Yale. "When I hear people tell me they are upset about what I have to say about schools and the economy, I think that's a wonderful attitude for people who never have to worry where their next meal is coming from," he says now. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In 1986, following the publishing of his report, "A Nation Prepared", Tucker became a consultant to Governor Booth Gardner of Washington state. In 1987, Tucker appeared before the House Education Committee, presumably to promote the legislation that would establish the Schools for the 21st Century program in Washington state. In 1991, NCEE (of which Tucker was president) produced "America's Choice: high skills or low wages!" through it's program -- the Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce (CSAW). Three individuals that sat on CSAW went on to become part of SCANS: WIlliam Brock, former Secretary of Labor, Lauren Resnick of the New Standards Project (also a program of NCEE), and Badi G. Foster, President of AEtna Institute of Corporate Education. Hillary Rodham Clinton was paid over $100,000 to promote the report. But this wasn't the first contact between the Clintons and Tucker. Tucker had been hired by Governor Clinton to restructure Arkansas' education system. A pamphlet, put out by NCEE states, Many of the ideas in "America's Choice" are now law or on their way to becoming law. With leadership from the executive branch, Congress has passed legislation that establishes challenging national education goals, a national board to oversee development of voluntary skill standards for occupations, and more quality school-to-work programs for students. Our reports are providing the intellectual framework for many of the policy changes. National Center staff regularly consult with leaders from the Clinton administration, Congress governors, and industry, labor and education groups. And we organize coalitions of major national organizations to build consensus on emerging education, employment and training issues. . . . Since the release of "America's Choice, the Workforce Skills Program has helped develop legislation that sets in place a voluntary National Skills Standards Board. . . . States such as Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Vermont and Washington already have enacted policies that incorporate many key provisions of the "America's Choice" report. Some of these states are requiring that all students earn a Certificate of Initial Mastery. Our assistance to the states takes multiple forms. We help state leaders draft legislation, then develop strategic plans for implementing new education, training and employment systems. We help leaders in government, business and education make the case for change. We help states monitor their progress and when necessary, make recommendations to help them ensure that their activities match the intent of their policies. We are now preparing a major report on how some states are integrating their strategies for providing education, training and employment services. . . . The Workforce Skills Program, along with Jobs for the Future, is collaborating with the National Alliance to develop a strong school-to-work transition program that can serve as a model for states and communities everywhere. This effort includes work on state policy issues as well as local implementation issues, and it is designed to create approaches that will enable the states and local communities to develop school-to-work systems fully integrated with their larger systems for human resource development. . . . Our goal is to explore innovative approaches for making sure that ALL children reach the standard we have in mind for the Certificate of Initial Mastery, whether or not they are in school. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >From a brochure published by NCEE: The Shoreline (Washington state) central administration also has embraced the Alliances five design tasks; in fact, the superintendent has persuaded the school board to evaluate her performance on the design tasks, since they represent the real work of the district. She also is working with the Alliance to decentralize resources down to the school site. The district's prospects also are aided by the state, which is pursuing a common agenda. That is not a coincidence. The Alliance consulted on the drafting ot the state's 1993 reform law, which calls for developing a Certificate of Mastery and lays out a design for helping students achieve it that mirrors the Alliance design. (The Alliance referenced here is the National Alliance for Restructuring Education -- NARE -- one of the nine original design teams of the New American Schools Development Corporation formed by Bush. What this says is that NCEE was a key player in the writing of the education reform law in Washington state -- ESHB 1209, laws of 1993. This is the statement by NCEE that I questioned SPI Terry Bergeson about, and that she vehemently denied to the point of calling Tucker a liar. This was at the point in time when we were proving, beyond doubt, that the agenda was not grassroots, bottom up, or local in flavor.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As proven above, Marc Tucker is no small player in the restructuring of education in the United States. The report on my website --- The Education Reform, School-to-Work, Workforce Training Initiative in Washington State --- outlines, more indepth, the Tucker connections to Washington state. A fact that we have tried to get investigated -- both from that angle and from his involvement with the Schools for the 21st Century program. As usual, however, our concerns have been ignored. I have a file, about seven inches think on Tucker and his organization, plus three of his books -- Learning a Living, America's Choice, and A Nation Prepared. I have no proof that he is or is not involved with the Communist Party, USA or the socialist party. However, it cannot be denied that he is an apologist to the cause. LynnS