The sixth annual report on schoolhouse commercialism trends
Commercialism References Rise
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Commercialism References RiseThe Commercialism in Education Research Unit (CERU) of the Education Policy Studies Laboratory at Arizona State University has been monitoring media references to schoolhouse commercialism for more than a decade. For the July 1, 2002-June 30, 2003 period, in all but two of eight categories that CERU tracks, media references were up. Examination of those references shows that in-school commercialism and corporate activities designed to boost company profits, directly or indirectly, are as firmly entrenched as at anytime since CERU and its predecessor, the Center for the Analysis of Commercialism in Education (CACE) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, began its monitoring. 
When placed in the context of 13 years worth of schoolhouse commercialism trend analysis by CERU and CACE, the 2002-03 study shows that some categories are rebounding after having declined for a period of time. 
Hard numbers about the extent, depth, and breath of corporate money-making activities in schools remain difficult to ascertain. One industry group favoring corporate involvement in schools reports that schools receive $2.4 billion a year from what the organization, the Council on Corporate and School Partnerships, calls “business relationships” with corporations.5 According to the council, nearly 70% of school districts engage in so-called “business partnerships” and nearly all educators in a survey planned to continue those relationships.6 The council’s news release stated that in the eyes of business leaders, “school partnerships benefit business and educators in four key areas: human capital development, community development, student achievement, and financial impact in terms of earning revenue for the business and providing needed funding for schools.”7 How those numbers should be interpreted, however, is not entirely clear in the absence of a generally agreed upon set of definitions. Directory: ceru ceru -> Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Annual Conference, San Francisco, ca Download 0.52 Mb. Share with your friends:
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