How it works: the technology boondoggle

I’m hearing the same story from friends in other districts.

1. A teacher in your district is selected by Google (or perhaps by the publisher of a reading curriculum, a variant I heard from another parent) to work for them as a “presenter.” 
2. The teacher is then flown around the planet by EdTech Team, a Google “partner,” making presentations to audiences of other teachers.
3. These presentations, while billed (and paid for) as professional development, are for all intents and purposes a sales pitch in the guise of continuing education. 

Districts pay EdTech Team to pitch their teachers.

“When I hear ‘professional development,’ I see dollars”

Direct quote, or close to, from a person I know who works for a major technology company.

“When I hear professional development, I see dollars.”

Me, too.

Jesse Lubinsky’s travels for EdTechTeam to promote Google took him from Las Vegas to New Jersey by David Mckay Wilson | 1/31/2019