Vernon Baker
During the registration of the HSe4Metrics organization in April 2000, Vernon Baker was developing (as an engineer, owner, and sole employee) residential subdivisions in counties abutting Richmond, Virginia, and was launching other types of residential development projects in two distant Virginia counties.
In addition, Baker had long been meeting with parents of K-12-age students (and the parents of kids years before kindergarten age) to discuss the K-12 project referred to today as the “HSe4Metrics social media app.”
Parents of pre-K-12 students (and younger kids) quickly recognized the HSe4Metrics social media app as a potential lifeline for their children’s performance during the K-12 years, regardless of where their kids and their kids’ schools found themselves on the NAEP scale, whether the highest in the nation or the lowest.
Parents were adamant that there was no young person who did not stand to profoundly benefit from the free-access HSe4Metrics social media app.
The startling roadblock: Despite Baker’s 100% success in getting subdivision development financing, talking to those same lenders about a solution for the many millions of the nation’s K-12 students not being able to read, write, or do math was of no interest.
Baker’s time to seek funding for the web app was curtailed by real estate development obligations. Although HSe4Metrics volunteers stepped in to help in the search for funding, none have ever succeeded.
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The "free-access" HSe4Metrics solution for K-12-student performance
Conventional K-12 solutions have been a failure for half of the nation’s K-12 students. Not conventional, HSe4Metrics is a private-sector societal innovation.
For 24 years, banks and Big Corp have ignored the requests by parents and HSe4Metrics volunteers to fund the app.
Quick history
Parents, in their search for HSe4Metrics funding, quickly shifted their focus away from banks to a more promising source—societally-minded, top-ranking, publicly-traded corporations.
Corporate America. Brushed aside by banks, parents realized that a giant publicly-traded corporation could be an ideal “sponsor” for the HSe4Metrrics social media app. Although parents did not have the expertise to deal with these corporate giants, they were on the right track: Here’s how prescient they were: 20 years later, likely unaware of the HSe4Metrics effort in approaching giant corporations, the great CEO of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon, called on Corporate America to lead the charge in identifying and implementing societal-good innovations–and Dimon mentioned K-12. Mr. Dimon spearheaded a massive societal innovation ($30 billion) and implored his fellow CEO giants to do nothing less. (None ever has.) Not sugar coating what he was asking his CEO peers to do, he reminded them that with true innovation there is NO guarantee of success. In fact, not making it easy on a less-than-bold CEO, he stressed that the only way to test was to implement—and noted that implementation required intrepid leadership. (In the Jamie Dimon link, although Dimon did not in any way refer to Xerox, note how Xerox’s CEO ran from the risk and opportunity, destroying that company’s future.)
Unfortunately, when parents contacted Big Corp to sponsor the HSe4Metrics social media app, they were ignored.
Parents ultimately determined that finding a funding sponsor might require the unique expertise of a professional presentation team.
Likewise for 24 years, Big Government bureaucrats (including ED) and politicians have been ineffective.
Rather than address the root cause of the K-12 “have” and “have-nots” disparity in K-12 results, Big Government in 2001 passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), a roughly 13-year failure during which the disparity became worse (for those years a huge percentage of young people passed through K-12 unable to read, write, and do math). Seeing the disaster, Big Government quitely replace NCLB with another government program, Every Student Succeeds Act. Another decade of failed results for K-12 student performance. ESSA, too, quitely faded away.
Prior to the ill-fated launch of NCLB by the U.S. Dept of Ed, HSe4Metrics parents and volunteers met with ED offials and urged them to delay the lauch and instead support the low-cost, non-disruptive HSe4Metrics. Sensing that ED could not be desuaded, parents stressed limiting the NCLB launch to a sampling of school districts in a small number of states.
Ignoring these requests, ED deployed NCLB indiscriminately, in every town, city, and state. Together with ESSA after that, and then nothing at all, 24 years were lost.
After 24 YEARS AND $TRILLIONS LOST, 50% of all K-12 students cannot read, write, or do math.
Rather than address the root cause of the national K-12 student education disparity, and seeing unacceptable results by the U.S. Department of Education (ED), Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which became a quickly evolving failure allowed to harm K-12 students for roughly 13 years under inexcusable ED leadership, and was followed by a similar effort, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), and by other “named” programs after that, all of which added to the irreparable harm to K-12 student performance (until each of those programs quietly faded away).
Parents met with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) regarding the NCLB launch and urged that it be tested in a limited number of states in selected school districts, and further urged ED to simultaneously support the low-cost, non-disruptive HSe4Metrics. HSe4Metrics presented supporting material including the mechanics.
Ignoring HSe4Metrics, ED deployed NCLB indiscriminately, in every town, city, and state, the beginning of a horrific 12-year loss for K-12 student performance.
You, the general public can fix this: Help hire a professional presentation team to approach Big Government, Corporate America, and ED.
The presentation team will engage with the nation’s top corporations to secure a sponsor for the HSe4Metrics social media app. Likewise, the U.S. Department of Education (unless terminated for lack of performance) and the 50 states’ departments of education will be approached. Despite its decades-long record of failing to fix K-12 student performance, ED can at last do the right thing by listening to the public and supporting HSe4Metrics.
Do just thing: Donate to hire a presenttion team!
YOU can choose to donate to help hire a presentation team.
Together, maybe all of us will become plank owners.
GRANTS to supplement the limited fundraising campaign
HSe4Metrics also engages in grant applications.
"How HSe4Metircs works," due diligence, nondisclousre
To protect the massive financial investment by a sponsor, whether a corporate sponsor and its shareholders such as pension plans, or whether a federal entity investing for the nation’s taxpayers, operational details provided by HSe4Metrics during due diligence will be subject to appropriate confidentiality and nondisclosure.
Requested by potential sponsors may be copies of all past nondisclosure agreements by preceding or contemporary potential sponsors.
OFF TO A GREAT "PRO BONO" START: Hats off to one of the nation's top-100 law firms for working with the 501(c)(3), nonprofit aspects of HSe4Metrics—doing so at NO charge.
- Special thanks to the top-100 national law firm for its pro bono support!
- Special thanks to Google for its pro bono support.
- Special thanks to parents and volunteers for their early pro bono support.
- SPECIAL THANKS TO YOU IF YOU DEEM THIS K-12-STUDENT PERFORMANCE EFFORT TO BE WORTHY OF YOUR SUPPORT, TOO!
HSe4Metrics will begin orientation for the new presentation team with videos such as these:
A quick 13-second video: "Now it's our turn."
Please take a moment to review this HSe limited fundraising website. If you believe in the mission, consider making a donation.
In the past, efforts by HSe volunteers and parents to engage Corporate America and government agencies were dismissed without hesitation.
But now, the dynamic has shifted.
Through this 501(c)(3) fundraising campaign, you have the power to make a difference. With just a simple donation, you can help fund the hiring of a professional presentation team—seasoned experts equipped to present the HSe4Metrics social media app to Corporate America and key agencies like the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institutes of Health.
Your support can turn possibilities into action.