The Chicago Annenberg Challenge Board recieved $98.4 million doled out by chairman Obama with grants.

The Challenge Board contracted 45 "external" partners to work directly with the schools. These external partners included various universities, parks, and community organizations. In most cases, grant money did not go directly to the schools.

The first external partner to receive funds, approximately 175,000 dollars, was the “Small Schools Workshop;â€쳌 an organization founded by William Ayers and directed by Mike Klonsky. Klonsky was the leader of the “New Communist Movement,â€쳌 a Marxist-Leninist organization of the 70s and 80s with ties to the Black Panther Party. Klonsky was also a leader of the “SDSâ€쳌. Essentially, the first payout issued from the Challenge Board, authorized by Barack Obama, was awarded to a radical group who made no secret they were Communists with a lower-case “câ€쳌. This group, led by former leaders of the Weathermen Underground Organization, became responsible for reforming the education of Chicago’s school children.

Among other external partners to receive funding was an organization called ACORN, which had received 190,000 dollars. ACORN, founded by a former member of the “SDSâ€쳌, Wade Rathke, is a leftist community organization with close ties to the Democratic Socialists of America. In the 1990s, ACORN heavily involved itself in the housing market by using the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 as a tool to extort banks and pressure them into making risky loans. In the 90s, ACORN’s militant tactics caught national attention on several occasions when they broke into private offices, harassed bankers at their homes, and used the CRA to delay bank mergers.

Final Evaluation:

The results of an August 2003 final technical report of the Chicago Annenberg Research Project by the Consortium on Chicago School Research "suggest that among the schools it supported, the Challenge had little impact on school improvement and student outcomes, with no statistically significant differences between Annenberg and non-Annenberg schools in rates of achievement gain, classroom behavior, student self-efficacy, and social competence.

Mr Ayers, Caracas Venezuela 2006 commenting on education:

"[comrade] Luis as a major asset in both the Venezuelan and the international struggle. I look forward to seeing how he and all of you continue to overcome the failings of capitalist education as you seek to create something truly new and deeply humane. Thank you, [comrade] Luis, for everything you’ve done."

Who was it that failed? Capitalist education or Bill Ayers attempt at education?

Thank you, Comrade Ayers, for everything you have done.