Paul Horton, history teacher at the University of Chicago Lab School, got exasperated about the steady stream of articles endorsing the Common Core in the Chronicle of Higher Education. So he wrote a letter warning the professoriate not to buy the corporate-funded CC propaganda. The letter should have been published as an opinion piece.
An excerpt:
“1. They are the product of a push by private foundations acting in the interest of multinational corporations to colonize public education in the United States and in other areas projected be developed as core production and assembly areas in the emerging global economy. A recent Washington Post article using a well-placed source within the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation essentially confirmed what many critics have suspected: that Bill Gates effectively controls the Department of Education in the United States through his former employees who serve in leadership positions within the Department of Education.
Our education secretary also does a lot of listening to Michael Barber of Pearson Education. Although Mr. Gates and Sir Michael, as well as other reformers, are doubtless well intentioned, they view the colonization of K-12 education in this country and elsewhere as a “win-win.” In their view, the quality of education will improve with greater accountability, and they will make billions creating and delivering accountability for students, teachers, and education schools.
To implement their plan, they are willing to jettison all ideas of collective responsibility for public education in a classic privatization pincer move: Chicago School of Economics ideas of “free choice” and “free markets” are used to legitimate privatization through virtual control of the editorial boards of major papers—the Murdoch chain, the Tribune chain, The Washington Post (now run by a neoliberal libertarian), and The New York Times—as well as center-liberal media like PBS and NPR. Money is funneled into NPR and PBS by organizations that support privatizing school reform in the name of “support for education programing.”
A Gates-funded Washington consulting firm, GMMB, works 24/7 to sell the Common Core Standards and all other elements of the Race to the Top mandates that call for more charter schools, a standardized-testing regime, and value-added assessments of teachers based on this testing regime. Likewise representatives of the Washington-based Fordham Institute work together with GMMB to send weekly talking points to major editorial boards and education reporters to ensure that representatives from an “independent foundation” are relentlessly quoted.
Not surprisingly, the Fordham Institute is hardly independent, and is heavily subsidized by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Michael Bloomberg, and the Broad Foundation, and many more funders of privatizing education. While GMMB attempts to control the discourse in the country’s major media outlets (Arne Duncan’s past press secretary is helping to coordinate this propaganda campaign within GMMB), McKinsey sells Microsoft and Pearson packages to fit the Race to the Top mandates.
The Los Angeles Independent Schools boondoggle that packed Pearson Common Core Curriculum lessons within Microsoft tablets and software is the wave of the future. Districts are sold packages that they cannot afford to comply with federal mandates that are pushed by private multinational corporations. What I am attempting to describe is the tip of a corporate iceberg that amounts to corporate control of education policy with very little participation of classroom teachers, parents, or school boards.
The idea that the Common Core Standards are the product of a democratic process is simply misrepresentation of fact—a big lie that GMMB, our education secretary, Bill Gates, Pearson Education, and the Fordham Institute propagate. What many rightfully be called corporate-education reform has bypassed the democratic process. For this reason alone, university faculty and administrators should not support the Common Core Curriculum and the Race to the Top.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
And the Unions, I mean corporate funded NGO teacher organizations, are immune?
The President said that he will knock anyone “into the dirt”, and they can try to taking his Common Core from his “cold hand$.”
Sounds more like a Hollywood casting call for “On the Waterfront”.
If Opt Out recognizes this too late and act according, They “could a’ been a contender” in protecting children.
Joseph, if you’re implying that unions are “corporate funded NGO”s, then I don’t think you understand how unions work. Teachers’ unions certainly are not like that.
Please correct me if I’m misinterpreting what you said.
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
Don’t read this post if you love and worship corporate control of everything and think greed is good. But if you care for children and democracy, then this post is required reading.
Is there a way to seek relief in the courts from this madness? My understanding is that the federal government is supposed to address issues of equity and civil rights, but not curriculum. I know that the reauthorization of NCLB supports the rights of states to determine programs in schools. Maybe we need a law or a court case to keep Obama and the many foundations away from public schools on a national level. They would then have to sell their wares to the various states, and this will slow them down and give citizens a better chance organizing and having a voice.
Too late. Way too late.
They did that, sort of. There were organizations that many state education leaders were in that were fully behind CCSS, which translated into “state support” and states choosing CCSS. The recession was upon us and I think many states chose CCSS out of pragmatism for RttT money. Many claim their own state standards would have resembled CCSS anyway.
I don’t look much to any change from or about Obama being significant now. Education policies take a long time to implement. We have to look forward beyond Obama at this point. That ship has sailed.
Here is a story from Plato called “ The Allegory of the Cave”.
Imagine that those in the Cave are teachers and parents
and the shadows are “social justice issues”
to distract them from the Corporate agenda
to dumb kids down with Common Core and Test Prep
on computers.
http://historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html
They just completely and utterly dominate the debate:
“Charter schools and school districts are “unlikely allies,” but can combine to give students better opportunities, a key advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation told a crowd of 400 Cleveland education supporters today.
Don Shalvey, a former superintendent and charter school founder, was in town as a guest of the Breakthrough charter school network to talk about Cleveland’s status as one of 21 cities nationally with a Gates-encouraged “compact” between the school district at charter schools.”
Gates is passing out grants to strapped cities to push his agenda, again. I don’t understand how so many people reached adulthood without finding out that nothing is “free”. How did we allow 5 wealthy people to so manage a public “debate”, and what does that make all of us that we agreed to this transaction?
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/08/clevelands_school_district_and.html
Most people didn’t agree to it.
They didn’t even know it was happening .
And even after, Gates and others told (and continue to tell) their bald-faced lies to convince people that the whole process was democratic.
“The Great Gates (B)”
He lies with his lips
And lies with his money
He lies to the libs
And even his Honey
He tells all these fibs
Which really is bad
But lying to kids
Is really quite sad
Former members of the President’s “team” are busy this week bashing Seattle school teachers for striking. They support unions! Unless union members actually demand something.
When the President makes those Labor Day appearances in front of rank and file union members, is he unaware that he hires these anti-labor people or is he lying to rank and file?
https://twitter.com/PCunningham57?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
I will go with “lying.”
A few points not covered in Paul Horton’s excellent Higher Education post.
Recent re-writings about the Common Core—lies, misrepresentations, fabrications—have been guided by the original perpetrators: The Council of Chief State School Officers and National Governor’s Association, Achieve, Inc.
The organized public relations campaigns date from 2007 (the college and career meme). These campaigns have been up-scaled since late 2012 amid growing criticism of the Common Core (CC) and absurdities of this organized effort to standardize public education, to pump up the testing and tech industries, and to get kids in Kindergarten on a path to being “college and career ready” with a 21st century version on the 3Rs.
As Andy Wharhol said, “Fame is a function of publicity.” In 2009, Bill Gates and 30 other philanthropists set up “The Education Funder Strategy Group.” That was before the CC were even published. Among its priorities: “Implementing the Common Core state standards, including professional development and supports such as aligned assessments and learning tools.”
That strategy group of 30 foundations functioned as an early lobby for the CC initiative, holding quarterly meetings in DC with top policy makers in education, promoting “ideas on reform priorities,” with “monthly conference calls to discuss federal education policy initiatives” including implementation of college and career state standards and new models of learning.”
High-end public relations firms like Education First have provided the spin for the CC. One of these firms, Education First, churned out PR for the “Common Core Funders Working Group.” See the client list for Education First here http://www.education-first.com/our-clients.
Other organizations launder money for philanthropies. More than half of the 50 largest US grant making foundations have projects hosted at New Venture Fund (NVF). Beginning in April 2012, Gates sent NVF $6,500,000 “to foster change in communications and media through strategic philanthropy and innovative projects.” In October 2013, Gates sent NVF $3,213,686 “to support Common Core implementation” with another $12,250,300 in May 2014 for the same vague purpose. NVF sent these millions on to unknown “black box” contractors, hence the label ”dark money” for these funds.
Since early 2013, back-scratching relationships among the Common Core Funders Working Group (CCFWG) and a network of about 200 “education-friendly” foundations have produced the equivalent of a super-pac to frame “positive” messaging for the Common Core, including a revisionist history and characterization of the CC.
The messaging campaign has several aims. One is to “nudge” foundations to shore up ”good will” for the CC and keep testing in place. The second aim is to urge foundations to use their wealth to “audit” and leverage their grant money to forward CC implementation in schools, districts, and states.
In this CCFWG campaign, there is no reluctance to say that the talent in foundations, and (the talent they can muster), is far better and greater than can be found in public schools where hapless educators are “confused” and “worried” about the CC and are victims of vendors who are corrupting the intended “fidelity” in implementation the CC. The hapless educators are buying instructional materials that are NOT faithfully aligned with the CC. The rhetoric is implies that the sky is falling because the intended perfection in this whole project is being screwed up.
The name of the “Common Core Funders Working Group” (CCFWG) is weirdly apt. It betrays the truth of this whole initiative. Key members of CCFWG actually poured millions into the launch, the marketing, and now the reinvention of narratives about the history and “promise” of the CC and tests. In addition to Gates, others in the CCFWG are the GE Foundation, The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Lumina Foundation, and Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.
The PR continues. On June 10, 2014, Nancy L. Zimpher, Chancellor of the State University of New York (with 64 colleges and universities) joined more than 200 college and university leaders from 33 states to market the Common Core and tests of college and career readiness. This campaign, under the banner of “Higher Ed for Higher Standards,” is one branch of a huge publicity machine, organized as Collaborative for Student Success, that also includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and thirty other groups. The Collaborative churns out push surveys and news to shore up the Common Core and associated tests.
Participants in the “Higher Ed for Higher Standards” marketing campaign include the Association of American Colleges and Universities (1300 members) and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (106 members) the latter serving as an “approver” of the Common Core and associated tests of college-and career-readiness.
The higher education campaign is multifaceted. To boost the profile of “Higher Ed for Higher Standards” and the CC and related tests, the National Governor’s Association recently enlisted Harold G. Levine who is the dean of the school of education at the University of California, Davis and Michael W. Kirst, president of the California state board of education and emeritus professor of education at Stanford University.
Their commentary in EdWeek included boilerplate that misrepresented the origin of the CC,. They praise the “skill sets” that students must learn for on-line testing. They praise the emphases on close readings of text, critical thinking and solving real world problems. These scholars were the public face for a marketing campaign with bullet points designed to sustain the myth that these standards were state-led and praiseworthy. Both also veered off topic. They implied that the CC had some bearing on science education. They also took a few swipes at “failing schools” as if that caricature applies to all public schools. They said that the opt-out “refuse the test” movement was misguided. They functioned as shills, not scholars. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/04/15/why-colleges-should-care-about-the-common.html
I may be wrong, but I doubt that the higher education administrators who have signed on as marketers of the CC (and tests) have any deep knowledge of the origin and history of the standards, who paid for them, why, and the consequences of foisting them on thousands of students in public schools. I doubt that many faculty have read the 1,620 standards (counting parts a-e), that would help them understand the degree of micromanaging built into them, including a requirement for verbatim use. The collective ignorance of that detail and substance may be an occupational hazard, but that is also why informed faculty voice is vital and too rare.
I find not one ounce of concern among higher education “messengers” (many senior administrators) about the loss of academic freedom engulfing their institutions. They have jumped on a bandwagon without due diligence. Administrators who joined the marketing campaign have, in a real sense, pre-empted the right of their faculties to study, discuss, debate, and decide about the merit of the CCSS and tests. That is the tragedy too rarely grasped within higher education–the loss of academic freedom on a scale not seen in recent history. There is a corresponding vice-grip on the freedom of action among workers in K-12 education.
Laura, can you bring this to a couple of paragraphs without Andy Warhol, who I have met. You are a star for 15 minutes. Don’t burden us, the best writers are the most brief.
That must have been a terribly exciting experience for Mr. Warhol.
Joseph, who is makiing you read it? I prefer Ms. Chapman to you, I’ll give her a couple of my minutes, okay?
Game over.
Gov. Malloy is in NH supporting Hilary and he is now TOP Dem. Gov.
We all know where Jeb stands on Common Core even if he has amnesia at this time.
New Zealand sounds good.
I believe we had a poster recently who commented on a new initiative to support charter schools. These goons will go anywhere they can make a buck off of children.
Yes Paul!
I was recently at a retired teachers’ luncheon where I bet our 8-person table that, upon his return to ILL-Annoy, Arne would get some easy-peasy-at-least-six-figure-job-w/big-perks as a higher-up at Pear$on, located in a lovely Chicago suburb, an easy drive to & from the city (where he’ll undoubtedly live, seeing as he’s already enrolled his kids at your school, Paul!). And nothing but the best part of the city for the Dunk!
No one would take my bet!