Here is an informative newsletter from Sue Desmond-Hellman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, reporting on the foundation’s big efforts around the world, including its program to fix US education.
The foundation remains convinced that Common Core works. The Gates Foundation was the funder of the Common Core standards. Bill Gates explained that the Common Core was valuable because standardization is necessary, just as standard electric plugs and outlets are necessary. Desmond-Hellman points to Kentucky as proof that it works. The letter does not mention that the black-white achievement gap has grown wider in Kentucky since the adoption of the Common Core standards. Did they not know?
She says that the problems are due to the complexity of the undertaking, and teachers’ need for more support and resources. The foundation intends to double down on its efforts to implement the standards, because it is convinced that high standards will produce equity.
She writes:
Unfortunately, our foundation underestimated the level of resources and support required for our public education systems to be well-equipped to implement the standards. We missed an early opportunity to sufficiently engage educators – particularly teachers – but also parents and communities so that the benefits of the standards could take flight from the beginning.
The letter underscores the foundation’s lack of understanding that standards are not enough to create equity. Holding everyone to the same standards while ignoring the vast inequities in the lives of children and the resources of their schools and communities will not produce equal academic outcomes.
The CEO writes:
Our learning journey in U.S. education is far from over, but we are in it for the long haul. I’m optimistic that the lessons we learn from our partners – and, crucially, from educators – will help the American school system once again become the powerful engine of equity we all believe it should be.
Now, I have been trying to understand that sentence. Help me. The American school system never produced equal outcomes, as the foundation seems to believe. It has always strived–and failed–to provide equality of educational opportunity.
And I wonder why the Gates Foundation thinks it is making the “American school system” better by pushing privately managed charter schools, which drain resources and motivated students from the public schools.
All in all, this letter is confusing because it appears to say that the Gates Foundation sees higher standards as the be-all, end-all of education, and that is not true. Even in districts and states (like Massachusetts) with high standards, there is a wide spread of outcomes.
When the CEO refers to “the American school system,” is she referring to public schools, or to the full array of public, charter, private, independent, and religious schools?
The only thing that is certain is that the Gates Foundation intends to keep trying to direct and lead what they think is best for other people’s children.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Testing is a thief of students time. Let the great philanthropists pay the cost of testing and pay the students for their time. $10/hr to run schools, $10/hr to the students. 20/yr x 74 million students x say 8 hr of testing = around 12 billion dollars per year. Pay up Gates Foundation.
“Unfortunately, our foundation underestimated the level of resources and support required for our public education systems to be well-equipped to implement the standards. We missed an early opportunity to sufficiently engage educators – particularly teachers – but also parents and communities so that the benefits of the standards could take flight from the beginning.”
Not at all surprising that they went about this backwards. They designed their solution, and then tried to force teachers to implement it. The fact that their solutions have failed time and again is not due to lack of resources and support. Their solutions failed because they are the wrong solutions. Even engaging us in the implementation of your solution is not a solution.
Will they ever get it?
Wow! What DRUGS are Gates using?
My sarcasm: I want some if those drugs keep me from seeing reality. Oh forgot:,Gates = Hubris!
They are delusional. Melinda said, in a Vanity Fair interview, that her life had purpose because, “just one person breathes easier.”
Tell that to Roland Fryer’s 2nd tier kids.
Tell that to a nation’s people fighting against government, by oligarchs.
Well, I thought it was a fairly gracious admission of error. I was actually surprised she somehow managed to pull it off without impugning the secret, self-interested motives of parents and teachers and without scolding, threats or a stern lecture.
The most intriguing part of this letter is the quasi-admission that Gates “missed an early opportunity to sufficiently engage educators – particularly teachers – but also parents and communities.” I’m pretty sure that the “missed opp” Desmond-Hellman refers to is engaging educators etc. in the SELLING of the standards, not in the DEVELOPMENT of the standards. Imagine how much better–and how much more accepted–standard(s) might have been if there had been vigorous debate about their contents and scaffolded implementation. That’s the lesson of the Massachusetts ed reforms, which the common-core zealots even in Massachusetts have been eager to gut.
“other people’s children”, other people’s money. Cost of running the U.S. school system, 3 billion dollars per day. Who foots the bill for a day or three of standardized testing? Total waste of resources.
Actually, I liked that they asked for our thoughts and ideas. Maybe they are getting it.
If they did get it, they would schedule a 24/7 session, in the “safe space” that Gates created for the “Senior Congressional Education Staff Network”, so that “key Congressional staff” could hear from, the Campaign for America’s Future, PR Watch, Diane Ravitch, Laura Chapman, Mercedes Schneider, Anthony Cody, Peter Greene…
I do think they should question how far removed they are from real life if they thought they could dramatically change every public school in the country with no debate.
We built one public school here my whole adult life. Because it’s a “public” school that took two community wide votes, endless discussion (pro/con) in the local newspaper and at least 5 community meetings and we have an elected school board so also have representatives.
I can’t imagine why they would think the ‘no debate, just spring it on them” would go well.
You can’t just skip the “public” part. That’s unacceptable.
Curious where you built that “one public school” Am very interested in the role of school boards. Thanks!
Is there a chance in hell, that any reporter, no matter how low on the totem poll, or how prominent in the debates will demand some commentary from Hillary Clinton…..I seriously doubt it.
But they should.
Hey Bill,
Good luck on the double-down but it’s over. Many states have abandoned it with more set to ditch them; parents have opted-out in protest; and because of all this, politicians’ grip on power is tenuous at best, hence all the policy changes that favor public education.
Common Core and ed reform have nothing to do with closing achievement gaps, improving student lives, or any of the other edu-reformspeak buzzwords and catchphrases like: “international benchmarks,” “no excuses”, “accountability,” and whatnot. It’s about making money by dispossessing teachers of their salaries,benefits and due process rights. It’s also about politically disenfranchising communities for the sake of political profit as well.
In short, it’s probably one of the biggest legalized scams in American history.
1000%!!!!!!
But Common Core was a “questionably” legal scam. The Duncan NCLB waiver program was de-facto extortion; Duncan’s (USDOE) influence on imposing what was essentially a national curriculum in math and ELA was also pushing the constitutionality of his powers. Now that it has fallen flat on its face, history will not be kind to those on the wrong side of the Common Core Super Scam (CCSS).
“We missed an early opportunity to sufficiently engage educators – particularly teachers – but also parents and communities so that the benefits of the standards could take flight from the beginning.” — Gates Foundation
“The Flight of the Common Core”
The Common Core
Has taken flight
It’s out the door
Of Gates, in spite
A common blight
With Common fates
Has taken flight
From eighteen states
Her statements are reminiscent of Mark Zuckerberg’s recent comments, saying he didn’t communicate well enough and/or listen to those affected by his failed education initiative in Newark, but then doubling down on the same sort of flawed policies that aroused such opposition in the first place. This is PR spin, no doubt composed by some expensive consultant to try to assuage the anger and temper the resistance, nothing more.
Z-berg/Pearson/Gates were especially greedy in the U.S., wanting tax dollars, that Americans (except the corporate “persons”, with off-shore accounts) generously gifted to the future generation. The tyrants’ shadow government just wasn’t successful, much as they tried. The robber barons won’t have the same problem with Bridge International Academies, b/c excruciatingly poor countries are more easily manipulated.
Exactly!
When she said public schools I am certain in her mind it includes charters
So… They have one datapoint in Kentucky and are making their case around it? Pretty classic corporate marketing (she was at Genentech) but also quite shaky.
Would love to see the humility here turn into real engagement with the people who matter – and better engagement than we had at the recent Oregon Department of Education road tour. On that one all they wanted was to give people the feeling they were contributing. But Dr. Noor regularly intentionally misrepresented what people said when he’d restate it for the record.
The most classic one was when someone said: We need to put our resources and testing effort into formative assessments alone – that’s where the biggest return is. Which Dr. Noor repeated as: We need to put our resources into formative and summative assessments.
It doesn’t look like the Gates Foundation would have an open mind – they have committed themselves to a failed path and aren’t willing to consider that they might have made a fundamental mistake. This also is classic tech thinking: If we just explain it better people will love it. Sigh.
A federally imposed/extorted standardized testing policy that was based on a number of blatantly *false assumptions was doomed to FAIL. Gates will never live to see the day that Common Core is a successfully implemented set of national standards. Its dead in the water and Bill and Melinda and his crew of sycophants are all in denial.
*Standardizing instruction for 50 million students in the most diverse country on Earth was desirable and possible.
*Test-and-punish would produce authentic learning.
*Students and teachers were failing because state standards were not rigorous enough.
*Harder tests would produce better learning.
aagabor
May 24, 2016 at 12:42 pm
Curious where you built that “one public school” Am very interested in the role of school boards. Thanks!”
It’s the “rural rustbelt” and I say that in a nice way 🙂
It was this huge undertaking. It required 200 volunteers. Everyone had an opinion, as they should! They’re all paying for it one way or another-taxes or rent. It was a giant pain but it’s “ours” as much as anything can be.
We’re all complicit or invested, depending on your point of view 🙂
I would have accepted that Ohio standards are too low. I don’t care about federalism. If Massachusetts has better public schools (and they seem to) I’ll borrow their standards. I have no pride of ownership in “Ohio standards” and why would I pay to re-invent the wheel? I would have been fine with that. Raise standards! Fine by me. They can still teach Ohio history in 4th grade.
Chiara, thanks. Could you tell me where in Ohio. Would love to discuss. Could you email me at aagabor@aol.com. I’m researching a book. Thanks! A
The CEO admits the Gates Foundation’s inadequacies in the implementation of the Common Core standards, but she ignores bigger questions. Is the level of standardization required by the Common Core needed at all? How does testing improve outcomes for students? Once again, Gates and crew make lots of assumptions without evidence as they continue their top down forced march over the public schools and citizens.
One offensive comment relates to Gates’ misunderstanding of public education and equity. As Diane points out, public education has always aspired to create equity. However, there are many institutionalized inequities in public education. Schools depend on local tax levies which vary greatly from state to state and district to district, and these inequities are not the fault of individual districts or teachers. If Gates and company bothered to research the question, they would learn that “reform” has contributed to greater inequities through high stakes testing and the inefficient creation of parallel systems of charter schools that continuously siphon off funds and capable students from public schools. The result has been greater inequity and increased segregation.
Doubling down on the Common Core offers no solutions. Instead, it reflects on Gates and minions’ stubborn insistence that they have the right to impose their perspective on public education, regardless of evidence to the contrary.
The Gates Foundation gives grants to Harvard’s Roland Fryer. He believes in unequal treatment, Shakespeare for kids in suburban Boston and, testing everyday for the others….
It’s a mindset based on entrenched viewpoints, that may have no basis in fact. Opinion change, for people who are convinced they are right, is doubtful.
“Patience is a Virtue”
A decade’s not enough
For Common Core success
I know it might be tough
But fifty years is best
Oh, great. They’re in it for the long haul. Considering every failed Gates’ educational initiative, I guess we should consider this fair warning.
I’m also tired of the failed implementation argument. Some things just aren’t good ideas. I’m thinking about using poor implementation for all of my future failures.
Yes, yes!
As Peter Greene often states,
“There’s no smart way to implement a dumb idea.”
If over one million teachers struggled to make Common Core work, maybe just maybe it was an unworkable plan. That’s what they get for dismissing the objective opinions of experienced teachers listening to their own egos.
The endless parade of FAILURE finally being recognized is the Achilles heel of reformers everywhere.
The Gates Foundation needs to listen to teachers! Have any of these promoters every tried to teach a class of 30, many second language learners, living in poverty and schools that have limited resources?
They should be required to teach for at least a month, then perhaps have input into what tests are appropriate.
TEACH FOR a decade, more like.
aagabor
May 24, 2016 at 1:04 pm
Chiara, thanks. Could you tell me where in Ohio. Would love to discuss. Could you email me at aagabor@aol.com. I’m researching a book. Thanks! A
Sure. The school board was initially split because the project was too big and expensive but with revisions (and after an election loss) they became boosters. It could be described as “agonizingly slow” but it’s necessary! There’s only way to do it right- they have to consent.
I believe the real message from the CEO is not that they did anything wrong, but that we wouldn’t accept their “wisdom” and comply with their junk. I see the statement that they are going to “double down” as more of a threat then a statement that they are going to try to improve what they started. They’re tellings us that they are going to fight us even more.
They did think about the teachers! In 2009 the Gates Foundation funded Teach Plus, Inc. with $4.5 million for 4 years “to support the program’s expansion and create a national network of informed teachers.”
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database/Grants/2009/09/OPP1003735
http://www.teachplus.org/
A Microsoft manager in Canada, calling herself an “education partner” was interviewed in Entrepreneur magazine. She said, “Teachers have to shift or, get off the pot.” Now there’s a person that could learn
a little more about what needs to be taught to students, to have a civil society. Until then, I wouldn’t want her anywhere near kids.
The central problem with Common Core is that it’s skills-focused instead of content-focused. British literature is teachable. “Complex text reading skill” is not. Vocabulary is teachable. “Inference making skills” are not (our brains are natural inference making machines; when they fail to make inferences, it’s only because they lack sufficient knowledge. Think about it). The elements of science are teachable. The “skill” of designing good science experiments –absent robust basic knowledge of the domain — is not. Common Core is doomed because of this fundamental misunderstanding of how smart minds are made. Education is largely about nourishing the brain with important knowledge, not endless “workouts” of mental processes on snippets of knowledge used merely as grist for the mill. There is an appendix of the CCSS that prescribes the systematic teaching of knowledge, but this appendix, to my knowledge, is almost universally ignored. CCSS is being used to justify the replacement of fruitful knowledge transmission with fruitless attempts to teach chimerical skills. Thus it is impoverishing the minds of Americans.
Ponderosa, just to get at the basic idea of your post, the pendulum has shifted AWAY from content. There is a balance of skills and content that are necessary. Skills are useless if knowledge does not exist. This is the biggest problem with much of the “new” standards.
As a history teacher, it’s maddening because kids don’t really know history well enough to analyze it. It’s a lot of this: “Read this document (primary or secondary) and assess it.” But it’s pretty hard to analyze a Churchill speech if one doesn’t know about the Battle of Britain and what was at stake. Since David Coleman is now in charge of the College Board, AP tests have gone the same way. (AP Euro test was a joke. The new format generated a BS question for the DBQ that was ridiculous. And then we had a ton of sub-themes and they chose two question for the LEQ based on the same skill and topic strand! What’s the point of a gazillion standards if only one is tested.)
Reformers are adults who haven’t worked with hundreds of kids on a daily basis. They make one hugely incorrect assumption about kids. They assume that kids use the Internet the way adults do. And that simply isn’t true. Teenagers use the Internet for social media almost entirely. My upperclassmen are stunningly awful (and lazy) at research. The shift to skills is predicated on the idea that information can be found. But kids are really bad at finding it. They are a different type of tech consumer than the prior generation.
Getting tired of the ridiculous claim that kids don’t need to be taught content knowledge because they can access all the information known to man by using the internet. If this were true, wouldn’t we be seeing signs that students were becoming more knowledgeable? Kids view the internet as a source of fleeting entertainment and instant socialization, nothing more.
When it comes to standards that emphasize content, ELA and math were never the front runners in this regard anyway. But the emphasis on Common Core testing allowed administrators to put history, geography, and the sciences on the far back burner at the elementary level. Using ELA to read random passages or excerpts in history and science was the bogus response. We have saddled this generation with a knowledge deficit unlike any other. Ignorance kills curiosity and severely limits opportunities and possibilities. Who would have thought that not just reformers, but professional educators would be advocating for ignorance? Still can’t wrap my head around how and why the teaching profession decided to forsake knowledge and understanding in favor of skills that can’t be applied without them.
“The new format generated a BS question for the DBQ that was ridiculous. And then we had a ton of sub-themes and they chose two question for the LEQ based on the same skill and topic strand! ”
Speak English please!
Who elected these people?
Where is it written, in the constitution or anywhere else, that billionaires and their wives have the God-given right to decide the fate of public education in the US?
Whenever this arrogant know-nothing and his wife appear, teachers and parents should be there with signs, asking, “Who elected you?”
As an aside, in today’s science section of the NY Times there is a fawning interview with Ms. Desmond-Hellman, who duly lauds her bosses, but with nary a mention of their disastrous failures in education.
Nobody gave a Gates a right to redesign public education. He spread around bags of cash to buy influence to purchase the right of access to our students. He shows no signs of slowing down as he entices school leaders to sign on to his “future ready pledge.” Bill’s next “excellent adventure” is the Alliance of Excellent Education, an initiative that tries to get school districts to ramp up for increased technology access, which I believe, is code word personalized learning, Bill’s holy grail of ROI.http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-future-ready-pledge.html
It’s only going to get worse before it gets better because Gates and his wife have roughly 80 billion dollars to give away and despite their efforts to date, their wealth keeps increasing, not decreasing.
I suspect that before all is said and done, Bill and Melinda Gates will have wrecked havoc on several other public institutions in addition to schools.
These people don’t know when to stop and do not take no for an answer. They are no better than the Kings and Queens of yesteryear with absolutely no respect for democracy. They actually seem to believe their money gives them a divine right to do whatever they please.
For the past 5 years all we’ve heard from the Common Core backers is teachers aren’t implementing it right, the ones that criticize it are just old & set in their ways or worse, union members. Now we get a weak apology meant not to take responsibility but to ensure further implementation.
“Our learning journey in U.S. education is far from over, but we are in it for the long haul.”
When Sue Desmond-Hellman refers to “Our” she surely isn’t thinking of me, or the countless other professional teachers, like me, who work in low income urban schools.
And the “learning journey” that she and her cohorts are on should take place without dragging all the public schools, teachers, students, and communities in the country along with it!
It’s like somehow we are all in this school improvement thing together. One grand learning curve at the expense of those who really have no choice.
If the billionaires gave bewteen $1-1.3 bn dollars a year to the families in Paterson NJ the median income of Paterson would be close to that of NJ as a whole (median income in Paterson is about $40K lower than NJ as a whole, Nj as a whole is high performing while Paterson is not) and no doubt we would see improvement on the standarized tests and Common Core could be crowned. Funny how all these businessmen (aka reformers) understand correlation when it relates to marketing and sales but not when in relates to poverty and education.
Plugs and outlets will make it easier for testing companies to reuse the tests at little cost to them in production, at great profit. The standardized tests via computer will make it easier for Gates, et al, to profit via needed technology. It isn’t about the kids, and they know it, but perhaps he feels like Michael Jackson’s lyrics “the lie becomes the truth.” I guess if he says it long enough, rinses and repeats, we’ll start drinking the koolaid again.
“Our learning journey in U.S. education is far from over,
but we are in it for the long haul.”
Translation:
Bill and Melinda are going down with their yacht,
but us suck-ups are afraid to tell them.
We can only hope Rage’s translation is literal and, not figurative. It’d be a win for democracy, world wide.
The Gates Foundation would make a nice parking garage and transit center. Now that, would be philanthropy.
I so hope that Sue’s going to explain the writing, of the external affairs manager for Gates-funded Data Quality Campaign, published at Philanthropy Roundtable “…reformers…declare ‘We’ve got to blow up the ed schools.’ ” The plan for plutocratic control that follows, in the article, will require fast footwork and be a hoot to read. I’m laughing already, in anticipation of the explanation for, “…when the tests are aligned to the Common Core standards, the curriculum will line up as well and that will unleash powerful market forces…” (Bill Gates interview) and profits, for the deal between Pearson and Microsoft, to create Common Core products.
If Sue won’t explain the preceding points, will she tell us how the Gates manage to “give away their fortunes” and, never, fall one rung, in the richest rankings?
Now that the Gates Foundation has gone all touchy, feely about outreach and democratic values, I have so many questions. Could Sue give the public her opinion about the following (1) Does altruism or profit opportunity, drive Pearson’s investment, with Bill Gates and Z-berg, in retailing the schools-in-a-box, of for-profit Bridge International Academies? (2) When Bill Gates worked with Capital Impact Partners, to get funding, for the tax-funded schools, that are partnered with Reed Hastings, was he aware that Reed opposed democratically-elected school boards? (3) When Kim Smith, whose organizations are Gates funded, told Philanthropy Roundtable about her “marching orders” and goal “to develop charter management organizations that produce a diverse supply of different brands on a large scale, was the Gates Foundation anticipating a $500 bil. education business sector, built on the backs of kids, taxpayers and communities?
This following is the solicitation I received from the Danielson Group. This is quite interesting because now Dr. Danielson is supporting edTPA, which is a force behind the movement to require student test scores as a basis for teacher evaluation.
What is most disturbing is the fact that Dr. Danielson has addressed the NJ Principal’s Association sometime ago stating that her frameworks for teacher evaluation were never intended to include student test scores as a basis for evaluation. And yet…. here we are. One strange turn has morphed into a way to justify a product for any purpose.
Edward Meidhof, Ed.D.
(email solicitation received)
From: The Danielson Group on behalf of The Danielson Group
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2016 5:28 PM
To: Edward Meidhof
Subject: Charlotte Danielson Commentary on edTPA
edTPA Is a Starting Point for Career-Long Thoughtful Teaching Practice
In this commentary on the EdPrepMatters website, Charlotte Danielson comments on edTPA, an assessment developed by Stanford University and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). EdTPA is a nationally available summative assessment that can be used as part of the teacher licensure or accreditation process. Charlotte Danielson comments on the cognitive nature of teaching and how assessments like edTPA involve reflective practices and learning critical to skill in the profession
Stanford- the University that graduated Kim Smith, whose organizations all receive Gates funding, Bellwether, Pahara Aspen Institute, New Schools Venture Fund and, TFA (she’s a founding team member).
Stanford-the university that has SIEPR, or, as critics call it, the Institute for the Evisceration of People’s Retirement. No surprise, Gates spoke out against public pensions, in 2011. The Koch’s State Policy Network (SPN) featured the co-written anti-public pension paper of the Arnold Foundation and the TIAA Institute.
Jackals are pack animals.
Professors Raj Chetty, following the statistical society’s criticism of his work and, Joshua Rauh, following the pension experts’ criticism of his work, are now both at Stanford.
Reblogged this on Mister Journalism: "Reading, Sharing, Discussing, Learning" and commented:
Here is an informative newsletter from Sue Desmond-Hellman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, reporting on the foundation’s big efforts around the world, including its program to fix US education. The foundation remains convinced that Common Core works. The Gates Foundation was the funder of the Common Core standards. Bill Gates explained that the Common Core was valuable because standardization is necessary…
I read sue D-H comments. She apologized for common core difficulty. Biput if they were serious, they would do something about the fact that the average teacher sees over 100 students a day. Try reading the essays,Bill. Nobody can do it. Try conferencing with students enough to help them read and write better. I know teachers who buy into this who have dropped out of teaching, exhausted by the effort.
Well, the blame game is in full swing. Step right up! It’s finger-pointing time!
The educational reformers are on their heels. Some states … and some individual school districts … have simply dumped Common Core. There are seismic jitters from coast to coast. Our efforts have juiced up the CC issue in the media and now it’s a part of the election language as we swing into the fall.
Anti-Common Core sites have become magnets for disgruntled parents and offended educators from all levels. The anti-forces are more muscled than ever. And it’s predictable that the Common Core patriarchs are in full finger-pointing mode.
Bill Gates blames “grassroots campaigns” against Common Core … “ … many of which have led to absolute reversals in state policies.” Oh, how sad! Remind me to cry. Out loud.
Gates is a pathological denier … shaking off these never-ending reform failures and shifting the blame to anyone and everyone but himself.
Let’s see … the roll-out was blamed for the dismal jump-start. Then it was those prickly, white suburban moms made more famous by the forgettable Arne Duncan. Then is was wishy-washy state governments. Now it’s teacher treachery that’s blame. How rich is that? Better hide those sabotaging third graders! They’re next … for not demanding whole milk with their Wheaties. Yeah! That’s why Common Core is such a super fiasco. Too little vitamin D.
Is there anyone left who really, really wants to defend this mess?
There’s a small batch of rotating scribblers who every now and then make a stab at transfusing some life into this almost-dead reform, but even their language is tired and forced. Discovering new supporters for Common Core is harder than finding ice in the Sahara. Even the zealots have vanished.
Arne Duncan, Michelle Rhee and lesser street-level Common Core pimps have fled the scene. The new Secretary of Education, John King … an infamous New Yorker put out to exile by the opt-out movement in his home state … is in a sudden remorse mode, acknowledging screw-ups galore. Meryl Tisch, the empty socialite of the New York reform movement, has also moved on to other pursuits that require less brainage. And would-be presidential candidates who failed to read the Common Core tea leaves have now been rubbed out of the election scene.
Common Core has become a lethal infection. A Twenty-First Century plague that has over-empowered the federal government, polluted state legislatures, destroyed school cultures, distressed and divided faculties, and endangered the institution itself. It is a remarkable disaster.
National teacher unions that supported Common Core are dying on the vine. Randi Weingarten and the AFT elites rushed to endorse Hillary Clinton and her pro-Common Core stand … and now find themselves in the summer of their discontent. Disgruntled NEA members actually have an anti-Clinton movement that’s gaining traction … a first for that union.
Weingarten is in such a special political funk, she alternately salivates over big money reform interests and then bruises Bill Gates for his monied involvement … “I got convinced by the level of distrust I was seeing …” Thanks, but keep any eye on her … she still slithers as far as I’m concerned. There is palpable rank and file disgust with these vacillating union leaders. They should bone up on Marie Antoinette.
Bill Gates, in accidental moments of lucidity, occasionally has light-bulb moments and acknowledges he might have over-invested millions in a “black hole”. But his remorse is always short-llived … and he’s almost immediately back in action looking for more scapegoats before that remorse can walk around the block.
Ever wonder why lots of folks don’t actually question his mental fitness to be involved in this sort of grandiose scheme to unhinge one of America’s great institutions? I do. All the time.
What’s his educational IQ? He has no qualifications. He has no experience in education. And he has no understanding of the learning process. What made him think this was a good leap? So, it’s back to the blame game.
What happens when Gates runs out of folks to blame? What does he do when the Common Core defenders defect … and they will? Where does he turn when schools across the country start pecking his reform apart piece by piece … as we are doing with the testing right now?
Gates might see charter schools as his reform life-line. But those schools are becoming hedge-fund havens … and other business moguls don’t usually have much allegiance to other business moguls. They’ll chew on Gates if it improves their bottom line. And those schools will soon have their own unpleasant moment in the spotlight as well. In fact, that wattage has already been turned up on them.
So, that’s the here and now in this era of reform madness. We’ve begun to set the rules and we now drive the agenda. We now apply the pressure. The Common Core defections are underway.
As our ranks swell, to ignore us to invite political mayhem.
Legislators who back-stab this movement will be moved out. Media sympathizers will be exposed. The tactics once used on us will be turned on those who have fouled our schools and harmed our children.
We are now in a position of advantage. Please blame us for saving our schools.
Denis Ian