Nancy Bailey explains why we should worry about who is making the decisions at the U.S. Department of Education before any of its top officials have been confirmed. She suspects it is Education Trust, which favors charter schools and high-stakes testing. EdTrust is Gates-funded, and its leader is John King, who served briefly as Secretary of Education in the last year of the Obama administration. King was Commissioner of Education in New York, where he was an enthusiastic proponent of the Common Core and high-stakes testing. His background is charter schools; he founded Roxbury Prep, a no-excuses charter school in Massachusetts with the highest suspension rate in the state.
EdTrust pushed hard to persuade Biden not to issue any testing waivers this year. The Department’s announcement was made by Ian Rosenblum, acting Assistant Secretary, who previously worked for…wait for it…EdTrust in New York, advocating for testing.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This says it all: “EdTrust is Gates-funded, and its leader is John King, who served briefly as Secretary of Education in the last year of the Obama administration.’
SICKENING Bill Gates and John King. They know NOTHING about educating our young.
And former president Obama made it all possible. Handing the keys to the kingdom to his corporate buddies at Collegeboard, letting them draft policy for Common Core. Shocking that Collegeboard would be the first corporation to have textbooks (Springboard) and assessments all lined up and ready to go for the shiny new standards.
Meet the new boss; same as the old boss. At least with Betsy DeVos and Trumo we knew what kind of criminality to expect. These Democrats are worse because they lie about who they really are.
Who authorized Ian Rosenblum to be acting Assistant Secretary and who gave him the right to dictated testing policy for the nation?. Inquiring minds want to know.
His letter is a hot mess of purported reasons for annual state level standardized tests, and also some variations that are not for the full academic year and some that are not statewide. As Mercedes Schneider rightly observes, Ian does not know what he is talking about.
“As Mercedes Schneider rightly observes, Ian does not know what he is talking about.“
Truer words were never spoken. Boy Ian is mouthing deformed cliches.
The biden motto “In Gates we EdTrust”
So Biden wants to let the man who tried to “build a plane while flying it” help take the controls in his administration?
Yeah…
Meanwhile, I did write to my representatives…
Chuck Schumer sent me back a plea for money…
They….just…don’t…get….it…
Remember when there was a letter-writing campaign to Obama, here, & everyone received “form” letters…most likely from aides who were far away from the WH?
That’s why I never wrote a letter.
& all of this will turn the midterm Congress red again.
Obama was not impressed by the letters we collected denouncing Race to the Top.
He should have listened. RTTT was a disaster. It wasted billions, demonized teachers, and set the table for DeVos
When John King, now CEO of EdTrust, was state commissioner in New York, parents loathed him. He praised the Common Core and the tests while putting his own children in a Montessori school with no testing.
Ed Trust sounds like it’s running scared. Read their ‘thank you’ letter to Biden admin posted by Diane above– which cracks the whip: don’t you DARE let states substitute local formative assessments as hinted in Rosenblum’s letter! Must. Administer. Standardized. Summative. Tests.
I smell anticipation of big $$$ losses & sweat under board members’ collars…
“Running scared” how?
Looks to me as if they’re making off like the bandits they are.
Also–we all know why Biden, et.al are pushing for the schools to reopen–as soon as they come back, they’ll have to do test preps & take tests…in person.(NOT to “improve the mental health of the kids,” NOT to free the kids from home, enabling them to be w/their friends, NOT FOR THE GOOD OF THE STUDENTS.
This year, it seems, wherever there’s remote learning & kids are in r.l., keep doing it–stay home, & turn off your computers! EVERY. ONE.
No muss, no fuss, no need to cuss.