A friend of mine posted a link to this essay on facebook. I thought I would expose it here since the author of the essay mentions several thoughts and ideas that I have also had quite independent of anyone else.
The essay is here: The Coming Common Core Meltdown.
Probably the most important thing about this whole Common Core mess that I was unaware of is that the Gates Foundation has contributed $160 million to the cause. Here's an excerpt:
The standards were drafted largely behind closed doors by academics and assessment “experts,” many with ties to testing companies. Education Week blogger and science teacher Anthony Cody found that, of the 25 individuals in the work groups charged with drafting the standards, six were associated with the test makers from the College Board, five with the test publishers at ACT, and four with Achieve. Zero teachers were in the work groups. The feedback groups had 35 participants, almost all of whom were university professors. Cody found one classroom teacher involved in the entire process. According to early childhood expert Nancy Carlsson-Paige: “In all, there were 135 people on the review panels for the Common Core. Not a single one of them was a K–3 classroom teacher or early childhood professional.” Parents were entirely missing. K–12 educators were mostly brought in after the fact to tweak and endorse the standards—and lend legitimacy to the results.
Part of my ideas for education reform is that reform, true reform, starts at home. (See my post on the same subject.)
This essay by Karp is eye-opening.
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