Part 2: Cheat for Success
By Debra Rae
July 13, 2013 | Published with permission of the author
United by a common
agenda, non-governmental special-interest groups have contributed to financing,
writing, evaluating, and promoting new, national Common Core educational
standards. Behind Common Core is
big money from private
philanthropies and companies, many of which stand to rake in billions off the
Common Core boondoggle. The e-learning
market alone is estimated to grow to $6.8 billion by 2015, up from $2.9 billion in 2010.
Having received millions in Gates’ grant money, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute gets the
picture. In the Puget Sound Business Journal (2009), the institute’s vice president Michael B. Petrilli conceded, “It is
not unfair to say that the Gates Foundation’s agenda has become the country’s
agenda in education.”[i]
Follow the Money
Of course, neither Bill nor Melinda
Gates is a trained educator. Of instructional goals, Bill Gates agrees, “At the
end of the day, some of those trade-offs will be made politically [Emphasis added.].” “If you can’t make it good,” Gates
famously mused, “at least make it look good.”[ii]
Enter, Obama’s brainchild, Race to
the Top—more accurately, “Race to the Trough” of “free” grant moneys for educators
who, by the way, aren’t its only beneficiaries. Industry giants who champion
Common Core will no doubt profit handsomely. By mandating a computer for every
child, Race to the Top generously “seeds the ed-tech ecosystem.”
Talk about a sweet deal. Promoting
worldwide collaboration, the Gates have partnered with the Pearson Foundation.
Having taken over one hundred of the world’s textbook publishing companies,
Pearson is the biggest publishing company in the world and will supply required
e-books in tandem with compulsory computers.[iii]
Follow the Global Education Ecosystem
Professor of Renaissance English Literature at Providence College in
Rhode Island, Anthony Esolen characterizes Common Core standards as
“mind-stunting, strictly utilitarian
miss-education.” World class, they aren’t. Nor are these standards
robust; yet advocates conveniently insist that standards cannot be changed, or errors corrected. After all, they are
already printed and copyrighted.[iv]
Problem is, by the eighth grade, standards fall two years behind
international expectations. They fall even more behind by twelfth grade. Remember,
the only authentic mathematician on the validation committee rightly refused to
sign off on math standards. Where math has been tried, test scores were no
better (as in Utah) or lowered (as in Massachusetts). Among the standards’
flaws is an untried, experimental approach to geometry. Moreover, standards
postpone algebra to grade nine and fluency in division to grade six.[v]
English standards are equally troubling.[vi]
Cursive writing and phonics apparently are deemed passé. Plus, there are only nine literature standards; and
contemporary texts (often multicultural) are generally shorter, easier reads.
In contrast, ten standards have students reading informational materials like
computer manuals and, even more disquieting, advocacy journalism. Books, poems,
and informational reading suggested in “text exemplar” sections of appendices
feature skewed, highly politicized perspectives on Obama Care and Agenda 21, to
name two, the likes of which unduly influence students.
Temptation to Cheat for Success
The Obama Core program will be fully in place by 2014, when assessments
start. Then, state-based testing will defer to national standardized testing
developed by private companies who, in turn, are awarded big money for
their efforts.
While there are no hard and fast
rules for using Common Core standards, “teaching to the test” is
advantageous with respect to teachers’ job security and income since 20-40% of
salaries are tied to student performance. Professional teacher organizations
have “a vested interest in lowering the accountability bar for their members”
(Dr. Ze’ev Wurman, former U.S. Department of Education official); and
high-stakes, one shot testing tempt some to cheat for their bonuses.
Recall that a shining star of the school reform movement, former district
superintendent Beverly L. Hall, was indicted in Atlanta along with 35 of her
fellows for cheating on standardized tests. Charges included racketeering,
theft, influencing witnesses, and making false statements.[vii]
Even for non-cheaters, it pays to be on board. In 2012, the Obama
Administration announced a plan for creating a national STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math) Master Teacher Corps to be launched with $1
billion from Obama’s 2013 budget request with 50 exceptional teachers in 50
sites. Over a four-year period, the numbers will expand to 10,000 master
teachers who, for their multi-year commitment, answer directly to Obama (not to
state or local districts) and receive annual stipends of some $20 thousand
above their base salaries.[viii]
Surveillance Society Friendly
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
(FERPA) of 1974 provided protection from Orwellian
surveillance, data collection, and its storage that watchdog organizations like
ParentalRights.org[ix] vehemently
oppose. In 2011, the Federal Department of Education amended FERPA to align
with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.[x]
This allows unprecedented access to personal
information by schools and third parties—i.e., researchers and private
companies, authorized by executive order to track and collect invasive data on
students, even on teachers and administrators. For states to be awarded grants
and waivers on their “race to the top,” they must
initiate state longitudinal database systems that log personally identifiable
student data.
InBloom
Seeding the ed-tech
ecosystem purportedly helps students and teachers around the globe. So says
Gates. Developed
and funded by the Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, and Rupert
Murdoch of News Corp, the nonprofit corporation called InBloom facilitates the
logging of personally identifiable, individual student data. InBloom even has
fields for tracking homeschoolers.[xi]
Add security risks involved in collecting and
storing data—e.g., biometrics, religious/political persuasions, test scores,
learning disabilities, social security numbers—and “Houston, we have a
problem.” Health records are certain to follow. In response, and rightly so,
the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, DC is suing the U.S.
Education Department to stop illegal collection, storage, and sharing of
student information.
Carrot and Stick Methodology
“The stick” for noncompliance accompanies
“carrots” of promised federal money, coupled with exemption from rigid requirements of No
Child Left Behind. You see, prizes are conditional on implementing Common Core
standards and tracking student data, as directed. Given the 2009 Blueprint for
Education Reform, even Title 1 dollars earmarked for low-income schools are at
risk in this either-or-else scheme.[xii]
Keep in mind that, although relatively few applicants actually receive
grant moneys, all commit to implementing standards. Despite grants awarded to the lucky few, the over-all estimated cost
per state will likely hit the $16 billion mark. Initial funding for
national assessments may well come from the federal government, but states must
carry the burden of their long-term funding.[xiii]
Should a state decline participation,
districts within that state may apply independently. Of the nearing one
thousand districts that have already applied, only fifteen or twenty of them
will receive moneys. For new textbooks, mandatory computers and e-books, cost
of time for teacher training, and the like, local school districts will be
saddled with an additional $165.5
million that they simply can’t afford.
Race to the Top is yet another Trojan Horse we
best not mount.
[i] Alyson Williams. “Focus: Children
for Sale: A Mother Speaks Out Against Common Core.” Education Reporter Number
328 (May 2013): 3.
[ii]
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/billgates382270.html.
[iii] The Newspaper of Education Rights.
“Why Parents Object to Common Core Standards.” Education Reporter Number 329 (June 2013): 4.
[vi] Dr. Sandra Stotsky, architect of
Massachusetts’ excellent education standards, refused to sign off, describing
CC standards as “empty skill sets that won’t prepare students for authentic
college course work.”
[xi] Alyson Williams. “Focus: Children
for Sale: A Mother Speaks Out Against Common Core.” Education Reporter Number 328 (May 2013): 4.
[xii] http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/blueprint.pdf.
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