Thursday, July 29, 2010
ruminations on an edublogger
I've been reading the Art of Teaching Science blog authored by Jack Hassard. In his last couple of posts he has discussed the Common Core Standards that have been adopted by Michigan, Massachusetts recently, and many other states. He points out that the same Billionaire Boys Club (remember Diane Ravitch's interview video we watched in 649) is funding both groups that are pushing for national standards, such as the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, and organizations, such as Achieve, Inc., that are deeply involved in writing and advising on the standards. As with most anything that involves politics in this country one has to "follow the money". The homepage of Fordham Institute's website is covered with headlines and links touting charter schools. Could their goal in pushing these national standards be to see more public schools fail so that under Race to the Top public money would shift to charter schools and back into their pockets?
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Hi, Bill -- Fordham has definitely been turning out some fascinating stuff. Have you seen their map where they evaluate states' standards vs. common core standards? See the map at the bottom of this page:
ReplyDeletehttp://edexcellence.net/index.cfm/news_the-state-of-state-standards-and-the-common-core-in-2010
It makes me wonder how they make that decision. Also - Michigan has endorsed the common core standards, but I haven't seen any news stories about it through my normal informational channels.
It also makes me wonder why one institution is getting so much press. Who funds them? How do they have this amount of influence?
Not sure I have answers, but I do wonder about the implications of the enormous pressure folks feel to quickly adopt something without much discussion.
Yes, Michigan has adopted the common core standards. This was confirmed to us when Liz Bauer from the State Board of Education came and talked to us in Dr. Saunders class a few weeks ago. Liz said that the standards are not really any tougher than the current Michigan standards. Although I don't know how one can totally say this, since there don't seem to be any common core standards for the sciences, yet.
ReplyDeletein my mind, anytime you have private foundations involved, you have to question their motivations and where the money comes from.