‘Follow the money’

Why is Monroe Woodbury School District converting its curriculum to the “Common Core,” which has never been proven effective anywhere? In this time period when budgets are tight, why should one penny be spent to convert the entire district’s curriculum to align with the Common Core Standards? This is a brand new idea that is being rolled out across the USA as if it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. However, there is absolutely no research or past practice to show that any of the claims that are being made about it are true. This is a nationwide experiment in which only five states have opted not to participate. Too bad New York is not one of them. Diane Ravitch was the assistant secretary of education under President Bush Sr. and is known as America’s most influential scholar on education. This is what she has to say about the Common Core: “I have neither endorsed nor rejected the Common Core national standards, for one simple reason: They are being rolled out in 45 states without a field trial anywhere. The Gates Foundation, lest we forget, paid to develop the standards, paid to evaluate the standards, and is underwriting Pearson’s program to create online courses and resources for the standards, which will be sold by Pearson, for a profit, to schools across the nation.” (http://dianeravitch.net/2012/07/09/my-view-of-the-common-core-standards/). If you thought No Child Left Behind increased the amount of testing that our students are subjected to, just wait until you see what the Common Core has in store for them. Why should our students be guinea pigs for Bill Gates’ agenda? Why should M-WSD teachers have to throw out their curriculums based on the New York State Standards and be coerced into quickly creating new ones aligned with the Common Core? Or worse, why should M-WSD shell out good money to purchase ready made (by Pearson) on line courses? Why should M-WSD go along with this program which is designed to eventually replace well-educated and highly qualified human teachers with hours and hours of computer generated test prep and test taking? This is one of those cases where following the money leads to a very different story than the one we are being told. I suggest we do what we are supposedly trying to teach our students to do: Be critical thinkers and draw conclusions based on facts instead of propaganda and opinion. Follow the money. Stop wasting it.

Dawn Hoagland Highland Mills