Gates funds group to judge textbook alignment with Common Core

Breitbart reporter, Dr. Susan Barry, reports that the Gates Foundation has assumed the role of judge over which textbooks offer curriculum that aligns to the Common Core Standards (CCS). The  Gates Foundation also financed the development of the standards, which have been criticized for many reasons, one of which is the inability of teachers and schools to decipher them and choose materials that align. In order to alleviate the confusion,  the Gates Foundation has launched EdReports.org, a non-profit that will rate the curriculum of textbooks for alignment with the Common Core. The EdReports site states it will offer school districts a Consumer Reports-styled rating so they can be better informed on purchasing materials that support the Common Core.

Gates fails to recognize that a good set  of standards wouldn’t cause such confusion, and there should be no need for an outside group to tell schools if textbooks align to CCS.  Clarity and ease of use by teachers indicates well written standards; teachers and school administrators should be able to read them and independently determine which books to buy. Teachers inability to do so indicates the  poor quality of the standards themselves and a need to get rid of them. Teachers don’t need a Common Core interpreter, such as  EdReports-  they need better standards!

The creation of EdReports also appears to settle the debate over the Common Core being a curriculum, not a general set of standards. In April of 2014, Bill Gates himself stated in an interview at the American Enterprise Institute: “It [the Common Core] is not a curriculum. It’s not a textbook. It’s not a way of teaching.” If so, it begs the question: Why create EdReports, Mr. Gates? After two years of denying that the CCS dictates a certain style of curriculum, Gates seems to have conceded that only certain textbooks, with specific instruction, align with the standards.

While the fresh breath of honesty is welcome, it doesn’t change the fact that the federal government endorsing or funding a specific curriculum is a violation of federal law. Opponents of CCS have warned that requiring  states to adopt the standards in order to be competitive for No Child Left Behind waivers and federal grants was beyond the authority of the US Department of Education and a violation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, dismissed the charge, stating there was no violation because the CCS were only general guidelines and didn’t preference any specific curriculum. He promised that the standards didn’t tell  teachers how to teach.

Parents and teachers across the country have long recognized that the CCS does mandate specific curricula and claims to the contrary by  Secretary Duncan and Bill Gates are falling apart. The creation of EdReports.org confirms  that the  Common Core is not only a poorly written set of standards, laden with confusing jargon, it is also a curriculum and  a shoddy one at that.