Bill Gates' Big Play: How Much Can Money Buy in Education?

[proud2BlibKansan]

What would happen if one of the wealthiest men in the world decided to remake the institution of public education in America? What if that man believed he understood the secrets to success, and sought to align the nation's schools to his vision and methods? What if he decided to devote all his time and considerable money to this objective? Could he succeed? We are in the process of finding out just how far money and a sharply defined agenda can take you.

Bill Gates' first challenge was to define a vision. After experimenting with small schools, he discovered that this approach did not lead to consistently higher student performance. So he stepped back and said, OK, let's figure out just what IS going to increase those test scores? This was the crucial decision that has determined all other steps that have followed. The purpose of schooling has been determined by the measurement that tells us if we have succeeded. Although Bill Gates would perceive this as a neutral objective, in fact it has created a driving agenda for school change. The agenda is this: To recraft the system so that it is just as relentlessly focused on test score improvement as any business is focused on making money.

How does one go about making your own agenda everyone else's?

Bill Gates had a huge head start, in that No Child Left Behind had already set the wheels in motion. The idea that test scores are all that matter was already encoded into federal law and funding policies. The trouble is that law is punitive, cumbersome, illogical and bound to fail, by its own set of indicators. So we had to move beyond NCLB, and create a sustainable trajectory for test-driven reforms. This has been done in several ways.

First, acknowledge that current tests are of limited value. We cannot abandon them because they are all we have, and we cannot ignore the data they give us, even though it is not all we might wish for. Develop a plan for a new generation of tests that will be clearly superior to existing tests. These new tests will be richer, and incorporate technology, and based on new quasi-national standards that are likewise superior. The Gates Foundation has been a huge supporter of the Common Core Standards, and is partnering with the Pearson Foundation to develop online reading and math courses aligned with the standards.

more . . . http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2011/11/bill_gates_shows_us_how_much_c.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LivingInDialogue+%28Teacher+Magazine+Blog%3A+Living+in+Dialogue%29

[varelse]

1. K&R

[izquierdista]

2. Got to do somthing to make up for dropping out.

Maybe if he actually had a degree, he wouldn't feel the need to tear down education for everyone else.

[badhair77]

3. Pearson is doing very well thanks to NCLB and RTTT.

Their hands are in every piece of the pie, from textbooks, remediation materials, testing materials, cyberschools, etc. I believe Pearson Foundation is related to Pearson.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Yep. Pearson sells EVERYTHING.

Every single item in my classroom has the Pearson label.

[badhair77]

5. They just bought Connections Academy.

CCA will benefit from Corbett's voucher push in PA.

I this instance money in education can buy more money. Amazing.