The Surprising Backers Behind Common Core in Massachusetts - baystateparent - September 2015

The Surprising Backers Behind Common Core in Massachusetts - baystateparent - September 2015:

The Surprising Backers Behind Common Core in Massachusetts

The world’s richest man, Bill Gates, also funds the world’s richest, private philanthropic organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, an entity that over the past several years has heavily funded efforts to advance controversial Common Core educational standards across the country – including Massachusetts.

  The state Board of Education is expected to vote this fall on a critical Common Core-related issue — which standardized test more than half a million Massachusetts public school students will take: the Common Core-aligned PARCC or the 17-year-old homegrown MCAS test, which has been adjusted to fit the new standards. 

  While the PARCC has its fair share of critics (an issue highlighted in August’s baystateparent), so does the overarching Common Core standards, which are designed to better prepare students for post-secondary education and careers. Common Core also has hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from the $40 billion Gates Foundation, a situation that critics say blurs the line between philanthropy and policy making.

  In September 2009, R. Kirk Kramer, a partner in the Boston-based Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit business consultancy, sent a letter to then-state Secretary of Education Paul Reville and Massachusetts Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester, saying his company would work “to help you with both strategy development and your proposal to secure Race to the Top funding.” The letter was shared with baystateparent.

  “Our understanding is that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will fund part of Bridgespan’s support The Surprising Backers Behind Common Core in Massachusetts - baystateparent - September 2015: