NEWSLETTER: 15 Years of Bill Gates’s Experimentation
In his October 7 speech as he ruminated on how his foundation shaped educational policy and practice for the past fifteen years, Bill Gates spoke of the importance of what he called “high impact” strategies. His speech contained only one acknowledgement of error on his and Melinda’s part – and it was an error of the most innocent sort. He said they had been “naïve” in the way in which they rolled out the Common Core. Apparently they did not anticipate that democracy might get in the way of their plans.
For Bill Gates this has all been a grand experiment, one that he believes he is entitled to conduct on our children, our teachers and our schools. It is astounding that a man, who has no qualifications to guide our nation’s educational system has been allowed, by virtue of his fortune, to meddle in it as he has.
Although he spoke of the importance of continuous learning, (even admitting that the Gates Foundation still had a great deal to learn), Bill Gates did not show any signs of veering from the checkered record of their past 15 years of pushing the United States to adopt his vision of K12 education reform.
We at the Network for Public Education, however, will not let Mr. Gates, his wife or his Foundation off the hook. And so we bring you this special report on the grand experiment of Bill Gates. The breadth and scope of meddling is breathtaking. The evidence of success is not.
by Carol Burris and Anthony Cody
NPE is proud to share this interactive infographic detailing the last 15 years of Bill Gates’s public education experiments. It contains links to 13 reports from 12 of the nation’s leading pro-public education advocates (which you will also find in the “Around the States” entries below.)
Click on the infographic to be taken to our website, then hover your cursor over the green, yellow, and red entries to reveal links to the reports. You’ll also find a video of Gates embedded in the center quote. Please share widely to let others know the full extent of the destructive influence Bill and Melinda Gates have had, and continue to have, on the democratic institution of public education.
Carol Burris: Executive Director, Network for Public Education, former New York principal
In 2008, Florida’s Hillsborough School District received a $10 million grant to revamp their teacher evaluation system and salary system. In 2015, the experiment ended with the district footing the bill for $50 million in cost overruns and student achievement goals not met.
