Gates Foundation and Their Education Failures
When thinking of the Gates Foundation's work in the public education arena, there are not many wins to point to except for Common Core. Of course, that's quite a large win even though many publications either don't know Gates funded that whole mission or they just leave it out of their writing about Common Core.
I may have printed this editorial that appeared in June of last year in the Los Angeles Times before but it bears repeating because of what the Gates Foundation says about itself. About Common Core:
The Gates Foundation strongly supported the proposed Common Core curriculum standards, helping to bankroll not just their development, but the political effort to have them quickly adopted and implemented by states.
“Unfortunately, our foundation underestimated the level of resources and support required for our public education systems to be well-equipped to implement the standards,” (CEO Sue) Desmond-Hellmann wrote. “We missed an early opportunity to sufficiently engage educators — particularly teachers — but also parents and communities, so that the benefits of the standards could take flight from the beginning.
Remember that thought from Ms. Desmond-Hellmann because you'll hear it again about InBloom.
Also, this thought:
“We’re facing the fact that it is a real struggle to make systemwide change,” wrote the foundation’s CEO, Sue Desmond-Hellman. And a few lines later: “ItSeattle Schools Community Forum: Gates Foundation and Their Education Failures:
Bill in Legislature -
This will affect several hundred Seattle High School students.
There are two bills currently moving through the legislature that would require 4 year colleges and universities in the state to grant credit for AP exam scores of 3 or better.
SB 5234 and HB1333
The bills do not mention IB.
If you have a feeling about this, please call or email your legislative team about this. On their webpages there is a place where you can send a message – 1000 character limit.
Things are moving fast – please let them know your feelings about this.
If you need more info, you might want to reference that there are 23 IB high schools in Washington, and 19 of them are public schools. Many of the public schools are in very diverse/high poverty areas communities, like South Seattle/S. King County, Tukwila, Tacoma, and Kennewick.
(School list from the IB website. I looked up some of the schools’ websites to determine what their FRL numbers looked like. Kennewick is 70% FRL, Thomas Jefferson in Fed Way is 55% FRL for example.)
To find your district
