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Friday, September 9, 2011

PEARSON, SANDY KRESS FILL THEIR POCKETS -- BY DONNA GARNER -- 9.7.11 | Donna Garner's Blog

PEARSON, SANDY KRESS FILL THEIR POCKETS -- BY DONNA GARNER -- 9.7.11 | Donna Garner's Blog:

PEARSON, SANDY KRESS FILL THEIR POCKETS -- BY DONNA GARNER -- 9.7.11

Blog Entry in Donna Garner's Blog

“Pearson, Sandy Kress Fill Their Pockets”

by Donna Garner

9.7.11

Pearson, the largest education publishing company in the world, stands to make billions from the Obama administration’s Common Core Standards/Race to the Top which is the federal takeover of the public schools. Please read the 3.25.10 article posted at: http://dailycensored.com/2010/03/25/education-reform-is-the-best-stock-on-the-market/

Abby Rapoport (reporter for Texas Observer -- 9.6.11 article posted below) failed to mention the Obama/Pearson connection in her article, but Abby did do an excellent job of covering the troubling aspects of the profit motive behind education lobbyists.

Even though Abby’s facts and solid investigative journalism could lead readers to arrive at some rather grim-but-realistic conclusions, there is a bright spot for the Texas public schools. Because of the committed work of the leaders on the Texas State Board of Education, our state has vastly improved curriculum requirements (TEKS) over those that have been in place for the last ten years.

However, the way to make sure that these new-and-improved curriculum standards (English / Language Arts / Reading, Science, and Social Studies with Math in the pipeline) are taught with fidelity by teachers and mastered by students is to create new-and-improved tests. Teachers will teach whatever is on the tests; and for many students, the best way to