Just who is developing “Common Core” curricula and where is that money coming from?

The Washington Post has some answers for New York state:

“The New York State mathematics curriculum was developed by an organization located in Washington D.C. known as Common Core, Inc. According to reporter Jessica Bakeman of Capital New York, Common Core Inc. was awarded three large contracts from the New York State Education Department: $3,323,732 for K-2 curriculum, $2,715,958 for grades 3-5, and $8,108,919 for grades 6-12.”

Interestingly enough, Common Core Inc. was founded and funded years before the standards had been adopted by the states… or even released! Interestingly enough, it was funded by Bill Gates:

“[D]espite Bill Gates’ claim that there was no need to build national Common Core curriculum, he has, through his grant program, quietly funded its development in excess of $10 million, with Common Core Inc. being the first to receive a grant. According to authors Gigante and Archbold, ‘Despite the overlap between corporate branding, mission, funding and leadership, Common Core Inc. claims that it is “not affiliated with the Common Core Standards”.’ The article suggests that although some advocates of the Common Core claim that they want to only nationalize standards, their true intent is to nationalize a still experimental curriculum.”

Futher:

“The New York State Regents Research fund has received millions of dollars from the Gates Foundation to further its reform agenda. But more importantly, the State Education Department has helped finance the effort to create curriculum by using more than $28 million in Race to the Top federal taxpayer dollars. And it appears that one of the recipients, Common Core Inc., intends to influence curriculum beyond New York State.”

What they got for all this money was not only an obvious case of corporatism, but a horrible curricula. The author of the Washington Post column says:

“The Common Core has some features that are good and others that are awful. We have been through this before—the New Math program from my childhood and Whole Language when our daughters were in school. Although both programs made some positive contributions, those who wholeheartedly and uncritically adopted them did a terrible disservice to their students. One of my colleagues, Maureen Dockery, tells how when she was an elementary teacher she would close her door and teach students some phonics because of the damage done to her own son’s literacy development by purist Whole Language instruction.”

The “New York State Common Core Mathematics Curriculum for Grade 2” can be found here, or read below:

g2 m3 Full ModuleNew York State Common Core Mathematics Curriculum for Grade 2

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