Bill Gates Just Pumped $6.4M into California for Common Core
It seemed that Bill Gates’ Common Core push had cooled. As of June 01, 2016, I had seen no grants specific to Common Core listed on Gates’ “awarded grants” website. However, as of June 26, 2016, it seems that the first two Common Core grants for 2016 have indeed appeared on Gates’ site.
The combined amount for the two grants is $6.4 million.
Both are associated with California.
The first is to San Francisco-based WestEd. The Gates goal is to get teachers to buy into Common Core via WestEd’s “establishing local relationships”:
Date: May 2016
Purpose: to support and scale Common Core State Standards implementation and leverage established local relationships and teacher leaders to drive deeper use of high quality, standards-aligned tools and practices
Amount: $4,350,875
The second is to Cal State Fullerton for a one-day, statewide teacher pep rally that is supposed to ignite Common Core buy-in:
CSU Fullerton Auxiliary Services Corporation
Date: May 2016
Purpose: to convene large numbers of teachers on a single day in regions across the state of California to generate momentum around the singular impact of teachers on college and career readiness and directly impact teacher networking and collective practice, exposure to materials, resources and strategies for Common Core implementation
Amount: $2,000,000
So, it appears that Bill is still hanging in with his Common Core love– at least in California.
Meanwhile, his wife Melinda was in Washington, D.C., on Friday, June 24th, 2016, and she apparently worked hard not discussing Gates Foundation involvement in education, which, of course, includes not discussing the Gates role in Common Core.
As for those two May 2016 Common Core grants: It does not seem that Bill Gates and his foundation have learned any lesson about effecting change. They want a grass roots, Common Core buy-in– so they are still trying to purchase it.
Common core is worthless. All it teaches is to work harder not smarter and to be a government robot like Microsoft has become. I say to teacher and everyone else. Ban together and stop this lunatic from ruining our children.