Gates Foundation to Shift Education Focus

Marking a new chapter in education philanthropy, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will step back from its traditional education reform agenda to instead invest close to $1.7 billion over the next five years on new initiatives that include a focus on building networks of schools...

https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2017-10-19/gates-foundation-pledges-17-billion-to-k-12-education-will-focus-on-building-school-networks

Are educational materials used to promote products to MCPS children?

We hope not.  But we'd like your help.

As our readers know, Pearson Education Inc, the global educational publisher, now is in charge of the curricular materials in Montgomery County Public Schools.

And our students have new media, Google Chrome account, and lots of other bells and whistles to accompany this new curriculum.

But - and there is always a but - have you noticed something else that comes with these packaged materials?

One MCPS parent recently commented on Facebook about a passage his child had from school concerning purchasing an iPhone and insurance.  Yes, a real life example, but how many elementary kids carry cell phones or purchase their own iPhone?  And insurance?  I don't have that for my iPhone.  My elementary school aged kids would have been confused.

Parents in NY noticed that Pearson exam materials frequently reference commercial products.  From the article:

"Just Do It" has been a familiar Nike slogan for years, but some parents are wondering what it was doing on some of New York's Common Core standardized English tests.
Brands including Barbie, iPod, Mug Root Beer and Life Savers showed up on the tests more than a million students in grades 3 through 8 took this month, leading to speculation it was some form of product placement advertising.
. . .

The use of brand names was one of several complaints raised by some educators and parents about the statewide tests, aligned to the Common Core standards intended to increase academic rigor. Some contend they are too difficult and don't measure what students are actually learning.
While such general complaints about Common Core tests have arisen elsewhere, advocates said the prevalence of brand names appears to be specific to New York.

Here is our question to the folks in MoCo:  Have you noticed any product placements in your child's educational materials this year?

We truly hope that our kids aren't seeing pitches for products in our educational materials or on media in the classroom, and that the one parent comment we picked up was an anomaly.  We don't think our children should be for sale in MoCo, and trust that the Board of Education feels the same way.

But you can never be too sure.

Parents and caregivers - we know you are paying attention to your child's progress.  So - as you go over homework and help out in assignments with your kids - keep an eye out for placement of specific trademarked goods.

And if you find something, take a screenshot (I usually print/save the page as a PDF), and send to us at: 

contact @  parentscoalitionmc.com

And, as always, stay tuned.

Common Core Breaks the Rules

Ever hear about a deal that is too good to be true?

In MoCo, our BOE likes these deals.  Votes in closed session, no accountability, and no oversight. 

I wish I never left NY.   

Is a deal that doesn't pass in NY good for our kids in MCPS?  Probably not, but who is going to say no?

From today's Washington Post:

Pearson Charitable Foundation, the nonprofit arm of educational publishing giant Pearson Inc., has agreed to pay a $7.7 million settlement to New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman after he determined that the foundation had created Common Core products to generate “tens of millions of dollars” for its corporate sister.“The law on this is clear: non-profit foundations cannot misuse charitable assets to benefit their affiliated for-profit corporations,” Schneiderman said in a statement Thursday.

Read more here.

More on the Common Core

This paper provides a useful historical timeline concerning how our educational systems adopted the Common Core.

As far as the political perspective, note that the views in the paper represent the views of the authors from the Pioneer Institute and American Principles Project,, and not this blogger.

http://americanprinciplesproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Controlling-Education-From-the-Top-2013.pdf

MoCo voters need to start understanding the Common Core, and decide whether this is a good initiative for our students.  We have an election coming up next year.  Remember, education is 50 percent of the county budget - do you think your tax dollars are well spent?

Signing on to the Common Core

Did our Montgomery County Board of Education really vet the new curriculum, otherwise known as the Common Core, before the rollout? Or was our school system just taken with the bells, and whistles of the program AND the goodies offered by the Pearson arrangement? 

 In Massachusetts, the State Board of Education decided to delay the rollout. Not an individual board - but State Wide. Here is a summary: 

 This week, the Massachusetts Board of Education voted to slow the transition to Common Core. The board decided to delay implementation for two years while it compares the Common Core aligned Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) tests to their existing—and widely praised—Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam. Commissioner Mitchell Chester, who also chairs the governing board for the PARCC consortium, says that adopting the Common Core by the 2014–2015 deadline would cause Massachusetts “too precipitous a transition.” Massachusetts is known for its quality state academic standards and student achievement levels. This year, Massachusetts celebrated its 20th anniversary of its historic education reforms that kick-started the state’s success.

Continue reading here:  http://blog.heritage.org/2013/11/22/cracks-core-massachusetts-halts-common-core-implementation/

Numerous states are reconsidering whether to adopt the Common Core.  You can read the progress of the state level efforts here.

So - Montgomery County - will we be innovative or has the Pearson Punch taken over?

Stay tuned.

Baltimore Sun: Baltimore County schools spent $5 million on textbooks, curriculum despite warnings

State had advised against such work because of new national standards

 By Liz Bowie, The Baltimore Sun

Baltimore County school leaders disregarded advice from state officials and forged ahead to overhaul the teaching of English, spending more than $5 million over the past few years to buy textbooks that mostly sit unused and to rewrite a curriculum that has been shelved.

The system spent about $2.2 million on a 27-year-old grammar textbook with outdated references to encyclopedias and almanacs, both barely used by today's students, according to school system documents. The textbook and accompanying workbooks remained in a warehouse for nearly a year, and school officials acknowledged they are just now being delivered.

The rewrite of the language arts program and the creation of a new linguistics curriculum to supplement it began in 2009 and continued through last school year, despite state warnings that Maryland was about to change what should be taught in English — potentially rendering the Baltimore County effort fruitless. The system also paid teachers to work on the curriculum overhaul and purchased other English books. Superintendent Joe A. Hairston defended the school system's actions, saying that the expense for curriculum writing isn't unusual and that new grammar books were needed.

But Hairston acknowledged that the school district is now redoing its language arts curriculum for a second time to align with a state and national effort. And the county's curriculum chief says the first rewrite of the language arts curriculum has been set aside. The linguistics curriculum was released, but hasn't been widely used, according to teachers and administrators.

Critics, including parents and Baltimore County Councilman David Marks, question whether the school district used its resources wisely. And school board members grilled school system staff Tuesday night about the language arts curriculum and some of the book purchases.

Marks said in an e-mail before the meeting that the school board should "determine why taxpayer money was spent this way."

"At first blush, it doesn't make sense to spend money on resources that wouldn't fit in with a new state-mandated model," Marks said.

Laurie Taylor Mitchell, a parent and vocal advocate for more spending on school buildings, said: "The waste of money is appalling."

For the entire story, click here.