Here’s the deal. Someone has to say it and it’s going to be me!
Other than some of the blogs, EdWeek’s so called “news” is nothing more than propaganda for the corporate reformers. I pointed it out before, EdWeek and its reporters either are clueless about the difference between advocacy organizations that push propaganda and peer review research outlets or they (EdWeek and its reporters) have been purchased by the corporate reformers and have sold out their journalistic integrity.
In this “story” readers are informed how the Council of Great City Schools is supportive (in fact pretty damn giddy) of the momentum surrounding urban schools’ adoption of the Common Core State Standards.
First, why should anyone care what the Council of Great City Schools is pushing? In fact if you go to Google Scholar you will find ZERO peer reviewed research studies from this “Council.” Second, why is the adoption of a curriculum that has no documented positive outcomes other than creating an entirely new market for hucksters to sell common core snake oil products something to brag about?
The council’s executive director, Michael Casserly, is optimistic about the potential of the state standards in the press release: “The new benchmarks hold immense promise for elevating the quality of public education in urban school districts that serve large numbers of disadvantaged students,” he said.
If EdWeek had any integrity, immediatley after quoting Mr. Casserly’s opinion, the article’s author would have simply stated that Mr. Casserly’s belief in the common core as a savior for urban education has no empirical evidence to support his assertion. That’s it. Pretty simple.
Mr. Casserly can say anything he wants and EdWeek can quote him all they want. But when any assertion is made EdWeek and its authors have an obligation to verify whether there is any validity to such statements. In the case of Mr. Casserly’s unsupported assertion of how implementing the Common Core in urban school districts shows “immense promise” all EdWeek needs to do is just simply state that there is no research that shows that mass urban adoption of the Common Core will result in anything positive or negative.
The Common Core and its implementation has NO track record. It might be good. It might be bad. It might be good for suburban kids in the NorthEast. It might confuse teachers in rural districts. It might help children from two-parent households. It might destroy the self esteem of middle school girls in urban charter schools. It might turn water into wine. It might. It might. It might… Doing anything other than speculating is really just spewing rhetoric and pushing propaganda.
Oh but wait. What’s this?
The report was partly funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which also provides support for Education Week‘s coverage of K-12 industry and innovation.
So the Council of Great City Schools “report” was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Oh crap. My bad. I guess the Council’s report is legitimate after all. I guess I should have read more closely. I guess I will just have to bow down to the almighty Gates Foundation, right?
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[...] stories are typically reprinted press releases from the ‘faith-based reformers’ or purely propaganda for the purveyors of the Common Core.” In other words, he asks his readers to consider whether or not EdWeek has sold out to [...]