I. Joan Benso, CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC) :
3 separate grants from the Gates Foundation for a total of $935,859
II. David Patti, CEO Pennsylvania Business Council (PBC)
One Grant From Gates Foundation $257,391
III. Carolyn Dumaresq, Executive Deputy Secretary of PA Dept. of Education
One Grant From Gates Foundation $526,960 to PA Department of Education
Impressions from Monday's Common Core event held at Notre Dame:
Dr.
Williamson Evers of the Hoover Institution stated breaks that proponents of Common Core have absolutely no grass roots on
this issue, and are terrified of our numbers and energy among activists.
Dr.
Sandra Stotsky of the University of Arkansas noted that state boards of
education around the U.S. adopted the Common Core standards before the
standards were actually written, and that this breach of procedure might
open up these actions by state boards to a legal challenge through the
office of a state's Inspector General, or the equivalent office. Dr.
Stotsky also noted that CCSS emphasizes writing over reading, when
decades of experience tell us this should be the other way around.
Andrew
Kern of the CiRCE Institute noted that it is stories that help children
develop their minds, not the informational texts favored by Common
Core.
Dr.
James Milgram of Stanford University stated that CCSS embraces the
teaching of Geometry without proofs, and the teaching of Algebra without
conics and logarithms, even though these are the effective methods for
teaching this material.
Ze'ev
Wurman of the Hoover Institution noted that success in college
mathematics, and achieving a STEM degree, depends more on taking
challenging mathematics courses in high school than any other single
factor. Common Core abandons the idea of having students take the
gateway course of Algebra I in grade 8, which is critical to the
students reaching Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus in high
school. Mr. Wurman also stated that CCSS expects students in grades 1-2
to master difficult concepts, then slows to almost no progress in
learning expectations in grades 3-6. As a result, by grade 8, students
are one or two complete grade levels behind the expectations of previous
Indiana standards. Students do not close this achievement gap during
high school.
Dr.
Megan Koschnick, a clinical child psychologist from Indianapolis,
described how Common Core pushes certain abstract learning concepts down
to kindergarten and first grade, even though many children at these
ages have not yet reached the reasoning stages required for this
learning. This will likely cause stress and discord for students,
teachers, and parents.
William
Estrada of the Home School Legal Defense Association and Jane Robbins
of the American Principles Project both raised excellent points
regarding the depth and scope of the data collection and sharing that is
planned as part of CCSS.
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