Common Core State Standards Initiative Caught Parents And...

Common Core: A Worthy Opponent INTRODUCTION: Common Core State Standards Initiative caught parents and teachers off guard alike. Not many truly understand that concerns, consequences, and underlying issues that surround Common Core. It wasn’t until children were venting their concerns, teachers were frustrated with the statistics undermining their duties, and parents questioning Common Core’s teaching practices – that Common Core was put under the spotlight. An educational reconstruction sponsored by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers sought out to establish a unified education standard that would detail what K-12 students were to know in English and Math alike. Common Core’s mission is to†¦show more content†¦It should be greatly noted that the involvement of corporate America has made its stance in education through the use of this non-profit organization. A notable organization created by Bill Gates, â€Å"Bill Melinda Gates Foundation†, has played an extensive role in elevating Common Core’s standards. In-fact the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation has given 37 grants in 2015 alone, totaling in over 42 million dollars, in an effort to implement and promote Common Core (Strauss, 2015). Beginning in 2009, when Achieve had partnered with the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to draft the Common Core standards, the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation had invested nearly $10 million in grants alone that year. Many do criticize Gate’s involvement in Common Core, some teacher groups even questioning Gate’s motives. Critics even piling up saying Microsoft benefits from Common Core’s use of technology and data collection, but that’s something Bill Gates denies himself. In an interview with Lyndsey Layton, Bill Gates had repeatedly renounced his position in saying â€Å"There’s no connection. There’s no connection to Common Core and any Microsoft thing† (Owens, 2014). But with a multitude of large companies being involved in the development