Common Core roots are tangled and fascinating

As North Carolina cannonballs into the political battle over Common Core standards,  I came across two in-depth pieces that helped me understand the roots of the current conflict.

Retired teacher Lou Nachman steered me to a recent Washington Post article on  "How Bill Gates pulled off the swift Common Core revolution."

Gates

Reporter Lyndsey Layton chronicles how the Microsoft founder's billions pushed the quest for academic standards from obscure wonk talk to a national craze in just a couple of years,  "one of the swiftest and most remarkable shifts in education policy in U.S. history."

Layton outlines how Gates money brought together state leaders and groups on the right  (such as the American Legislative Exchange Council and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) and left  (teachers unions and the Center for American Progress) to find common ground on Common Core.

Hunt

 There's a fascinating section on the role of The Hunt Institute,  founded by former Democratic N.C. Gov. Jim Hunt and affiliated with UNC Chapel Hill.  According to the article,  the Hunt Institute got $5 million in Gates money in 2009,  "more than 10 times the size of its next largest donation,"  and used that money to coordinate more than a dozen organizations,  convene weekly conference calls and hire a strategist to create  a  “messaging tool kit that included sample letters to the editor (and) op-ed pieces that could be tailored to individuals depending on whether they were teachers, parents, business executives or civil rights leaders."

Last week's mail also brought the Southern Poverty Law Center's  "Public Schools in the Crosshairs:  Far-Right Propaganda and the Common Core Standards." It also goes deep on the origins of Common Core,  as well as the various sources of opposition that have emerged.

Image from SPLC report

To state the obvious: SPLC,  an Alabama-based civil rights group,  has a strong point of view.  But you don't have to agree with those views, or the premise that some Common Core critics are striving to undermine public education and turn the system over to for-profit interests, to learn something from the 36-page report. It itemizes a number of concerns the group considers valid,  including the influence of the Gates Foundation and testing companies and the link between Common Core and a "toxic testing culture."

The report attempts to track the basis of claims that some might dismiss as  "the rantings of extremists"  --  that Common Core promotes socialism,  anti-Americanism and homosexuality,  for instance,  and is anti-Christian.  It notes that the standards specify only one set of required readings,  for high school students:  The Declaration of Independence,  the preamble to the Constitution,  the Bill of Rights and Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address.  Most of the objections are based on selections from "exemplar texts,"  or suggested readings,  the SPLC report says. 

No matter your views,  if you care about education and take the time to get through these two pieces,  you're almost sure to come away with more perspective on the debate  --  and to find something that'll make you crazy. 

Mystery group pushes higher teacher pay

Aim Higher NC is holding a press conference in Charlotte today to urge people to petition state officials for higher teacher pay.  The group has logged more than 26,500 electronic signatures since organizing in response to a January op-ed piece by former N.C. Gov. Jim Hunt urging state lawmakers to get the state's teacher pay up to the state average.

"Not talk about it, or vaguely promise it, but do it,"  Hunt wrote.  "Our hard-working teachers deserve it. Today their pay ranks 46 among the 50 states. They could make as much as $10,000 a year more just by moving to South Carolina, Virginia or Tennessee to teach."

So who is Aim Higher?  The web site provides no clue,  saying only that it is  "paid for by Aim Higher NC."

Carilli

Mecklenburg teachers Andrew Shimko and Jasmine Newsom,  Union County teacher Dawn Moretz and Union County parent Jill Carilli are listed as speakers.  (Carilli's own teacher-pay petition on Change.org has logged almost 22,000 signatures.  She seems to have moved to the area from Arizona last summer.)

I asked Rob Black,  who sent the news release about the Charlotte event,  to explain more about the group.  Black said he's employed by Aim Higher,  which is made up of teachers,  parents and others,  but he declined to say who's footing the bills.

"Our funders have asked to remain anonymous,"  he said.  "You see what happens when people speak out.  They often end up targeted for retribution."

He wouldn't be more specific about what kind of retribution he's talking about.  The N.C. Association of Educators has a page promoting the Aim Higher push,  but Black said Aim Higher is not affiliated with NCAE.

Rob Christensen,  the News & Observer's political columnist,  says Black is a longtime political operative generally working with labor and Democratic politics.

Update: Joe Nolan,  House Speaker Thom Tillis' chief of staff,  got curious enough to look up the group's application for incorporation with the secretary of state's office. The applicant is listed as Sabra Faires,  an attorney for Bailey & Dixon law firm,  which Nolan describes as "the go-to law firm for all liberal advocacy." 

Pushing for better teacher pay strikes me as neither nefarious nor particularly risky. But  "grassroots"  groups that hide their financing make me wary.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/01/06/4592261/how-nc-can-pay-teachers.html#.Uuq4jPldUbI#storylink=cpy