[CAF Note: There is no more respected voice in education than Diane Ravitch. Her call for Congress to investigate the Gates role in Common Core underscores the rising level of shock of parents and educators at the permanent and complete destruction of our educational system through testing and curriculum. As millions of American’s participate in “back to school” days, more and more are asking probing questions about the aggressive efforts to dumb down our children and destroy their ability to think critically and function successfully in a global economy.]

By Valerie Strauss

The critical role that Bill Gates played in the creation and implementation of the Common Core State Standards initiative is the subject of this story by my Post colleague Lyndsey Layton. She explains how Gates was persuaded in 2008 by Gene Wilhoit, then-director of the Council for Chief State School Officers, and David Coleman, at the time an educational consultant and now president of the College Board, to use his foundation’s vast fortune to fund the creation and marketing of what became the Common Core. The story also shows how Gates money was spread around to help the marketing of the initiative to states and other education constituencies. As a result of the article, Diane Ravitch, an education historian who has become the unofficial leader of the movement fighting corporate school reform, called Gates’ involvement in the Core as something of an education “coup” by a private philanthropist. In this post, she urges Congress to hold hearings about the Gates role and the connection between his foundation and the Education Department.

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