With all those billions being plowed into education, we have to wonder if there is something other than left wing philanthropy that has the attention of the Gates Foundation. A bit of research reveals just how profitable Common Core will be for Bill Gates and friends.
One component of Common Core is assessments or tests. The profits here are staggering. According to surveys by the Pew Center on the States and the Brookings Institution, state spending on standardized testing rose from $552 million in 2001 to $1.7 billion in 2012.
This huge increase in testing was due to the emphasis on standardized testing by No Child Left Behind. This has been a major source of frustration and sometimes anger among parents and students. It’s going to get worse, according to Dr. Stephen Krashen, professor emeritus at the University of Southern California. He has calculated that there will be a 20-fold increase in testing for Common Core.
The Gates Foundation has partnered with Pearson, the giant textbook publisher, to create online curriculum for Common Core which will drive the volume of testing.
Pearson is the exclusive testing contractor for the State of Texas. According to Pearson’s year-end review for 2011-2012, more than 11.5 million tests were administered to Texas public education students in grades 3 through 12 for the State of Texas Academic Readiness, or STARR. The cost was more than $89 million!
