More about Pearson...
Pearson Foundation working for Pearson-for-Profit re: Common Core-- settled with NY for 7.7 Mil.More Pearson-Pearson-Pearson behind CCSS rollout:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/education/28gates.html?_r=0http://education-curriculum-reform-...son-publishing-investigated-for-payoffs/ That one, while MOSTLY unsubstantiated, is particularly icky if true. I have no reason to think that it is NOT true in light of what else I know to be true about Pearson and their business practices, which make Microsoft look like major philanthropists, quite frankly. You know-- the same Microsoft slapped around by the EU for slimy practices?
This one is even quite up-to-date:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/pearson-plan-for-education_b_4628520.htmlThe embedded links mostly check out on that piece, by the way. It's not that it's a left or right-wing set of concerns-- actually both sides (and not a few moderates who are simply alarmed by the apparent
quality issues which are becoming obvious) are expressing increasing skepticism about Pearson's involvement.
http://www.edexcellence.net/comment...e-watch/2013/pearson-crosses-a-line.htmlLast week, the New York Post and Daily News reported that the Pearson-developed New York State ELA sixth- and eighth-grade assessments included passages that were also in a Pearson-created, “Common Core–aligned” ELA curriculum. This meant that students in schools that purchased and used instructional materials from Pearson had an enormous advantage over those who didn’t.
As for Pearson, it’s no stranger to these kinds of conflict-of-interest accusations. In the U.K., Pearson both administers a state “A-Level” qualifying exam—the results of which are used to inform, among other things, university admissions—and sells textbooks aimed at helping students prepare for those assessments. Last November, U.K. officials launched an investigation into “possible conflicts of interest within its role as both a publisher of textbooks and an issuer of academic qualifications.”
It's a textbook (pardon the pun) anti-trust scenario: By developing both the test and curriculum materials, Pearson will basically control the market, regardless of the quality of their materials. After all, if you were a New York principal and learned that Pearson included passages from their curriculum on the state test—the results of which are used to inform everything from student to teacher to school accountability—whose curriculum would you buy?
(The comments from educators are particularly prescient, given that this was all taking place in 2011... and SO much of that has come to pass...)
Officials from the Gates and the Pearson foundations say the project will create 24 courses: 11 in math, for grades K-10; and 13 in English/language arts, for grades K-12. Four of those courses will be available for free online through the Gates Foundation. The full 24-course system, with accompanying tools including assessments and professional development for teachers, will be available for purchase, likely through Pearson, the international media company that operates the New York City-based Pearson Foundation.
Each course will serve as a 150-day curriculum and will harness technological advances such as social networking, animation, and gaming to better engage and motivate students, Judy B. Codding, the managing director of the Pearson Foundation, said in an April 27 conference call with reporters.
The linkage between the two foundations and the for-profit education company represents a “leading edge” in education philanthropy, said Chris Tebben, the executive director of Grantmakers for Education, a Portland, Ore.-based group of funders.
Now-- how, one might (rightly) ask, does this relate to technology in classrooms?
Ask yourself what school administrations are
loading onto mobile devices being provided to students. Go ahead. Ask. It's PEARSON.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/la-students-outfox-apple-_b_4003489.html The real story there, as Singer notes in that write-up, is that Apple-Pearson are the exclusive providers of
proprietary-- LICENSED-- content.
