Who is Profiting from Common Core?

Dollars received by Pro-Common Core speakers:

I. Joan Benso, CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC) :
3 separate grants from the Gates Foundation for a total of $935,859
 
II. David Patti, CEO Pennsylvania Business Council (PBC)
One Grant From Gates Foundation $257,391

III. Carolyn Dumaresq, Executive Deputy Secretary of PA Dept. of Education
One Grant From Gates Foundation $526,960 to PA Department of Education

Impressions from Monday's Common Core event held at Notre Dame:

Dr. Williamson Evers of the Hoover Institution stated breaks that proponents of Common Core have absolutely no grass roots on this issue, and are terrified of our numbers and energy among activists.
 

Dr. Sandra Stotsky of the University of Arkansas noted that state boards of education around the U.S. adopted the Common Core standards before the standards were actually written, and that this breach of procedure might open up these actions by state boards to a legal challenge through the office of a state's Inspector General, or the equivalent office.  Dr. Stotsky also noted that CCSS emphasizes writing over reading, when decades of experience tell us this should be the other way around.
 

Andrew Kern of the CiRCE Institute noted that it is stories that help children develop their minds, not the informational texts favored by Common Core.
 

Dr. James Milgram of Stanford University stated that CCSS embraces the teaching of Geometry without proofs, and the teaching of Algebra without conics and logarithms, even though these are the effective methods for teaching this material.
 

Ze'ev Wurman of the Hoover Institution noted that success in college mathematics, and achieving a STEM degree, depends more on taking challenging mathematics courses in high school than any other single factor.  Common Core abandons the idea of having students take the gateway course of Algebra I in grade 8, which is critical to the students reaching Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus in high school.  Mr. Wurman also stated that CCSS expects students in grades 1-2 to master difficult concepts, then slows to almost no progress in learning expectations in grades 3-6.  As a result, by grade 8, students are one or two complete grade levels behind the expectations of previous Indiana standards.  Students do not close this achievement gap during high school.
 

Dr. Megan Koschnick, a clinical child psychologist from Indianapolis, described how Common Core pushes certain abstract learning concepts down to kindergarten and first grade, even though many children at these ages have not yet reached the reasoning stages required for this learning.  This will likely cause stress and discord for students, teachers, and parents.

William Estrada of the Home School Legal Defense Association and Jane Robbins of the American Principles Project both raised excellent points regarding the depth and scope of the data collection and sharing that is planned as part of CCSS.