Fordham’s (Not So Unbiased) Opinion.

Supt. Tom Luna is feeling some heat.  He has felt it necessary to start doing damage control.  Here is a letter that was sent out to our elected officials sometime in March.

Dear Senators and Representatives,

We continue to field questions at the Department regarding the new Idaho Core Standards, which were adopted as a result of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Here are links to two blog entries we posted this week in case they are useful in your communications with constituents. These blog entries are also attached.

* “What the New Idaho Core Standards Will Mean for Idaho Students”: http://educationidaho.blogspot.com/2013/03/what-new-idaho-core-standards-will-mean.html
* “The Myths and Facts about the New Idaho Core Standards”: http://educationidaho.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-myths-and-facts-about-new-idaho.html

In addition, I have attached letter we just received from the conservative Fordham Foundation, which supports the new Idaho Core Standards and emphasizes that this is a state-led effort that is good for Idaho kids.  (Emphasis mine.)

Please let us know if you have questions or if we can provide additional assistance in any way.

Supt. Luna

Supt. Luna mentions Fordham’s support of Common Core like it should mean something, and it should.  Just not what he implies it should mean.  If you do a little digging into Fordham you are going to find that they have received numerous grants  from the Gates Foundations.  Including several hundred thousand dollars just to evaluate the Common Core Standards. (Gates has been the single largest donor to Common Core to the tune of about $170 million, stating they will give upwards of $340 million.)  It would seem that Fordham has a ve$ted interest in supporting Common Core.  Do you bite the hand that feeds you?

Taking all this into consideration, does Fordham’s support of Idaho’s implementation of Common Core hold very much water?  Or is their argument full of holes?

In all the research I’ve done on Common Core,  one thing I’ve learned is to dig a little deeper.  Things are very rarely as they appear on the surface.  Fordham’s support of Common Core is no different.