Dive Brief:
- Melinda Gates told lawmakers gathered for the National Conference of State Legislatures that implementation troubles with the Common Core State Standards taught her a valuable lesson about the need for community buy-in for major reform initiatives, according to The Washington Post.
- Gates discussed her commitment to maintain support for the Common Core, strategies to improve teacher quality and personalized learning as states move to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act, continuing with the major elements of the education reform model the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has championed for years.
- While the foundation was a major proponent of holding teachers accountable for student test scores in evaluations, Gates said at the gathering that states should work with teachers to design evaluation systems that work for them, and she also said the foundation would encourage states to develop longitudinal data systems to track student progress.
Dive Insight:
The Gates Foundation has been among the most controversial players in the education reform game, shaping the discussion, in many ways, because of the money it was able to pour into reform efforts that aligned with its philosophy. Teacher unions have found reason to oppose the foundation for its support of charter schools and test-based evaluation systems.
Now that the Every Student Succeeds Act moves the locus of power over education policy from the federal government to individual states, the Gates Foundation will shift as well. It will be interesting to see if the foundation’s influence dips at all in the switch. Based on Melinda Gates’ latest comments, there is no indication the foundation plans to step away from its education agenda in the years to come.