Common Corruption

Very rarely will I link to the New York Times. I think this may be the second time in the nine years I've run this blog. But this so perfectly illustrates the problem with Common Core and standardized testing, it must be done. From a teacher in NYC:

I’d like to tell you what was wrong with the tests my students took last week, but I can’t. Pearson’s $32 million contract with New York State to design the exams prohibits the state from making the tests public and imposes a gag order on educators who administer them. So teachers watched hundreds of thousands of children in grades 3 to 8 sit for between 70 and 180 minutes per day for three days taking a state English Language Arts exam that does a poor job of testing reading comprehension, and yet we’re not allowed to point out what the problems were.

That's it in a nutshell, people: it's all about money. Standardization = state control = corruption. The politicians and testing companies couldn't care less if your snotty-nosed snowflake can read or not, because they've got a 9 a.m. tee time at Liberty National.