School Reformers Switch Gears
“Think local” is the hot idea among influencers like the Gates Foundation that once favored top-down initiatives like Common Core.
New thinking goes back to school.
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For two decades, the prevailing wisdom among education philanthropists and policymakers has been that the U.S. school system needs the guiding hand of centralized standard-setting to discipline ineffective teachers and bureaucrats. Much of that direction was guided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has spent billions since 2000 to influence both schools and education policy.
But as schools open this year, top-down national initiatives based on standardized testing and curricular uniformity are in retreat.