Bill Gates has funded educational projects in the past. The Gates Foundation poured $130 million into New York City schools alone in a period of five years to break apart large schools and form learning academies. Some of these specialty schools were
- High School of Violin and Dance
- The Peace and Diversity Academy
- Academy for Careers in Sports
- The Food and Finance High school
- Academy for Hospitality and Tourism
- Academy for Visual Arts and Theater
The results of these projects were disappointing. While some schools performed better with the downsizing, the initiative did not have the effect everyone hoped. And, students did not attend college at a higher rate.
Gates Consultant
The Gates Foundation hired Hilary Pennington to research what other foundations were funding and find the gaps. Bill and Melinda Gates wanted to fund areas that were being neglected. This brought them right back to schools.
Gates Foundation Calls a Meeting
On November 11, 2008, Bill Gates met in Seattle with a large group of individuals interested in education.
- Superintendents from schools in large cities like Washington, D.C., Chicago and New York City
- Advisors for newly elected Barack Obama
- Leaders from two of the largest teachers unions: National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers
All listened intently while Bill and Melinda unveiled their plan.
The Gates Education Plan
The meeting began with the statement that only 22% of low-income children graduate high school ready for higher education. Gates finds this totally unacceptable and would like to raise this to 80% by the year 2025.
- Gates also wants to lead efforts to create national learning standards in high school. The new standards will be shorter, tougher and clearer than most states presently have. This may be a difficult sell to strong believers of local control.
- $500 million will be spent in the next five years to improve teacher quality. While only a few schools will receive this funding, they will be used as a research model for other schools. Another $500 million will be spent on research. Gates said, "Doctors aren’t left alone in their offices to try to design and test new medicines. They’re supported by a huge medical-research industry. Teachers need the same kind of support." [Linda Shaw, education reporter, Seattle Times, November 12, 2008]
- Gates wants more effective teachers to be paid more. He expressed great disbelief that teachers are paid by experience and education instead of high-performance. "That’s almost like saying teacher performance doesn’t matter, and that’s basically saying students don’t matter," said Gates. [Linda Shaw, education reporter, Seattle Times, November 12, 2008]
- The foundation also wants more emphasis on junior colleges. This is where many students could greatly improve their lives by learning a skill. The foundation wants to research ideas to keep students in school so they will attend a junior college in the future. Melinda Gates commented that the U.S. is now in 10th place for college completion. It used to be 1st. She wants to reverse that trend.
Reactions
While most individuals attending the Gates forum were positive (many were recipients of Gates funding), some expressed concerns. National standards were not warmly received and neither was performance based pay. Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers said that she was very willing to listen but if teacher pay is going to be based on test scores, "that’s where the conversation stops." [Linda Shaw, education reporter, Seattle Times, November 12, 2008]
Barack Obama is a supporter of performance based pay. The devil is in the details. Who determines what good teaching practices are? Research funded by the Gateses may be the answer to that question.
Source: Linda Shaw, education reporter for The Seattle Times, November 12, 2008.
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