Apparently, Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools (CMS) received a pile of money from Bill Gates for a “strategic plan” on personalization in the classroom. $200,000 to be exact. That’s a drop in the bucket though. CMS has received $4,403,910 from the Gates foundation to date.
All that ‘one size fits all’ and ‘everyone goes at the same pace’ of Common Core not working out for you Mr. Gates? No, it’s working out just fine, but it needs to be marketed and packaged differently so we need a “strategic plan” to sell it to parents. That’s what this is folks — a new sales pitch of the same old crap.
CMS’s strategic plan is more of the same 21st Century skills propaganda and looks oddly similar to Wake County’s new “strategic plan” right down to that ‘community input’. CMS got Gates to foot the bill for their plan, whereas in Wake county it cost the taxpayer $7k for a website, $7k for a “futurist” to come flap his gums and $45K for company to conduct a survey. Those are just the costs we know about.
Below is a letter from Superintendent Morrison as the opening on the “strategic plan” page.
Reminder – Morrison is a member of the Large Districts Superintendent Consortium and was treated to a serious slap down when he asked people to be specific why they dislike Common Core.
How can we most effectively prepare our students for the workplace of tomorrow? We know it will be a technology-driven, fast-moving workplace with global competition for jobs. To succeed, our students will need to be able to learn and relearn constantly, as technology speeds up the pace of information and change. Our schools must prepare them by fostering creativity, intellectual agility and critical thinking – as well as higher-level thinking skills; digital and technological competency and access; literacy, numeracy and content mastery; the ability to innovate, and communications and entrepreneurship skills.
As a public school district, it is our responsibility and our privilege to provide the schools our students need and deserve, schools that offer global teaching and learning experiences that build lifelong learners.
Strategic Plan 2018: For a Better Tomorrow charts the strategic direction our district will follow to prepare the students of today for success in the future. This plan reflects an unprecedented amount of community and employee input, and it is the articulation of our shared aspirations for our children. It is also our roadmap to be the best public school district in the U.S., one where we prepare every child, every day, for a better tomorrow.
Dr. Heath E. Morrison
Superintendent
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