STICK IT TO THE MAN: The American Federation of Teachers is putting its foot down against Pearson over a recent “gag order.” Translation? The AFT is accusing Pearson of barring teachers and principals from talking publicly about what’s on Pearson-designed Common Core exams (i.e. PARCC), and the AFT is not happy about it. This may have in part been precipitated by NYC school principal Elizabeth Phillips, who cited a number of problems with the new Pearson-designed standardized tests earlier this month, but couldn’t be specific.
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this post implied that Pearson is the entity imposing the gag order. This has since been modified to further illuminate the lack of clarity around where the gag order is coming from. Whether it's from Pearson or New York State remains to be clarified.