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Teachers Who Administer Common Core Tests to Receive Valentino Bags
The Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association are pleased to announce that with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Pearson, inBloom, and the American Federation of Teachers, all teachers administering the PARCC and Smarter Balanced assessments as part of the Common Core Standards Initiative © © © © © © © © © will receive a Valentino Crocodile Studded Tote from the Spring/Summer 2014 collection. Priced at $16,295.42, the bag is large enough for carrying exam instructions and a box of tissues to dry student tears.
"Sending out swag is an exciting new initiative," said U. S. Secretary Arne Duncan. "It shows how teacher friendly these folks are." He added. "And as with the standards and the tests, no taxpayer dollars were involved. This is a state-led initiative, something states indicate they want. This bag distribution is the culmination of a collaborative process that began in 1996."
"We applaud these bags as a small thank you to teachers for helping preserve freedom for curriculum choice," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
Asked if killing enough crocodiles to supply 3.7 million teachers with a tote bag isn't too high a price for a national test, Vicki Phillips, director of Education, College Ready in the United States Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, insisted that the bags are as ethically sourced as the tests. "We made sure that the use of exotic skins in these bags is accredited with the required Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species certificates."
Education Week reported that there's no truth to the claim circulating among the usual malcontents on Twitter that a teacher has to sign a nonfiction loyal oath in order to receive a bag.
— Susan Ohanian
blog
2014-02-08
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