Editing Gates Foundation (section)

===Education programs===

Some critics{{who|date=October 2023}} fear that the foundation directs the conversation on education or pushing its point of view through news coverage.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Strauss |first1=Valerie |title=Analysis : Um, who are Melinda and Bill Gates trying to kid? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/04/16/um-who-are-melinda-bill-gates-trying-kid/ |access-date=21 July 2022 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=April 16, 2019 |archive-date=June 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606124257/https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/04/16/um-who-are-melinda-bill-gates-trying-kid/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The foundation has said it lists all its grants publicly and does not enforce any rules for content among its grantees, who have editorial independence.<ref name="nytimes.com"/><ref name="shape conversation"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Storytelling Matters: A Look at the Gates Foundation's Media Grantmaking |url=http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2012/02/Storytelling-Matters-A-Look-at-the-Gates-Foundations-Media-Grantmaking |publisher=Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |access-date=December 21, 2014 |date=February 21, 2012 |archive-date=February 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215031101/http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2012/02/Storytelling-Matters-A-Look-at-the-Gates-Foundations-Media-Grantmaking |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Schwab|first=Tim|date=2020-08-21|title=Journalism's Gates keepers|url=https://www.cjr.org/criticism/gates-foundation-journalism-funding.php|access-date=2021-04-05|website=Columbia Journalism Review|language=en|archive-date=August 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200821151348/https://www.cjr.org/criticism/gates-foundation-journalism-funding.php|url-status=live}}</ref> Union activists in Chicago have accused Gates Foundation grantee Teach Plus, which was founded by new teachers and advocates against seniority-based layoffs, of "[[astroturfing]]".<ref name="nytimes.com"/>

The K-12 and higher education reform programs of the Gates Foundation have been criticized by some education professionals, parents, and researchers who argue they have driven the conversation on education reform to such an extent that they may marginalize researchers who do not support Gates' predetermined policy preferences.<ref name="chronicle.com"/> Several Gates-backed policies such as small schools, charter schools, and increasing class sizes have been expensive and disruptive, but some studies indicate they have not improved educational outcomes and may have caused harm.<ref name="dissent">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/got-dough-how-billionaires-rule-our-schools|title=Got Dough? How Billionaires Rule Our Schools|access-date=January 23, 2021|archive-date=January 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126144320/https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/got-dough-how-billionaires-rule-our-schools|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/10/08/an-educator-challenges-the-gates-foundation/|author=Valerie Strauss|title=An educator challenges the Gates Foundation|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=August 24, 2017|archive-date=September 4, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904125146/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/10/08/an-educator-challenges-the-gates-foundation/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Strauss |first1=Valerie |title=Bill Gates spent a fortune to build it. Now a Florida school system is getting rid of it. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/11/03/bill-gates-spent-a-fortune-to-build-it-now-a-florida-school-system-is-getting-rid-of-it/ |access-date=21 July 2022 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=November 3, 2015 |archive-date=January 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118234455/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/11/03/bill-gates-spent-a-fortune-to-build-it-now-a-florida-school-system-is-getting-rid-of-it/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Strauss |first1=Valerie |title=Gates Foundation chief admits Common Core mistakes |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/06/02/gates-foundation-chief-admits-common-core-mistakes/ |access-date=21 July 2022 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=June 2, 2016 |archive-date=January 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130053039/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/06/02/gates-foundation-chief-admits-common-core-mistakes/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Examples of some of the K-12 reforms advocated by the foundation include closing ineffective neighborhood schools in favor of privately run [[Charter schools in the United States|charter schools]]; extensively using standardized test scores to evaluate the progress of students, teachers, and schools; and merit pay for teachers based on student test scores. Critics also believe that the Gates Foundation exerts too much influence over public education policy without being accountable to voters or taxpayers.<ref name="dissent"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Diane Ravitch|title=The Death and Life of the Great American School System|publisher=Basic Books|date=2010}}</ref><ref>Philip E. Kovacs. The Gates Foundation and the Future of U.S. "Public" Schools. Routledge, 2011.</ref>