Dr. Stergios Botzakis delivers the keynote address on "Weird Science: A Look at the Origins of the Common Core State Standards." He will examine the route U.S education policy makers have taken to arrive at the introduction of Common Core State Standards (2010) that have been adapted thus far by 46 states. He will look at the development and application of literacy paradigms beginning from Pearson’s (2003) balanced literacy approach to the restricted definition of scientific research imposed on education by the National Research Council (2002) that spawned No Child Left Behind (2001) and Race to the Top (2009).

Much of current policy is informed by What Street (1984/1995) called the autonomous model of literacy, excluding much ideological research that speaks to differentiating student learning according to context and other sociocultural factors. Dr. Botzakis will address the consequences of these choices on literacy teaching and learning.