Common Core Debate Update: 100 State Bills Try to Slow, Stop, or Reverse the Federal Standards The Common Core State Standards, the controversial federal K–12 curricula, have become a hot-button issue across the country this midterm election year. States are opting out of the standards, while teacher and parent groups are fighting for and against them. The reasons against the standards are varied. Critics say that the federal government has had too much influence because the Obama administration gives Race to the Top money to states that adopt the Common Core. Others say that the related testing and data collection will give the government and schools too much information about students. Like many education advocates and academics, Nicholas Tampio, an assistant professor of political science at Fordham University who has studied the Common Common, has strong opinions. In late March, Indiana abandoned the standards when Republican Gov. The Hoosier State is unlikely to be the only one to abandon Common Core in the coming months.
How Common Core state standards prevent federal control of education Opponents of the Common Core State Standards who warn against a federal takeover of education are right that education is a local issue that should be firmly within the control of the states. But here’s where they are wrong: the Common Core State Standards were specifically designed to prevent federal control of education. In fact, they were conceived by governors and chief state school officers who were committed to retaining local control over how they educate their students – and that is how they work today. The trouble started when President Obama and Education Secretary Duncan meddled in a clearly state-led, locally controlled education initiative by tying the Administration’s Race to the Top grants to local efforts to adopt and customize the Common Core State Standards. But while the Administration’s involvement in promoting the standards can and should be opposed, it would be wrong to abandon these standards developed for and by the states.
Republican roots of rotten Common Core As a number of state governments struggle with Common Core education rules, the Libertarian Party (LP) cites Common Core as a reason to get government out of education. Libertarian Party Executive Director Wes Benedict commented, "Since Democrat Barack Obama took office, some conservatives have switched positions on Common Core. But conservatives were for it before they were against it. Benedict continued, "Republicans like Chris Christie and Jeb Bush have not flip-flopped, however. Benedict continued, "Common Core is one more reason why government should not be involved in education. Earlier this year, libertarian commentator John Stossel pointed out, "Common Core, like public school, public housing, the U.S. Around the U.S., Libertarians are working to block or repeal Common Core, and many go further than that. New York Libertarian candidate Gigi Bowman promises to work to "repeal Common Core." The Libertarian Party's platform includes the following education plank:
Why conservatives should support the Common Core The new “Common Core” math and reading standards have come under a firestorm of criticism from tea-party activists and commentators like Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin. Beck calls the standards a stealth “leftist indoctrination” plot by the Obama administration. Malkin warns that they will “eliminate American children’s core knowledge base in English, language arts and history.” As education scholars at two right-of-center think tanks, we feel compelled to set the record straight. Here’s what the Common Core State Standards are: They describe what children should know and the skills that they must acquire at each grade level to stay on course toward college- or career-readiness, something that conservatives have long argued for. The Common Core standards are also not a curriculum; it’s up to state and local leaders to choose aligned curricula. For decades, students in different states have been held to radically different expectations.
Can Student-Driven Learning Happen Under Common Core? Teaching Strategies Erin Scott By Marsha Ratzel Teachers use different strategies to help students learn. But if assessments mirror the broad principles and effective pedagogy that the CCSS authors have championed, there is hope that rote learning and teacher-driven classrooms will not be necessary in order for students to pass the test. Most student-driven classrooms start with a question. Three of the eight mathematical practices that lie at the heart of all the Common Core’s K-12 math standards could be statements that describe a student-centered classroom. For example, the capacities stated in the CCSS to “make sense of problems and persevere in solving them,” “reason abstractly and quantitatively,” and “construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others” are all integral to successful units where students ask and answer their own questions — and to a classroom where they see their viewpoint as valuable to the educational process. Related Explore: Common Core State Standards
The Myth Behind Public School Failure Until about 1980, America’s public schoolteachers were iconic everyday heroes painted with a kind of Norman Rockwell patina—generally respected because they helped most kids learn to read, write and successfully join society. Such teachers made possible at least the idea of a vibrant democracy. Since then, what a turnaround: We’re now told, relentlessly, that bad-apple schoolteachers have wrecked K-12 education; that their unions keep legions of incompetent educators in classrooms; that part of the solution is more private charter schools; and that teachers as well as entire schools lack accountability, which can best be remedied by more and more standardized “bubble” tests. What led to such an ignoble fall for teachers and schools? Did public education really become so irreversibly terrible in three decades? The beginning of “reform” To truly understand how we came to believe our educational system is broken, we need a history lesson. The era of accountability Resistance
The Common Core's Unsung Benefit: It Teaches Kids to Be Good Citizens - Ross Wiener The standards identify only three texts that every American student must read: the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. Architect of the Capitol/Wikimedia Commons The Common Core has started to take political flak from the right and the left. Conservatives worry about the overreach of federal incentives, while unions don’t want the standards connected to teacher evaluations. What is being lost? These new educational goals emphasize higher-level abilities: analysis and critical thinking; marshaling evidence and making arguments; collaboration and problem-solving; and communicating clearly. But Common Core is not just about college and career readiness. The Common Core identifies three texts—and only three texts—that every American student must read: the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Acknowledging the explicit prioritization of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S.