As parent resistance to high-stakes testing rises, so does public rejection of the Common Core. Several states are considering debating whether to drop the standards, and two–Georgia and Oklahoma–are dropping the testing because of its cost.
Stephanie Simon, who wrote many great investigative pieces for Reuters, has moved to Politico. There she questions whether Common Core is failing, a victim of hubris and cost. She points out that Georgia and Oklahoma have withdrawn from Common Core testing, and other states are debating whether to ditch the standards, the testing, or both.
But at the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a conservative think tank that is a cheerleader for the Common Core, Checker Finn shrugs off the dropouts and says that Common Core is right sizing. Checker sees a great need to be able to compare individual students in different states who take common tests, a need that I don’t share. Common Core tests will demonstrate what NAEP has shown for 40 years: kids from advantaged homes get higher test scores on average than kids with fewer advantages.
And then what? Instead of spending $16-20 Billion to get data that tell us what we already know, couldn’t we think of better ways to spend those billions, ways that actually might help kids do better in school?
Checker implies that the states that drop out of Common Core or don’t fully implement it will see grave consequences in “unemployment rates, economic-growth rates,” and other indicators. It will of course be interesting to see whether there is any relationship between the Common Core and economic growth. There is no objective reason, none based on evidence or experience, to say that there is. No one can say with any certainty what the effects of Common Core will be. How do they know? All sorts of grandiose claims have been made for Common Core, but no one knows whether Common Core will make any difference, whether it will increase achievement gaps, or anything else. No one knows.
The curious thing about the Common Core is that both its most fervent advocates and its loudest detractors are on the right side of the political spectrum.
Its cheerleaders include Jeb Bush, Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein, Bill Gates, the Fordham Institute, major corporations, chambers of commerce, as well as Secretary Duncan.
Its fiercest opponents include Tea Party activists, the libertarian Cato Institute, Jay Greene at the University of Arkansas, and the Pioneer Institute in Boston. Some object to federal intrusion into state and local matters. Some object to national standards on principle.
Most of the heavy hitters on the right love the Common Core. Some gleefully anticipate the sharp decline in proficiency rates that Common Core testing will generate, since the tests are supposed to be “harder.” They eagerly anticipate the bad news that will prove their belief that public education must be privatized. Some see the coming bad news as an opportunity to market their eduschlock, others welcome it as a boost for charters and vouchers. Common Core, its allies on the right believe, will unleash the “creative destruction” in which they fervently believe. For Other People’s Children.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
As an educator for more than two decades, I have begun the process of retirement paperwork! I think that is what they wanted me to do as they have robbed me of so many of my joys as an educator I never felt so disillusioned about my career choice but want to walk away with some of the most profound memories in my lifetime. Jonathan got into Harvard, Melissa – to Columbia, Jessica to MIT. Walsy to the London School of Econmoics. No one can take that away and there is no other social institution in our history that has accomplished/supported the dreams of our youth. I swear, I do not want to give up but not sure I can keep up anymore. There was an old book published a while back called ” I am Dancing as Fast as I Can well, that is me.
Attributing to the right that they are only about the money seems wrong to me. There are many on both sides who do the wrong things because of the money. The ultimate enticement. Oh and do see things wrong with the right too, like taking away food stamps. This is akin to no-tolerance policies with no thought of the unintended consequences.
But the left have their own demons, in a manner of speaking. Both sides are too busy blaming and gaming to pay attention or they simply ignore their shortcomings.
Seems to me there is a big difference between teaching a “common core” — with well developed curricula and other available professionally developed teaching aids — and using such for testing. Is a body of knowledge that all american citizens should know a particularly bad idea?
Barry, we already had that, in the form of textbooks. Testing is another thing altogether. I left education after 18 years because I could not ethically spend another year teaching juniors NOTHING that will help them with college or life. I have enrolled my own kids in a private school with a more classical approach. Most of my teacher friends also have their kids in private school. It stopped being about the content a long, long time ago.
Some take exception to the notion of American exceptional(ism). That church except for Islam can be taught or that pride in our country is a bad thing. Many secretly our military and despise anyone and anything that contradicts them. Like Bush bad, Obama/Clinton/liberals good.. And people wonder why Americans get sick of the rhetoric.
Diane, this post describes the context quite well. Thank you. Well beyond education standards, it highlights the concept of motivation. Why is that the extremists and those on the far right have such strong feelings about this particular topic – and we could add to it now their views on the Student Success Act (AKA Rttt, NCLB, Goals 2000…)?
For the advocates,
Could it be “follow the money” and seeing those profit lights going off for publishers and “I stand for high standards and measurements” for campaign slogans?
Could it be that spending all this money will help them sleep at night since while they ignore poverty and other social issues?
Could it be the standards fit into their obsession with a Broad/TFA scripted and efficient business model and narrow definition of professional as “one who raises test scores?”
Could it be the standards to standardization is a way to control children (while oppressing them in regimented, uniformed, drill and test schools)?
For the critics,
Could it be another example for the ‘states rights’ mantra (and we all know what is underneath that)?
Could it be their worry that big government might be indoctrinating kids or worse, teaching kids to think for themselves?
Very few of those getting soundbites on Common Core are talking about the actual standards? Too rigorous at some grade levels? Appropriate content? Academically sound? All of that gets glossed over as if if there were a yellow brick road from Common Core Standards to high test scores to college and career readiness,all good jargon that the majority of critics and supporters have no clue about what they mean.
What is really too bad is that no one is asking or listening to the professionals who have been at this for a very long time like NCTM, NCSS, NSTA, NCTE, or others. The National Council of Teacher of English perspective on Common Core is right on target – http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/teacherexpertise – but I doubt few people have asked them what they think?
Can you tell me what is underneath states’ rights mantras?
I had a sheltered upbringing–I really cannot guess what you mean. What do you mean?
A state that is very comfortable with segregated schools
A state whose state board wants evolution out of the curriculum
A state that does everything it can to impose restrictions on voting to keep some populations for voting.
A state that thinks special education costs and regulations are excessive
A state that has done nothing with a funding formula to put schools in poverty stricken areas on a level playing field.
A state that cuts any funding that can be connected to early childhood and/or parent education for kindergarten readiness.
A state that thinks charter schools that warehouse kids whose only successes are higher attendance and student behavior are the answer to everything
A state that puts profit and low taxes first on its priority list
In other words, states that want to segregate kids, raise kids in a bubble, and, if they had their way, would reverse or repeal Brown v. Board, Title IX, P.L. 94-142 (IDEA), Plyler v. Doe.
And, states that want segregated charter schools and vouchers to blur church and state.
Bill Gates funds his cheerleaders. So anything people say from the following organizations about the Common Core should be considered bought and paid for:
$500,000 to Foundation for Excellence in Education
$1,000,000 to The Fordham Institute
$3,600,000 to The Aspen Institute
$5,500,000 to The Hunt Institute
$5,000,000 to The American Federation of Teachers
$5,000,000 to The National PTA
$5,000,000 to Council of Great City Schools
$1,500,000 to National Association of State Boards of Education
As far as their claims that states refusing to go along with CC might miss out on employment opportunities for their graduating students, they might be right. Ultimately the data collection system, InBloom, will create electronic resumes for each child which potential employers and the Department of Labor will have access to. The students attendance, academic and disciplinary record will be included as well as more sensitive information about religious and political affiliations and sexual orientation not to mention attitudes such as their ability to go along to get along. WalMart and McDonald’s, (two of the biggest employers in the U.S.) will get to pick and choose. Wouldn’t want to miss out on that now would you?
We wouldn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to record every misstep each child makes in the process of growing up. And here I thought that “missteps” were a natural part of learning! I have a feeling that this massive data pool will just become another way to weed out miscreants.
As a Catholic school teacher in a state that has adopted the Common Core Standards, I certainly have concerns, despite the fact that Alabama also dropped out of the testing consortia. No, I am not impressed that the federal government seems to be getting itself too involved with education, health care, etc. but that is not the only reason I have concerns about Common Core. Diane, what do you know to be the truth about the claim that Common Core has been internationally benchmarked? I also do not like that classroom teachers seemed to have been left out of the process of developing the Standards. Because the Standards were developed by people not in the classroom much less education, (What does David Coleman really know about teaching first graders to read and write?) and because the Standards started with the higher grades and made thier way down, a lot of things not appropriate for early childhood education are now in early childhood gades’ curriculum. I wonder what higher ups and professors( specially those who teach math, science, literature, writing,, politics, history and teacher education) at colleges and besides Fordham–really think of Common Core. Maybe they are like me. At first, I thought Common Core sounded like a good idea; everyone College and Career ready. I had not done any research of my own at that point; I was just listening to what higher ups said. Then, I started to realize that one apporoach will not meet all of my students needs much less the needs of all of the students in the nation and I started researching Common Core (how I landed on this blog site) and my concerns have only grown. What is going to happen to creativity and innovation? If nothing else, Common Core should have been piloted in a few states for awhile. before all these states jumped on the bandwagon, many before either the curriculum or testing had been developed and the testing is still being developed as I type this comment. I do not like how Common Core is being touted as voluntary. Maybe if the federal government and its money and waivers had stayed out of the picture it would have been. Every educational product seems to be too cozy with the people who developed Common Core. David Coleman is now President of College Board. Pearson, whose textbooks are used all over the country is involved with the test consortia. ACT, the company charged with developing Alabam’s next generaton tests was at one point involved with the testing consortia. McGraw Hill, another text book provider across the country had a cozy relationship with Gates at one time. How many people are even aware of the havoc that Gates has wreaked regarding education in New Orleans and New York? Teachers are being fed by their principals who are being fed by their superintendents who are being fed by their state superintendent that Common Core is a good thing. Well, aren’t state superintendents memebrs of the Chief Council as part of the Governors Association and Achieve? How many district superintendednts, principals and teachers have really spent time researching Common Core? I’d be willing to bet that the Chambers of Commerce–including the one in my city–simply like the jingle of Colllege and Careeer Ready and have not done any research. Finally, Diane is right in that we are pouring a lot of money into researching something that we already know; kind of like the continued testing to see if sugary items like soft drinks affect the rise of obesity in children. Why does the govenment need to know something like a child’s religion anyway? I commend states such as Indianna who have paused the Common Core to take a better look at it. I hope that truth is both discovered and prevails. I also commend states like Georgia that have told the truth about the expenses of the testing that was to go along with Common Core and said no. Alabama, I believe, pulled out of the testing as a way to calm parents’ fears about Federal Governments intrusion into education and the lives of children. I still wish that Alabama would join Indianna and other states who have paused Common Core.
Maybe if states worked together, we could find out the truth about Common Core. I am not opposed to changing my opinion when the right facts are presented in the right way.
A fantastic summation of the unfounded sales job that is Common Core.
Thank you, Diane.
Catholic school teacher needs to be concerned, because even as the states are dropping it, NCEA (National Catholic Education Association) has held on tight to its reigns. The leadership is taking the Common Core Roadshow across the nation, and showing how Common Core is implemented in Catholic classrooms. My bet is when Common Core is stripped from the states, it will still reign in Catholic schools.
How many of us say on a daily basis…thank god my kids our out of school?….and all I can think about right after that is how am I going to home school my future grandchildren?
Be careful, homeschooling grandmother want to be. Even if you can educate children without using textbooks (They Common Core based now.) Commonc Core will affect homeschoolers. SAT, ACT, the GED and AP exams for students in AP classes are all going the way of Common Core. It may even affect our colleges and universities. Common Core education is going to affect pretty much every child except Obama’s, Gates and other friends of theirs. They will always be able to get around it.
Funny use of that chicken little analogy; I was under the impression that the reason Common Core came about was that the “sky was falling.”
Now Common Core is the sky.
??
Yes, but NOT all colleges take SAT and ACT tests. I suspect there will be a strong push for colleges to drop admitting these test in the near gurure.
” Common Core tests will demonstrate what NAEP has shown for 40 years: kids from advantaged homes get higher test scores on average than kids with fewer advantages. ”
Thank you.
the future. Can’t type after a long work day.
Still wondering…Can anyone state for sure whether or not the CCSS are internationally benchmarked as they are claimed to be?
I think there is something to be said about the uniformity of the CC standards. For example, in 2011-2012 Florida decided to raise their expectations on the writing portion of their standardized test. They decided to make the passing level harder in order to reflect what they believe the PARCC test will be like…a huge percentage of students failed. Therefore, they decided to lower the passing level in order to appease the parents/teachers. States have so much flexibility, it is difficult to see which state is truly rigorous i.e., a fourth grader in Florida may SEEM like a fourth grader in New York (similar skills, etc) but we have no sound way to prove it.
Anyway, I have personally used the CC standards for the past year and really liked them. They are just a guide of what your curriculum should include. There’s still plenty of opportunity for differentiation, creativity, inquiry, etc. And they are quite rigorous which is great. I used the standards and created entire units based on them. They are vague so you can take them and do so much with them. For example, one standard is ensuring that you know the parts of a play…so we did a play!
I do agree with the statement that the tests will show us what we know, advantaged students score higher. However, I don’t think we need to be so negative that our students will now learn the same concepts nation wide to ensure unformity among their skills and avoid grade inflation by any state. That way we can get a true picture of where we are and where we need to go. So here’s a teacher who is on board!
Reference Articles: http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/Dramatic_Drop_in_Preliminary_FCAT_Writing_Scores_151388645.html?device=phone
I agree with you about having common standards. I just wish we didn’t have to buy into these rigorous test preps, etc. I don’t really have an issue with the standards themselves (although I think there needs to be an entrance ramp in implementing them. Many kids just aren’t at these levels starting off). I just wish each school had the sovereignty to implement their own assessments based on the standards. Not a fan of standardized testing across the board like this.
And here’s the thing no one will say in a way that will force meaningful discussion: the only kids who are held to these standards are the disadvantaged ones. Because the advantaged ones are either at charter schools which follow a classical model, in private schools, or in public schools which score high whether they follow the standards or not. We are leaving millions of kids behind.
I think that the education system we have is failing our youngsters rather than helping them. If common core is only showing the differences between the haves and have-nots, maybe a new system should be created, one based around college financial aid and mor nationally funded than locally funded.
At least that’s my idea.
We had a meeting with some of the Common Core proponents in our district and my main concern and questions centered around just what you’re pointing out. In particular, I asked how we would be assessed. I got the runaround. My fear is that the assessments like most tests won’t reflect what the students or the teachers can really do. In theory, anything can sound great. In actuality, well, we will see.
http://blackstoneinitiative.com/2013/06/26/the-good-in-common-core/.
“Instead of spending $16-20 Billion to get data that tell us what we already know, couldn’t we think of better ways to spend those billions, ways that actually might help kids do better in school?”
good… rethink the solutions
I worked as a prep-test tutor/substitute teacher for a few years. While I was never a legit teacher, I have written lesson plans and followed my students’ progress and all that. One thing that struck me was just how much the kids’ social/economic advantages matter when it comes to education, if only for getting into the “right schools”. My conservative friends disagree with me, but I don’t see how you can discount that factor; it’s such an obvious problem.
Drop Common Core? Why not drop education altogether. It’s just too hard, right?
Thanks for bringing up this topic. I teach in a private school in NY, and we are on the edge of deciding if we are opting-in or out. In our area, schools in the past year were adopting CCSS in an accelerated way, and it seemed to have a negative effect. NY already has our own state assessments, and I believe that our state tests will move toward the CCSS by 2014-15. As a teacher, I am tired of teaching to the test. I’ve tried to not but still prepare my kids for our state tests, and the kids just don’t transfer the info. They need to be test-prepped, and it definitely is a hindrance to the good learning that could be taking place. We should know in the fall our school’s official position.
I understand the need to have a consistent standard state-to-state, but it all just sounds like another money-maker to me. And schools will buy in b/c of the funding they get. Grrr.
Interesting article. One of the problems of doing away with standards is that students are then not exposed to other thoughts. The great artist may not exist if there is no art in the school curriculum. The engineer may not develop if there are no courses to engender that profession. We never know what our likes and dislikes are unless we are exposed to a variety of experiences. I enjoy writing and if not taught some basics would I write. History is necessary in understanding what democracy is about. Do away with it and will students really understand their freedoms.
Awax1217, I would agree with you if the Common Core was about great thoughts and great artists and great history. It is not. It is a skills-based set of standards, with only passing mention of exemplars.
Unfortunately I stand corrected. They have watered it down and taken out the guts.
Diane: Please don’t forget that Utah has also dropped the test. We were just in the other consortium (SBAC).
A lot of programs are being dropped because of cost. And this runs the gamut from law enforcement policies such as sex offenders to education. It is unforgivable to take away from children the basic learning blocks. Things like phonetics and basic math skills have taken backseat to Christian-bashing and sensitivity training.
I am researching this topic now but as I see it, what we need to learn is growing so fast, that we cannot keep up. I will say this, no tolerance and mandatory sentencing guidelines have become an albatross that we can longer afford.
Let’s marshal our forces, eliminate needless oversight where we can and use that money for our kids and their education.
Lastly, let’s list all the democrats who are involved in Common Core and let’s not let this morph into political urban legend.
I forgot and I am sorry but there is a lot of good intentions that get clouded by fancy rhetoric and political agenda. I totally totally respect teachers. If anyone knows what the issues are, it would be them (you). Getting kids excited to read would be a great thing and teaching them manners. These things would prepare them for the rigors of the rel world.
On the one hand, I went through the public education system in Texas in the 80s and early 90s. Due to the sesquicentennial celebrations, all students had to take a year of Texas history, in addition to the already required year of Texas history in high school. One year of world history, two of Texas history. Any national system that can develop a more reasonable balance for all students across the country isn’t the worst idea in the world.
On the other, the common core cuts out or ignores so many critical subject areas, like geography for one, not to mention reasoning skills, critical thinking, group problem solving, skills that are essential to succeed in today’s workforce.
As a grandmother who home schooled my granddaughter this past year, I was not aware of any such thing as Common Core until one day the words appeared on the Florida Virtual school site. It was laborious to read just what this Common Core is about without a lawyer to define certain passages. This program was introduced much like Obamacare…right under our sleeping noses. This alone should cause national concern no matter what political party you support.
I spent every single day of the week with my granddaughter on the curriculum that was devised for the sixth grade. Did I ever receive an awakening!! Not only about the quality of the curriculum but also about WHAT and HOW World History is being represented and taught. Secularism is at the helm of all that is being taught.( example: no longer are they allowed to use B.C. ..”Before Christ” but instead they must use “Before Common Era”) Whole modules are devoted to the teachings of other religious theologies: Buddhism, Hinduism, etc..but only a few paragraphs teach anything about Christianity from its inception. I used this opportunity to inject my family’s Christian values and history into the lesson for the sake of my granddaughtter. Unless parents and grandparents are aware of all that the government is doing to secularize and indoctrinate our children then all will be hopeless no matter HOW they are tested. The Common Core does little but to mold a generation of fresh minds to learn what it deems important and present it as something for the “common good.” If you believe this then we have already reached the precipice of a disturbingly steep slope.
Thank you for posting evidence of the propaganda I have been warning about contained in the common core. Some teachers think these are just standards that present a series of skills that our students should master by graduation. The standards themselves may be empty skill sets, but the CC aligned materials are packed with new age thinking. The CC is actually a United Nations initiative. The sooner we all acknowledge this, the better. Bill Gates pledged allegiance to the UNESCO constitution and promised to disseminate the goals and values of the UN far and wide through the world wide curriculum he and Microsoft are developing. Bill Gates is in charge of our US Department of Education through his puppets, Arne Duncan and Barack Obama. Bill Gates has given millions to the UN just like Rockefeller and all of the other great eugenicists of our time. The UN is sending the “Ark of Hope” around the world to be seen by lots of school children. This ark, made out of sycamore, contains the “Earth Charter: In order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, fulfill their obligations under existing international agreements, and support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an international legally binding instrument on environment and development. It is a plan to establish one world government with the UN in charge of all resources. Mikhail Gorbachev hopes that one day the Earth Charter will replace the Ten commandments. Children are supposed to learn that all religions are equal and that what will really bring us all together in peace and harmony is loving Mother Earth. It is a religion of environmentalism and it is being used to destroy American values and make anyone who stands up and professes to be a Christian to feel like an outsider, a relic of the old ways, not politically correct. You are right to teach your granddaughter the truth. Turn the TV off and don’t let the brainwash seep in and whatever you do, stop teaching from CC aligned materials. Teach from the great books.
what is giving me a headache in all of this is that NO ONE who’s been busy criticizing the “failure” of public education has even vaguely hinted at what precisely education is supposed to DO in the first place. The economy simply isn’t a satisfactory answer. I taught in a NYC high school for 11 years–taught economics for half of those years. But when all those banks began to fail, I didn’t feel even the teensiest bit guilty. In fact, I can proudly say that my students knew why.
The Common Core had the potential to level the playing field across states–something that hasn’t been mentioned even once. And that would have been a good thing. It would have meant that what American students should know and be able to do, at least in English and math, would be the same regardless of where the the kids were living. Instead, the Common Core became a cash cow for testing companies and privatizers. People, get real. You cannot change direction until you know where you want to go. We need to know what we want from education. And we really need to level the playing field so that a kid from NYC who was barely passing doesn’t move to Florida and get 90s while working part-time. And thank you cerrosolo fpr mentioning “critical thinking,” which I’m beginning to believe is the last thing any of the “reformers” wants Americans to posses.
I don’t see what’s wrong with the expectation of education to yield employability. It certainly was that for ME; whatever else it might be, at least it delivered that for me. Isn’t that enough of “self-discovery” to justify it?
The top 5 employers in the U.S. are Wal-Mart (2.1 million), IBM (436,085), United Parcel Service (400,600), McDonald’s (400,000), and Target (355,000). “Keep in mind, though, that not all these jobs are U.S. jobs. Many of these employers have a significant percentage of their workers in other nations.” (Source: USA Today)
I’m guessing IBM, the only one with good paying jobs is the one with the “workers in other nations.” Our students don’t need to know much to become employed in the only places that are hiring now. And the fascists at the UN don’t want an educated world populace because they have decided that could be a problem for their agenda.
“Generally, more highly educated people who have higher incomes, consume more resources than poorly educated people who tend to have lower incomes. In this case, more education increases the threat of sustainability.”–The Sustainability Toolkit.
The Common Core is designed to dumb children down and indoctrinate them with environmental propaganda. The standards themselves don’t do this, but the CC aligned materials which are fitted to the tests do it. Have you looked at some of this stuff? Math questions are answered by consensus. Computation skills go untaught. First graders learning about Mesopotamia instead of “what’s in my New York neighborhood?” They are supposed to think of themselves as “global citizens” with responsibilities like not using too much oil in their lifetimes and giving up driving a personal car so they can live in an eco-prison right next to their crummy job.
It is one thing to be thankful that your education did help you to find a job, a good job, I am hoping. It is quite another to endorse a system that is designed by the state to train students to work for the corporations who need them.
And something else no one is talking about (because it is gruesome) is the fact that the people so intent on pushing the CC are avowed eugenicists. Bill Gates has donated millions to depopulation efforts and organizations. Prince Bernhard who founded the World Wildlife Foundation, one of the biggest movers and shakers in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), was a Nazi whose stated mission was to reduce the world’s population to less than 1 billion. Maurice Strong and the rest of the wacko’s at the UN have also come to the conclusion that the world would be better off without 6 billion of us. They have not shared their detailed plans for accomplishing this but I am almost certain they have hidden them in plain sight. Bill Gates has pledged his allegiance to the UN. So has David Rockefeller. Common Core is a UN initiative. Our children are not in good hands.
Dawn: I suppose I share some of your concerns about the substance of the CC, but I have not personally examined any of the alignment materials. Scholars have been using BCE for decades. That IS a recognition of the multiplicity of calendars. One way of defining “secularism” is that we live in a world of multiple religions. I don’t see much remedy for that. My beef with the CC is with the data collection on individual children and with its being part of an assessment of teachers. The last time I went through a McDonalds drive through the personnel there made two mistakes. Certainly their level of focus and performance needs to be up graded. Just looking at the CC standards, I imagine that a student’s ability to meet them might also make them better employees, though I doubt any worker at McDonalds sees that as a “career” job. I doubt even the implementation and alignment materials could downgrade education below where those kids were. I don’t know about the math standards. For problem solving I see no problem with working together. For addition and subtraction facts and for the multiplication tables I do acknowledge a certain amount of pure drill might be worthwhile. I understand the argument about “global citizen” and I do find that as quite pernicious. Frankly, I’d be perfectly happy to see the whole CCSS apparatus dry up and blow away in the wind. State departments of education usually have enough expertise to come up with quite acceptable state standards. I hear these arguments about “one worlders” and in part agree that there is a UN centered global focus on idiocies like man made global warming.
Having said all that, however, a GOOD education is needed for jobs above the 1.xx million employed by the five organizations you mention. In the circles with which I am familiar EVERYONE plans to go to college. There’s very little dumbing down. I would hate to think that the CCSS really are less challenging than the standards in place now. Chemistry is chemistry. Physics is still physics. Calculus is still calculus. As long as kids are taking those courses in high school, I can hardly see how the CCSC per se can drag THEM down.
My particular family traditions happens to be Christian, but when the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church can’t even agree on the date of Easter, who can take them that seriously as institutions. It’s a scandal. Beside that, BCE seems to me trivial.
What is important is the tradition of freedom of conscience guaranteed by the US Constitution, that no one religious tradition can gain the government power to compel people to believe X, Y, or Z as a condition of employment. It’s generally the secular ability to do a job that matters, and that’s what I see education as facilitating.
Harlan, please do not call me a “one worlder” as that makes it sound as if I am part of an odd group that persists in skewing all facts to fit a world view rather than looking at the facts and drawing a conclusion. I understand that it is very unsettling to discover information that completely destroys all validity of the ideas one grew up with and that is why the majority of people don’t want to know more than what they are told on the evening news. However, those of us who are fascinated by historical facts don’t wish to be marginalized with pejoratives. Enough said.
The problems with the CC are numerous. For one, the math is fuzzy. Math has been fuzzy for a while now with Everyday Math and now it will be worse. The CC aligned materials allow students to come up with their own ways of adding double digits instead of teaching it the way you and I learned. Answers will be arrived at by consensus. Algebra will not be taught in 8th grade which is when I took it. And so high school students will not get to Calculus any more. Mathematicians looking at the CC say that the standards will put our students one to two years behind students from other countries.
Our government has been taken over by foreign bankers and an elite bunch of eugenicists. The CC is a power grab by the federal Department of Education (now run by Bill Gates) to create a school-to-work system in which docile drones will be produced that can flip burgers and press colored pictures of items on a cash register. They don’t want an informed citizenry who remembers that they even have a Constitution. They want global citizens who are willing to give up everything to save the planet because they have been brainwashed. It is in the CC aligned materials that the real brainwash is embedded. CC may be an empty set of skills that wouldn’t hurt anyone to know but the people who are pushing this into the schools are viewing this as an opportunity to indoctrinate starting with the very youngest of our citizens. Pearson writes the textbooks. Pearson is controlled by Gates. Gates supports the UN. The UN wants one world government. CC materials indoctrinate our youth to want one world government. If you love America and love the Constitution, Common Core is not O.K.
I wasn’t aware that I had called you a “one worlder.” That’s a UN view. I too want to see this nation returned to a constitutional republic. I am glad you are putting this view of the CCSS out on this list serve, although most of those here see no problem with being a “world citizen” and other logical impossibilities, however much they oppose the CCSS for other reasons. We can coin a new phrase: “The Devil is in the exemplars.”
I guess I did misunderstand at whom you were directing the term “one worlder.” I think you may be right about the bloggers here. I get no agreement and no argument. They must have written me off as a nutter already. I guess I should move on to more productive work. I spent over an hour briefing my town supervisor on Agenda 21 today. He was actually curious. That was refreshing. Can I stop the “soft law” of our comprehensive sustainable development plan from turning into actually fascist local ordinances? I don’t know, but I am going to try.
Farewell comrades.
Interesting post. The ironic thing is that Indiana is just getting into Common Core. We fully implement it during the 2014-2015 school year.
As an educator I have a deep problem with the Common Core. But I have a deep problem with our schooling in general, and think it needs to be addressed without reference to what we are already trying to do (and failing terribly at doing).
patience. No one here even knows what a great book is, except you, and possibly me.
Certainly, it is alarming that “only 70% of all students in public high schools graduate, and only 32% of all students leave high school qualified to attend four-year colleges” (Greene & Forster, 2003, Executive Summary).
The new Common Core State Standards are designed to be internationally benchmarked and aligned with college and work expectations. IMO: Great concept, and perhaps it is a step in the right direction. The problem is – initiatives are not currently aligned with our fleet of high-stakes testing (FCAT, FCAT 2.0, EOCs, whatever). Ultimately, there is a lot at stake for districts/schools/educators who do not “teach to the test”. It would not be reasonable to do away with assessments altogether, but I look FW to the day we have better alignment between K-12 curriculum/assessments and college-entry standards (ACT, SAT, PERT, whatever).
Your statistics are wrong. By the age of 18-24, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 90% of American youth are high school graduates.
70% graduation rate in 2003
“only 70% of all students in public high schools graduate, and only 32% of all students leave high school qualified to attend four-year colleges”
Source: Greene, J. P., & Forster, G. (2003). Public high school graduation and college readiness rates in the United States. New York: Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. Retrieved from http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/ewp_03.htm
90% graduation goal by 2020
“90 percent high school graduation rate for the Class of 2020, gives us hope that these positive trends can continue”
Source: America’s Promise (2012). Building a Grad Nation. Retrieved from: http://www.americaspromise.org/~/media/Files/Our%20Work/Grad%20Nation/Building%20a%20Grad%20Nation/BuildingAGradNation2012.ashx
Livelovedissertate, you are outing decade-old figures. Please read my new book. Available September 17. US graduation rates are highest ever. By age18-24, 90% of our youth have a high school diploma.
Would love to. However, the point still stands that HS graduation rates are high but college readiness rates are low. This is a problem.