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 She points out that Georgia and Oklahoma have withdrawn from Common Core testing, and other states are debating whether to ditch the standards, the testing, or both.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.
