Carol Burris has been one of the leading voices in opposition to corporate education reform in New York state. Whenever anyone tries to imply that opposition to the Common Core comes only from the Tea Party, there is Carol Burris–a progressive high school principal–as a counter-example.
Burris has led the principals’ revolt against high-stakes testing and against evaluating educators according to student test scores.
In this article, she describes the progressive revulsion to Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is more attuned to the interests of major corporations and big-money donors than to parents and educators.
Burris sees Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout as the progressive who is likeliest to challenge Governor Cuomo in a Democratic primary, running against him on his left flank, where he has big vulnerabilities.
Given the upset defeat of Eric Cantor in Virginia, no politician can rest easy as they approach an election. In many states and districts, voters are angry and feel cheated.
Cantor was surprised. Let’s see if Cuomo coasts to victory, as he expects, and as Cantor expected.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
That’d be nice, but I think it’s becoming clear that long-term stable solutions to this mess will be achieved only by freeing our educational system from the whims of political winds.
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Note to political operatives:
The great untapped reservoir in the coming election cycles is the public antipathy for the out-of-control standardized testing system, the federal overreach in the education in NCLB and Son of NCLB, and the Common [sic] Core [sic].
If your opponent is in favor of the foregoing, you can defeat him or her on that issue online.
Remember Lyndon Johnson’s daisy commercial?
Well, people don’t take very kindly to having their kids abused and their schools turned into test prep factories, either. And the sure as heck don’t like the idea of a distant, federally supported group of plutocrats making all the decisions for their local schools.
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Thank you for reminding us of that powerful 1964 commercial. I decided to use the Johnson’s daisy commercial in my FB so as to remind NYS voters that they need to come out and vote in the gubernatorial election. I reminded them of the ABC’s – Anyone But Cuomo.
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I envision a third grade girl with a No. 2 pencil chained to her hand/wrist filling out an endless set of bubble tests. A ball and chain encircles the girl, her seat and desk. Inscribed on the huge metal ball are the words Common Core Tests. An ominous drum beat provides the background music. Slowly coming into focus, the understated headline reads, “Please Stop the Madness”
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This is excellent news! There are many angry democrats in NY who see Cuomo as a Corporate Democrat who cares nothing for our public school children. It would be great to see what happened to Cantor happen to Cuomo. I can’t wait for primary day!!!
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The Reverend Mike Huckabee recently told the Rheeformish faithful that the term Common Core had become so toxic that they should “rebrand.” In other words, they should call they should say that they are dropping the federal “standards” and rename them the Sunshine State Skyway to Colleges and Careers Standards or the Idaho Outgrits the Singaporeans Standards or whatever. In other words, the Rev. Mike’s advice was, “Lie about them.”
This was a slimy, repulsive suggestion, of course, but it’s based in a truth: the Common Core has become toxic. Folks in the Education Deform echo chamber have no notion about the extent to which this is so.
But they will when people start winning elections, all around the country, on this issue alone.
And this is NOT, definitely NOT, a right-wing or left-wing phenomenon. The antipathy for the CCSS comes from the left, right, and center, and much of it comes from very highly experienced and knowledgeable educators who happen not to think that the amateurs chosen by Achieve and the CCSSO and paid by Gates to hack these “standards” together have the right to micromanage the work of every teacher, administrator, curriculum coordinator, and curriculum developer in the country.
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yikes. a number of typos and infelicities of expression in that post, which was written all too hurriedly
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…and yet, your post is another terrific one! 😊
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It looks like I have someone else to donate money to if Zephyr Teachout runs against Cuomo.
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If New Yorkers were to elect a Governor who truly cares a bout education for all, perhaps citizens in other states would follow New York’s example.
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There should be a national teachers strike.
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There should be a national employees’ strike . . . . . to make a statement against the 2%, against the 400 wealthiest families who own the equivalent of 50% of all American families’ assets combined.
There should be this national strike to make a statement about redistribution of wealth.
Plain and simple.
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….or, national keep your kids home from school day.
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