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Common Core Is Rotten to the Core
The New American
Brian Farmer
6/9/2014
Excerpt:
In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education published A Nation at Risk, which warned that the country’s economic, political, and cultural future was threatened by our weak education system. That report stated these now famous lines: “Our nation is at risk.... The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.... If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.... We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament.” A Nation at Risk brought about a renewed focus on what Americans should know and be able to do once they had finished their formal education.
Fast forward to 2001. In that year, President George W. Bush pushed his education policy, which came to be known as “No Child Left Behind,” and which promised to increase student achievement by encouraging states to set high standards and to develop assessments based on those standards. Unlike the initiatives before it, No Child Left Behind required states to test all students in certain subjects and at particular grade levels in order to receive federal funding. Most education experts eventually concluded that No Child Left Behind had failed to deliver real and lasting success, and ultimately left the nation’s schools in a bureaucratic mess.
In 2007, two special interest lobbying groups — the National Governors Association (which helps state governments get federal grants) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (which claims to provide leadership, advocacy, and technical assistance on major educational issues) — started work on a common set of curriculum standards in English language arts and mathematics. By allowing those two groups to lead the effort, it gave the impression that the states initiated the action. In reality, the situation resembled something closer to a Potemkin village. In other words, it was just a façade. Funding for the project was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. To date, the Gates Foundation has provided roughly $250 million to those and other pro-Common Core organizations. One might be inclined to think, “So, what?” But what if that quarter of a billion dollars in funding had come from the Koch brothers? Would people (especially the liberally inclined education establishment) still be likely to think, “So, what?”
It’s worth keeping in mind what inside informant “Deep Throat” told Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward during the Watergate scandal investigation: “Follow the money!”
In December of 2008, the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers produced a document on national education standards that would guide the Obama administration during its transition into office. Two months later, the secretary of education announced a federal education grant program known as “Race to the Top.” This program included billions of dollars from the 2009 Stimulus Bill, which was to be used by states to improve academic standards and assessments. In order to receive Race to the Top grants, states had to commit to “a set of content standards that define what students must know and be able to do and that are substantially identical across all states in a consortium.” In 2011, the Obama administration made the adoption of common standards even easier. Most states were still obligated to meet the onerous No Child Left Behind requirements, but the U.S. Department of Education promised No Child Left Behind waivers to states that adopted a common set of college-ready and career-ready standards and assessments. While the U.S. Department of Education did not require states to adopt the Common Core standards specifically, those standards are the only standards that meet the U.S. Department of Education’s criteria. As a result, all but a handful of states ultimately signed on to the Common Core program.
Common Core will now not only provide the framework for what students learn in math and English language arts, but it will also establish two federally funded and approved tests that will replace what states currently use to measure students’ academic success. Not wanting to be left out of the new national education marketplace, private companies are quickly trying to align themselves with the Common Core standards. (After all, there is a great deal of money to be made in this new educational environment!) In order to survive in the Common Core era, textbook publishers and other educationally related industries must show how their materials meet the new national standards. The SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) and ACT (American College Testing) college entrance exams are also now aligned to Common Core. Those who think that they can avoid Common Core by sending their children to private schools or by homeschooling their children must now deal with a new reality. In addition to college entrance exams, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the Stanford 10 — two popular tests used by private schools and by parents who homeschool — will also be aligned to Common Core. Within a few short years, Common Core has gone from being virtually unknown to being a national educational juggernaut that may end up influencing the formal education of tens of millions of elementary, middle-school, and high-school students in America for many years to come, despite the fact that Common Core has some serious flaws.
Cost
Common Core will be very expensive to implement and maintain. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, in 2012 published the study entitled “Putting a Price Tag on the Common Core: How Much Will Smart Implementation Cost?” on the cost of implementing Common Core standards and assessments nationwide, which estimated a price tag of about $16 billion over seven years. But no one really knows what the final price tag for Common Core will be. Most states acted irresponsibly when they adopted the standards because they did not first have a clear understanding of its price tag (they also acted irresponsibly because they did not have a clear understanding of the standards themselves). Many states saw the Race to the Top funds as a way to pay for immediate education expenses and failed to see that they were signing on to something that would be far more expensive in the long run. It should have been obvious that the new education standards and assessments would bring a need for new and different textbooks, tests, teacher training programs, computer software programs, and everything else that goes along with the change and expansion of a federal government program. But politicians and bureaucrats too often do what is expedient, rather than what is in the best interests of the taxpayers.
Privacy
The 2009 Stimulus Bill required states to begin tracking students in a database, starting in their preschool years, until their entry into the workforce. This database will link students’ results on Common Core-related assessments to other personal information, and will be available to a wide variety of departments within the federal government. While supporters of Common Core claim that the system employs measures to protect the anonymity of students, critics have pointed to studies that demonstrate how these measures will not be as secure as supporters assume. But the larger issue remains whether collecting such private information is consistent with the role of the federal government expressed by our nation’s Founders. After all, the data to be collected includes personal information, such as healthcare history, religion, and parents’ income. Defenders of Common Core insist that the data will be used only for the noblest of reasons and will never be part of a federal database. Some Common Core advocates even ridicule those who warn of the potential for abuse that such a system invites. But we should not be too quick to dismiss such possibilities, particularly given the federal government’s questionable track record, and the attitude of “political correctness” that is so rampant in various sectors of our society. Already a student named Brandon Jenkins was denied entry into a college radiation therapy program because of his Christian faith, the IRS has been caught targeting conservative organizations in its audits, and a federal law-enforcement “fusion center” disseminated materials that claimed that veterans and pro-life advocates were likely terrorists.
Quality
Rather than pushing all states toward high standards, Common Core is encouraging a race to the mediocre middle. For example, while Mississippi’s standards appear to get stronger by adopting Common Core, the standards in Massachusetts get weaker. Several curriculum experts have examined the math and English language arts standards and have discovered some alarming weaknesses. In fact, because of those concerns, both Sandra Stotsky and James Milgram, who served on the Common Core’s validation committee, refused to sign the final validation report.
...........................................
View the complete article at:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/cultur...en-to-the-core
The New American
Brian Farmer
6/9/2014
Excerpt:
In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education published A Nation at Risk, which warned that the country’s economic, political, and cultural future was threatened by our weak education system. That report stated these now famous lines: “Our nation is at risk.... The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.... If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.... We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament.” A Nation at Risk brought about a renewed focus on what Americans should know and be able to do once they had finished their formal education.
Fast forward to 2001. In that year, President George W. Bush pushed his education policy, which came to be known as “No Child Left Behind,” and which promised to increase student achievement by encouraging states to set high standards and to develop assessments based on those standards. Unlike the initiatives before it, No Child Left Behind required states to test all students in certain subjects and at particular grade levels in order to receive federal funding. Most education experts eventually concluded that No Child Left Behind had failed to deliver real and lasting success, and ultimately left the nation’s schools in a bureaucratic mess.
In 2007, two special interest lobbying groups — the National Governors Association (which helps state governments get federal grants) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (which claims to provide leadership, advocacy, and technical assistance on major educational issues) — started work on a common set of curriculum standards in English language arts and mathematics. By allowing those two groups to lead the effort, it gave the impression that the states initiated the action. In reality, the situation resembled something closer to a Potemkin village. In other words, it was just a façade. Funding for the project was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. To date, the Gates Foundation has provided roughly $250 million to those and other pro-Common Core organizations. One might be inclined to think, “So, what?” But what if that quarter of a billion dollars in funding had come from the Koch brothers? Would people (especially the liberally inclined education establishment) still be likely to think, “So, what?”
It’s worth keeping in mind what inside informant “Deep Throat” told Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward during the Watergate scandal investigation: “Follow the money!”
In December of 2008, the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers produced a document on national education standards that would guide the Obama administration during its transition into office. Two months later, the secretary of education announced a federal education grant program known as “Race to the Top.” This program included billions of dollars from the 2009 Stimulus Bill, which was to be used by states to improve academic standards and assessments. In order to receive Race to the Top grants, states had to commit to “a set of content standards that define what students must know and be able to do and that are substantially identical across all states in a consortium.” In 2011, the Obama administration made the adoption of common standards even easier. Most states were still obligated to meet the onerous No Child Left Behind requirements, but the U.S. Department of Education promised No Child Left Behind waivers to states that adopted a common set of college-ready and career-ready standards and assessments. While the U.S. Department of Education did not require states to adopt the Common Core standards specifically, those standards are the only standards that meet the U.S. Department of Education’s criteria. As a result, all but a handful of states ultimately signed on to the Common Core program.
Common Core will now not only provide the framework for what students learn in math and English language arts, but it will also establish two federally funded and approved tests that will replace what states currently use to measure students’ academic success. Not wanting to be left out of the new national education marketplace, private companies are quickly trying to align themselves with the Common Core standards. (After all, there is a great deal of money to be made in this new educational environment!) In order to survive in the Common Core era, textbook publishers and other educationally related industries must show how their materials meet the new national standards. The SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) and ACT (American College Testing) college entrance exams are also now aligned to Common Core. Those who think that they can avoid Common Core by sending their children to private schools or by homeschooling their children must now deal with a new reality. In addition to college entrance exams, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the Stanford 10 — two popular tests used by private schools and by parents who homeschool — will also be aligned to Common Core. Within a few short years, Common Core has gone from being virtually unknown to being a national educational juggernaut that may end up influencing the formal education of tens of millions of elementary, middle-school, and high-school students in America for many years to come, despite the fact that Common Core has some serious flaws.
Cost
Common Core will be very expensive to implement and maintain. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, in 2012 published the study entitled “Putting a Price Tag on the Common Core: How Much Will Smart Implementation Cost?” on the cost of implementing Common Core standards and assessments nationwide, which estimated a price tag of about $16 billion over seven years. But no one really knows what the final price tag for Common Core will be. Most states acted irresponsibly when they adopted the standards because they did not first have a clear understanding of its price tag (they also acted irresponsibly because they did not have a clear understanding of the standards themselves). Many states saw the Race to the Top funds as a way to pay for immediate education expenses and failed to see that they were signing on to something that would be far more expensive in the long run. It should have been obvious that the new education standards and assessments would bring a need for new and different textbooks, tests, teacher training programs, computer software programs, and everything else that goes along with the change and expansion of a federal government program. But politicians and bureaucrats too often do what is expedient, rather than what is in the best interests of the taxpayers.
Privacy
The 2009 Stimulus Bill required states to begin tracking students in a database, starting in their preschool years, until their entry into the workforce. This database will link students’ results on Common Core-related assessments to other personal information, and will be available to a wide variety of departments within the federal government. While supporters of Common Core claim that the system employs measures to protect the anonymity of students, critics have pointed to studies that demonstrate how these measures will not be as secure as supporters assume. But the larger issue remains whether collecting such private information is consistent with the role of the federal government expressed by our nation’s Founders. After all, the data to be collected includes personal information, such as healthcare history, religion, and parents’ income. Defenders of Common Core insist that the data will be used only for the noblest of reasons and will never be part of a federal database. Some Common Core advocates even ridicule those who warn of the potential for abuse that such a system invites. But we should not be too quick to dismiss such possibilities, particularly given the federal government’s questionable track record, and the attitude of “political correctness” that is so rampant in various sectors of our society. Already a student named Brandon Jenkins was denied entry into a college radiation therapy program because of his Christian faith, the IRS has been caught targeting conservative organizations in its audits, and a federal law-enforcement “fusion center” disseminated materials that claimed that veterans and pro-life advocates were likely terrorists.
Quality
Rather than pushing all states toward high standards, Common Core is encouraging a race to the mediocre middle. For example, while Mississippi’s standards appear to get stronger by adopting Common Core, the standards in Massachusetts get weaker. Several curriculum experts have examined the math and English language arts standards and have discovered some alarming weaknesses. In fact, because of those concerns, both Sandra Stotsky and James Milgram, who served on the Common Core’s validation committee, refused to sign the final validation report.
...........................................
View the complete article at:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/cultur...en-to-the-core