Russ Pulliam: Let’s Pause on Common Core

Russ Pulliam had an article in last Saturday’s Indianapolis Star entitled “Let’s pause on Common Core.”  Pulliam rightly tells readers the following:

The new superintendent of public instruction, Democrat Glenda Ritz, wants to pause. She has been joined by a few conservative Republicans who see Common Core as a nationalization of education standards.

He goes on to explain his position that the “pause reason works for several reasons.”  Among those are the high cost of the Common Core:

But new tests and instructional materials could cost as much as $500 million over a number of years.

Could the money be better spent on reading in elementary schools? Is Ritz correct that education reform has placed too much emphasis on testing?

He also issues the following warning to members of the Indiana General Assembly:

Ritz soundly defeated the state’s biggest advocate of Common Core, Tony Bennett. Republican leaders in the General Assembly will ignore that election result at their future political peril.

Pulliam is right on every count!