#StopCommonCore wins twitter war!

Heather Crossin • April 17, 2013 • 1 Comment

Yesterday, Common Core opponents and proponents engaged in a twitter war. Kyle Stokes of Indiana State Impact covered the story in his article, How Tuesday’s Twitter War Reflects the Broader Common Core Debate.

At first glance, readers might get the impression that tweeters were evenly divided on the issue, because the article includes an equal number of pro and con tweets. However, the most important portion of the story appears to toward the end, when it is makes clear which side won the dual:

A snapshot of Twitter analytics from the website Hashtracking around 1 pm ET showed the #StopCommonCore hashtag was “reaching” over 1.9 million Twitter users. #SupportTheCore reached closer to 260,000.

Also, be sure to read the comment section, which includes the following observation about the pro-Common Core, Hoosier tweets cited in the article:

IndyParent • 16 hours ago

A quick search reveals that at least 4 of the SupportCommonCore advocates with tweets above are paid to advocate for Common Core. One is the head of Michelle Rhee’s Students First organization in Indiana, one is Tony Bennett’s Communications Director in Florida, one is an Indianapolis Teach Plus fellow, and one worked for DFER in the recent past.

Hoosiers Against Common Core is sorry we failed to adequately alert people about this event. Had we, there certainly would have been even more #StopCommonCore tweets! We are also sorry we were unable to personally participate in the tweeting war, but we were busy down at the statehouse. We do appreciate Kyle Stokes coverage of this interesting story,which sends a strong message to Indiana House Republicans who will be debating and possibly voting on the Common Core “time-out” bill, HB1427, later this week.

Here’s the takeaway – Republican members of the House think long and hard before siding with the wishes of Education Committee Chariman, Representative Bob Behning, and sending HB1427 to a conference committee to be gutted or killed. The People of Indiana have spoken – again, and agains, and again. They deserve and it is time for a thorough public review and cost analysis, which should have been done prior to Indiana’s Common Core adoption. To ignore their wishes and deny them what is simply the hallmark of good governance would be a BIG mistake!