How we took down the Common Core
Yesterday’s Indianapolis Star contained a great article by Russ Pulliam entitiled, How Indiana’s grass-roots activists took down the Common Core. It begins:
The Common Core academic standards looked like a mighty Goliath when opponents began their opposition last year.
Adopted by almost all the states, the standards had powerful backing in Indiana from the state Chamber of Commerce, Gov. Mitch Daniels and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett. Supporters also included Stand for Children and Democrats for Education
Reform. Everybody who was anybody in education was for it.
Yet, a couple of Marion County moms led a ragtag opposition at tea party gatherings. State Sen. Scott Schneider was a lonely opponent in the General Assembly, and he was in a tight re-election race against Tim DeLaney, a well-funded Democrat from a locally well-known political family.
But the scales tipped in favor of the critics in recent weeks in the House of Representatives as the General Assembly was ending its four-month session.
Be sure and read the whole article to get a further account of just how historic this victory really is. The grass-roots activists in Indiana should be proud of the work they did to get HB1427 passed. It truly is a case of David versus Goliath. Stay tuned, because we aren’t done yet!
Why would you be proud of helping to make Indiana kids dumber and less competitive than they already are with kids in other states and countries?
This country needs uniform academic standards to assure that kids are on an equal learning level with each other. It was previously a mishmash, because every state’s standards were different. 46 states see the logic in these uniform learning standards. What’s wrong with Indiana??? Why are you afraid to let your kids work hard and succeed?
Common Core establishes uniform learning goals for each grade, K-12, and each grade’s learning builds from the one the previous year. When kids graduate, they are ready for college or a career that can help them make a good wage with promotion potential and support a family.
It’s just common sense also, because colleges and universities, by and large, have pretty much the same admission standards, and employers have basic educational hiring standards, so if your school or state doesn’t pay attention to those standards,your kids will be shunted aside to catch up or rejected for jobs.
I used to work at a community college where the majority of freshmen had to take remedial classes like math, English and writing before they could even begin regular classes, and many dropped out. They couldn’t solve simple math problems or write a decent sentence or paragraph. Employers who worked with the college told me that young job applicants didn’t have the literacy skills to properly fill out applications and couldn’t follow directions or show up on time. No success for them!
A lot of smart people across the country have worked really hard to formulate a reasoned approach to make public education actually useful to kids for their future.
Voodoo education will not do it anymore.
While everyone agrees there are problems in education, the academic standards in Indiana are not the cause. Several standard evaluators have decided that Indiana’s former standards were superior to the Common Core standards (see Fordham Institutes 2010 State of State Standards) which recommended Indiana should “take a wait and see approach to adopting the Common Core” as they had too much to lose.
That is exactly what the legislation will do, carefully compare the standards and make a wise decision. What are people afraid of, a little transparency? If they are so great, prove it in the study. Opposition to the Common Core has no problem justifying its position.
I can’t imagine that any person in their right mind would consider spending hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars to implement a set of standards that are inferior to what we had. Let alone, encourage spending valuable education dollars to “fix” something that isn’t the problem. If I had a broken leg, I wouldn’t spend one cent on a brace for my arm.
Teachers and classrooms need money and attention. Through the adoption of Common Core, that need is being diverted to pay publishing, testing and professional development companies to provide a service we don’t need. What is the sense in paying all these corporations millions and millions only to institute a set of standards which are inferior to what we had? If you believe this, call me, I have a 1970’s pinto I’ll trade you for your new Maserati.
Having a majority of states doing something or having a “consensus” means nothing more than states were lured into the program with Federal $$.
I saw what common core standards are doing to schools. My son’s first grade honors day program at school was sad. Because of the standards based report cards, his school has adopted the “everyone gets a trophy mentality”. No one was recognized for excellence. The smartest students were lumped right in with the mediocre. Almost everyone got a certificate for excellence in math and reading. What significance does a certificate have when 80% of the students get it? What incentive do the best and brightest have if they aren’t going to be rewarded for their efforts? It’s NOT good.