Common Core Standards Victim of Political Fear-Mongering

Once again the publicity seekers are flooding the air waves with misinformation and grand-standing to promote themselves in the national arena.  Mostly these are legislators who have failed to provide any notable legislation during their careers and seek recognition in order to legitimize themselves as productive legislators.

The misinformation they seek to spread is that the recently proposed Common Core Standards were created by the federal government and fall into the popular anti-government interference fad.

In reality, the move toward a set of standards for the goals of public education began not with the federal government, but with state educators, more than a decade ago.  Common Core is the  final result of the brainchild of state educators, NOT a federal power grab for kid’s minds as some political zealots would have you believe.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a STATE-LED effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers.   The standards were developed in collaboration with teachers, school administrators, and experts, to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce.

 

These standards received initial feedback on the draft standards from national organizations representing, but not limited to, teachers, post-secondary educators (including community colleges), civil rights groups, English language learners, and students with disabilities. Following the initial round of feedback, the draft standards were opened for public comment, receiving nearly 10,000 responses.

The standards were formulating using the highest, most effective models from STATES across the country and countries around the world, and provide teachers and parents with a common understanding of what students are expected to learn. Consistent standards will provide appropriate benchmarks for all students, regardless of where they live.

The Common Core Standards are benchmarks, NOT a curriculum. They simply state what students should be able do after teachers finish teaching them. How you get to that goal is still the job of each state.  In our state that is BESE’s responsibility.  No one at the federal level is telling anyone how to teach, or requiring teachers to use a specific curriculum or learning materials.

It is obvious from national assessment test data that the standards Louisiana had formulated in the past for its students were inadequate.  Students would perform well on LEAP tests, which were designed within Louisiana, but did poorly when compared to students in other states throughout the country.

The question each parent needs ask is “Why should my child receive a substandard education simply because of where I live?” In fact, isn’t this the justification for Jindal’s school voucher system in Louisiana?

The United States is an extremely mobile society, and its citizens deserve the right to be able to move from one locality to the next without the fear of settling in an area with a lousy educational system.

The long range goal of the Core Standards is to eradicate this problem by the formulation of benchmarks that:

·         Are aligned with college and work expectations;

·         Are clear, understandable and consistent;

·         Include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills;

·         Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards;

·         Are informed by other top performing countries,so that all students are             prepared to succeed in our global economy and society;and

·         Are evidence-based.

The intention of the Common Core Standards is to stem the continuing downward spiral of our nation’s educational standing worldwide.   It is a shame that they have been turned into political fear-mongering by uninformed, publicity- seeking members of our political parties.

Even Governor Jindal had no problems with these standards until it became fashionable to do so.

However, now that these standards have become politicized and a great propaganda tool, I suspect BESE , the State Superintendent of Education, and our legislators will dutifully follow Jindal’s lead and withdraw their initial support of this project.  Hypocritical to say the least!

Bottom line-Let’s stop lying about the origin of the Common Core Standards, it was not a Fed’s project!