The Case Against Common Core
The Secretary of State’s office in Boston confirmed it has more than enough certified signatures to move Ending Common Core and PARCC testing to the next phase. The question will now go before the Massachusetts legislature, which has until May 3 to act. If the legislature does not act, volunteers will have until July 6th to collect 11,000 signatures to put this question on the 2016 statewide ballot.
The volunteer effort collected over 100,000 raw signatures this fall and included parents, teachers, school committee members, legislators and former Senior Commissioner in the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Sandra Stotsky. Sandra was also a member of the Common Core validation committee and refused to sign off on the standards and has opposed Common Core ever since.
The proposed law would:
• reverse 2010 vote by Mass Board of Education, and restore Massachusetts’ first in the nation standards.
• require the process for developing curriculum frameworks include committees of public school teachers, academics from public and private colleges and universities with review committees in language arts, science and technology, and math;
• require the Mass Commissioner of Education to copyright the curriculum.
Recently, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to rewrite No Child Left Behind to prevent the federal government from requiring or incentivizing states to adopt any set of education standards such as Common Core. However, the Every Student Success Act the Senate passed and President Obama signed is a very different bill from the House version.
Some claim the bill stops Common Core, reins in President Obama’s Department of Education, and consolidates a number of federal education programs.
On first two issues, the damage is already done. Despite what the media has reported, it does not repeal Common Core or PARCC. It is up to individual states to get out of Common Core, PARCC testing and other unauthorized federal programs, curriculum, standards and control. Most conservative senators voted no on the Every Student Success Act.
Education remains the most important issue to American families. Conservatives are offering and fighting for bold solutions in education reform that will empower parents, teachers, superintendents and local school boards to do what is in the best interest for our children, and do education reform the right way.
The reality is many states have opted out of Common Core and Louisiana has filed a lawsuit against the federal government for implementing, directing and controlling of curriculum.
By leveraging funds through its Race to the Top Program, the Department of Education accelerated the adoption and implementation of the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics, and allowed the federal government to be used to implement a national curriculum and set of standards.
The problem overlooked by many people including governors, President Bush and Senator Kennedy, is that federal law prohibits the US Dept. of Education from directing, supervising, or controlling elementary and secondary school curriculum, programs of instruction, and instructional materials or standards. These include the:
?• General Education Provisions Act,
?• Department of Education Organization Act,
?• Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965,
In other words, no matter how well-intended, the federal government is, by law, including the 10th Amendment, prohibited from establishing a national curriculum, or set of standards.
Common Core Standards, PARCC testing, Pearson and the billions of dollars behind it all cannot be separated, and represent a crony capitalist, illegal takeover and top down control of American education through funding, academic standards, teacher and district performance and testing.
The US government awarded a 350 million dollar, no-bid contract to Pearson, to develop the curriculum and tests aligned to the Common Core standards.vPearson, a British company and world largest textbook producer is a monopoly that stifles competition and controls the GED, SAT, College Board Assessments and teacher certification.
The first indictment against Common Core is how did we end up with a “so called national curriculum” that the public, does not either understand, like, want or know what it is? We ended up with because it was not properly created, vetted, introduced or implemented.
Despite what some leaders have said, it was not state led. How could it be? Two lobbyist trade consortiums, the Common Core Standards Initiative and the National Governors Association (NGA) own the copyright to Common Core, and to say otherwise is a violation of that copyright.
Bill Gates has spent $6 billion to promote and propagandize Common Core with millions of dollars in donations to organizations such as the National Parents Teachers Association, the National Association of Catholic Schools, universities, unions, state education departments, nonprofits and think tanks, before the standards had been written or implemented.
In 2009, states were hurting for money. Governors in the NGA accepted billions of dollars in “stimulus money” with only one condition to accept Common Core standards later, “when they were written.” This is no way to develop standards or a curriculum, and reminds me of “We have to pass it, to find what it is in it”
The chairman of the NGA in 2009 was Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin. In 2014, Governor Fallin signed the law to repeal Common Core in Oklahoma.
Yet in 2010, the Massachusetts Board of Education voted to adopt Common Core standards without the knowledge and approval of state legislators, local school boards, parents and teachers. Of the 24 states originally in the PARCC consortium, Massachusetts is one of only 7 states remaining. This begs the question, why are we still on this sinking ship?
First, Governor Patrick accepted $300 million dollars in Race to the Top funding. Second, Massachusetts’ first in the nation ranking in education enhances the credibility of the consortium. Third, Mass Commissioner of Education Mitchell Chester is on the board of trustees of PARCC. Is it not unreasonable to assume Mr. Chester would be reluctant to allow education reform that did not include PARCC? MCAS 2.0 is not a solution, as it is based on Common Core.
As parents, teachers and voters, we need to hold elected officials and school administrators accountable. We must support policies that encourage more local decision-making and allow our knowledgeable school leaders, administrators and teachers to do what they do best: educate America’s children.
Our children’s education is too important to continue with a failing system of national testing and curriculum. Decisions about education should be made at the state and local level, not by private companies and the federal government.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of this publication.
