Liberal Opposition: Liberals have rightfully questioned the development of Common Core because of its business ties and influence. It seems all the wrong people are involved in pushing its roll out.
Tea Party Opposition: Teabillies believe its a European attack on our countries educational system, and attempt to make us dumber and take away our sovereignty. They also believe its Obama's way to brainwash our children.
Republican Opposition: They fear it's a one size fits all big government overreach, in contradiction with the constitution that threatens their planned expansion of voucher privatization.
Business Support: The business community likes Common Core because it will hopefully churn out potentially smarter employees and managers. For some though, it's another way to make a profit.
My own take, influenced by my 11 and 15 year old kids, is that's its working wonders in Middleton, Wisconsin.
This time business and liberals might actually be on the same page. Stranger things have happened.
Even Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce is making sense, for once. It's scary:
WMC: The state's largest business group is defending the use of Common Core State Standards in Wisconsin schools as some Republican lawmakers seek to undo them … wrote that the Common Core standards will make sure schools are consistent, accountable and competitive. Foundation President Jim Morgan said they'll help businesses measure a prospective employee's skills … We’ve had standards and assessments in place in Wisconsin,” said Morgan. “We could compare between districts, but we couldn't compare to other states and to other nations. And so in terms of really understanding where we were at, that was a piece of information that we didn't have.”Speaking of the U.S.Chamber, EdWeek reported this:
“You know, quite frankly, it doesn't tell you how to teach and when to teach,” said Morgan. “It gives us a little bit better understanding of what it is we expect people to know.” WMC's stand is in line with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Chambers of commerce in a growing number of states are casting themselves in the role of defenders of the common core against increasingly vocal opposition to the new standards from some of their traditional Republican allies. "The battle lines are informally drawn nationally between the business establishment and a more conservative element, a more politically motivated element," explained David C. Adkisson, who chairs the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Education, Employment, and Training Committee.
State chambers of commerce—which have longstanding relationships, networks, and well-established resources—are considered to be among the most proactive and highly regarded interest groups. They are defending the common core on the grounds that the standards are essential to business interests and the long-term economic viability of their states. "Common Core: College- and Career-Ready Standards," a 16-page document, was published earlier this month.
A bit surprised by the mounting backlash, most chamber supporters seem to think the standards will stand the test of the tea party backlash. But they wish President Barack Obama and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, would stop publicly endorsing it.
"The more the administration talks about common core, the worse it is for the effort," said Ms. Oldham, who worked for eight years in President George W. Bush's administration.
The goal of Common Core seems like a good idea. There needs to be some way of measuring whether or not a school is providing a good education. The actual rollout of the system is not so clear. There have been numerous examples given of just plain dumb lessons or questions associated with Common Core. People complain when standardized tests are used to evaluate schools and say that the schools are forced to teach to the test, but how is Common Core any different than that? Is Common Core simply a list of objectives that students should be able to master or is it a rigid line of instruction that schools/teachers will not be able to deviate from? Do you have any suggested reading that is not biased on way or the other on how Common Core is designed to work?
ReplyDeleteWorking with English/Language Arts standards has been a great source of frustration. Companies are pushing curriculum called "Common Core" but most of it is less rigorous than what I used already. What are the connections with the new laws for special education placement and writers of common core? This was one, big cluster planned to privatize public ed. Where was my union while this was going down?
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