The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, otherwise known as the Common Core standards, is not having a very good summer. In fact, the program is not having a very good year. Earlier this week, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal filed a law suit to keep the state from implementing Common Core standards. Last month, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker called on the Wisconsin legislature to pass legislation to repeal Common Core when they reconvene in January. Also in July, Missouri (MO HB1490) and North Carolina (NC S812) repealed the standards. Common Core has become such a toxic issue, that the National Governors Association – one of the lead organizations that created the now controversial standards – refused to put the topic on the agenda for its summer meeting that took place earlier last month.
But it wasn’t that long ago that Common Core was welcomed by nearly every state, trumpeted by state elected officials, education policy leaders, teacher, parents, businesses. Common Core was going to be the way the U.S. turned around its education system and get back to being a global education leader. Forty-six state legislatures and the D.C. City Council (only Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas and Virginia did not adopt any Common Core standards) introduced, debated, voted and passed Common Core education standards for their states [citation].
So what happened? Teachers hated it. They said it stifled creativity and innovation. Parents hated it. They said high stakes testing was too stressful for children. Even the creators of Common Core are not happy. Earlier this year, the National Education Association called for “course correction” on Common Core. [citation] But the big reason is probably the “Assessment Cliff.” When states implement Common Core, students proficiency ratings dropped 25-30 points. No state leader (or parent, or teacher) wants to see that kind of result. [citation]
In March, Indiana became the first state to opt out of the Common Core standards (IN SB91). Since then several states have debated to opt out either through legislative or regulatory action. [Citation]
It is easy to find bills that are an easy yes or no on Common Core and guess if they are going to pass. However, as anyone who follows education policy knows, that is oversimplifying the question. And when you oversimplify, you aren’t going to get the answers you really need. School districts, text book and other lines of business in the education industry, the colleges and universities that train teachers, education advocacy groups, and concerned parents often need to know more. Much more.
These constituencies need to know if Common Core is dropped, what is being replaced with, how is the new program going to be funded, what kind of training will be available for teachers – and who will pay for it, will parents have the option to opt out of Common Core, and how. All these help determine whether the new program will be better than Common Core.
There were more than 430 bills introduced in state legislature that mention “Common Core.” They run the gamut of education policy and funding. For a deeper looking into these bills, click here.
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