Get Schooled: Are we rushing Common Core without field testing it?
There is a surge of late in criticisms of the Common Core State Standards, which most states, including Georgia, are in the process of incorporating into their classrooms.
On one hand, there is a political backlash against the standards, which, while conceived at a state level, are now being recast as a plot by the Obama administration to wrest education from local control. Most of those complaints are partisan and have little to do with the quality or contents of the standards, which have generally received high marks and are seen as an improvement over the hodgepodge now in place across America.
But there are more serious concerns being raised about the corporate role in developing the standards and the accompanying tests.
And there are also questions about using student performance on the new standards to assess teachers and schools without any field testing of their efficacy or adequate training. Are we rushing the transition? Georgia knows a bit about the dangers of rushing new standards into