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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Common Core Stakes Moratorium Proposed By Unions As National Standards Face Backlash

Common Core Stakes Moratorium Proposed By Unions As National Standards Face Backlash:


Common Core Stakes Moratorium Proposed By Unions As National Standards Face Backlash

Dennis Van Roekel, the president of the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union, came out in favor of a two-year moratorium on adverse consequences for schools and teachers that have been proposed in connection with the Common Core State Standards in an interview with The Huffington Post Tuesday.

"If I had a magic wand, I would make a moratorium for two years," he said, referring to the stakes associated with the new Common Core tests, primarily linking teacher evaluations to student performance. "It's a steep learning curve -- the more you take off the onus of the measures, the better off you are. Seventy percent of teachers aren't covered by this and yet they'll be impacted right away ... We've got to have some temporary flexibility so that we can get this right."

The Common Core State Standards is a set of learning standards in mathematics and reading that has been adopted by about 45 states and Washington, D.C. The standards have come in response to what U.S. Secretary