Common Core Complications
July 3, 2013 RSS Feed Print
Last week, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan gave a speech to the Society of News Editors that Education Week called "The strongest defense yet of Common Core Standards."
In it, he said that the Common Core – educational standards that are being adopted by most states – "has become a rallying cry for fringe groups," that opposition has been "misguided" and "misinformed" and that legislation in state houses across the country aimed at stopping the standards is "based on false information."
While it is true that some criticism of the Common Core has been over the top, it is also true that the Common Core does not have to be a malign conspiracy to be problematic.
Even if you believe that the standards are a "boon" for schools, as the Washington Post's and USA Today's editorial boards do, it is important to recognize that the Common Core's ultimate success will hinge on its implementation. As such, several issues loom large.
1. Anything can be called "Common Core aligned"
In order for students to be able to master the standards, teachers are going to need instructional materials – textbooks and supplementary resources like handouts and worksheets aligned to the standards. A simple Amazon search for "Common Core" yields over 32,000 results, the lion's share of which are guides or instructional materials for teachers labeled as "aligned to the Common Core." As it turns out, pretty