Common Core Standards: Conservative Victory or Debacle in the Making?
Last week I was a guest on a public radio show called To the Point, hosted by Warren Olney. The episode was titled "Is Public Education Too Soft on American Students." The other guests were Maria Ferguson of the Center on Education Policy at George Washington University, and Michael Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
I want to share some parts of the conversation there, because I think it is useful to look closely at the arguments being used for and against the Common Core, and also to dig in to the facts behind the claims being made in this debate. So here is a partial record of the discussion, with some notes inserted related to various claims that were made.
I will begin my transcript after Maria Ferguson has suggested that the concerns I have raised about high stakes tests lie with the tests, rather than the Common Core.
Warren Olney (host): Might it then be possible to use the Common Core in a creative way and not have the kind of consequences that you're worried about?
Anthony Cody: The problem I have with that is this is not a surprise. The people who designed Common Core expected tremendous drops in proficiency rates, and that's exactly what we're seeing. In New York state only 31% of the students passed the Common Core