The Louisiana Department of Education rushed and ruined the implementation of Common Core, on purpose and for quick cash
Posted on February 10, 2014
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I’ve been researching this story for close to 4 months now talking to local superintendents, teachers, parents, teacher leaders, and both pro and con Common Core folks. I’ve been following tips and reviewing internal documents that were sent out to school districts as well as listening to accounts of what local educational leaders were told in person.
What I was surprised to discover is that LDOE, despite their protestations to the contrary and despite a lot of supporting evidence, is not entirely incompetent. This is the line of reasoning John White wants you to believe, that the Common Core rollout was just handled poorly, and now he is using a 10 year phased in approach. (This makes everything alright, right?) This gradual, phased-in approach was recommended hundreds of times to John White from teachers unions, BESE members and education leaders across the state and discarded out of hand.
White would like you to “believe” it was simply a lack of experience on his part and an overactive hubris that led to this cataclysmic implementation fail. A fail that has spawned dozens of parents groups across the state clamoring to their legislators to “kill Common Core.” The implementation was so bad, Governor Bobby Jindal had to distance himself from the issue by vaguely stating he is opposed to a “national curriculum,” without actually answering publicly whether is in favor of Common Core which is handpicked State Superintendent of Education and handpicked and