Common Core Debate Update: 100 State Bills Try to Slow, Stop, or Reverse the Federal Standards
With an election around the corner, legislation is moving fast.
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| Anita Stapleton, an opponent of Common Core educational standards, holds up a sign in front of the Colorado Department of Education offices on Wednesday, February 12, 2014. (Photo: Denver Post by Cyrus McCrimmon) |
e Common Core State Standards, the controversial federal K-12 curricula, have become a hot-button issue across the country this mid-term election year. States are opting out of the standards while teacher and parent groups fight for and against them.
The reasons against the standards are varied. Critics say that the federal government has had too much influence because the Obama Administration gives Race To The Top money to states that adopt the Common Core. Others say that the related testing and data collection will give the government and schools too much information about students. Teachers also fear that they will lose control of the way they teach.
Like many education advocates and academics, Nicholas Tampio, an assistant professor of political science at Fordham University who has studied the Common Common has some strong opinions. He calls the Common Core a “fundamentally bad idea.”
“America is a diverse country and should have a diverse system of education, with science schools, arts schools, international baccalaureate programs, Jesuit schools, vocational programs, outdoor schools, foreign language immersion schools, private schools and public schools,” Tampio says. “Those who say that the Common Core imposes a one-size-fits-all model on students are correct, and that is a bad thing.”
The standards were created by a bipartisan group to improve education and weren't controversial in 2009 when the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers first organized to discuss them. But five years later, the standards have a fair number of opponents.
In late March, Indiana abandoned the standards when Republican Common Core Debate Update: 100 State Bills Try to Slow, Stop, or Reverse the Federal Standards | TakePart: