Some High-profilers Gunning for Common Core
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) surely are causing quite a stir. That is what happens when non-teachers try to impose their wills upon the American classroom.
(I have written extensively on CCSS, including its creation, promotion and funding. For hours of enlightening CCSS reading, click here. To read about the contract between states and the federal government regarding CCSS, click here. For a crash course in CCSS lies versus truths, click here. For a CCSS comparison with state standards and NAEP scores, click here.)
Legislatures across the nation are wrestling with the CCSS Question: Dump, modify, or keep as is?
Of particular interest to me are the handful of high-profile individuals who are pushing hard to Keep the Core.
They are not current classroom teachers. They were never career classroom teachers.
In this post, I highlight some such “power people.” I haven’t space enough to write about all persons of influence who are campaigning for the Core. What I aim to capture are those I believe exert the most influence.
Arne Duncan
First on my list is US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Even though he went on the record during a March 14, 2014, White House press briefing as saying that states “had the right” to drop CCSS because “this is a state-led effort,”