Duncan Dumps on Oklahoma in a June 9 Press Conference
US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was asked in a June 9, 2014, press conference about Oklahoma’s decision to drop the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin– who also happens to be the chair of CCSS license co-owner National Governors Association (NGA)– signed Oklahoma HB 3399 into law on Thursday, June 5, 2014.
Here are the two questions asked of Duncan on the issue and his responses:
Q Okay. And on Common Core, there are governors in three states that have signed legislation basically opting their states out of the Common Core standards. Is the administration looking to do anything to try to keep other states from following that example? And could states that do opt out lose federal education funds?SECRETARY DUNCAN: So to be very, very clear — and you guys can help to clear this up — what we have always been about is high standards and college- and career-ready standards. And what we’re reacting to, as you guys may remember under No Child Left Behind, it’s not the intent, but we had about 20 states actually dummy down their standards to make politicians look good. And that’s bad for kids, it’s bad for the country, it’s terrible for education. But we need to have high international benchmark college- and career-ready standards. And so whether common or not, that’s less the issue; it’s more having high standards.The Oklahoma example is a pretty interesting one. Just to give you a couple facts — and I think sadly, this is not about education; this is about politics. So in Oklahoma, about 40 percent of high school graduates — these are not the dropouts — 40 percent of high school graduates have to take remedial classes when they go to college. Why? Because they weren’t ready — 40 percent. About 25 percent of Oklahoma’s eighth-graders in math are proficient — 25 percent. And other states locally are out-
