Common Core: What it is, what it isn't and why it's political
By Laura Waters for NewsWorks on Jul 24, 2014 03:39 PM
Photo: Image from CCSS video
Common Core is designed to eliminate the varying standards from state-to-state.
What a week for adversaries of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)! On Wednesday Glenn Beck, famous radio and TV personality, hosted "a live national night of action against the Common Core" called WE WILL NOT CONFORM and told Fox News' Sean Hannity that the Common Core was "creating millions of slaves."Not to be outmatched, this Monday the Badass Teachers Association, a radical segment of the national teacher unions, will hold a rally in Washington, D.C. to "end all federal support for the Common Core."
Common Core-haters unite! From union queen Diane Ravitch to the racist John Birch Society, from Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, contemplating a run against Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, to anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafy, founder of the Eagle Forum, the Common Core is everyone's favorite whipping-boy.
Maybe it's time to step back a bit and review the Common Core, especially in light of the recent Fairleigh Dickinson poll that found that a sizable portion of New Jerseyans "know nothing" about it.
For many years America has been kicking around the idea of a nationalized set of learning objectives. In 1983, for example, a famous report called "A Nation at Risk" warned that the educational foundation of America is "presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people" and concluded that all students would benefit from a more rigorous set of course standards.
Albert Shanker, founder of the American Federation of Teachers, embraced the necessity of national educational standards around the same time. Shanker explained that this enterprise would be "egalitarian" because "by starting early and by giving all children the same core knowledge to learn, we can prevent the creation of an educational underclass."
In other words, the Common Core was engendered over 30 years ago in order to promote equity and increase student learning.
But political interests seem to seep into all efforts at reform, whether the cause is universal health care or gun control or same-sex marriage. For example, just this week Louisiana governor and presidential hopeful Bobby Jindal reversed his previous support of the Common Core in order to kowtow to GOP conservatives and issued Executive Orders to thwart implementation. (Parent and teacher groups sued him yesterday.)
So, in the interest of dispelling some politically-motivated mythology and distortions, here's a list of what the CCSS is not: