Hispanic, Black Parents More Likely to Approve Common Core State Standards: Poll
Black and Hispanic parents are more likely to approve of the Common Core, according to a recent poll.
Common Core State Standards, a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy, have met opposition in cities across the nation, including Portland, Oregon, New York City and St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. While those cities are wildly diverse, the protestors these cities boast are fairly homogeneous, meaning that they're overwhelmingly white.
The Pearson-sponsored NBC News State of Parenting Poll found that 50 percent of parents approved of Common Core and 38 percent are opposed to grade level expectations in math and English. Seventy-three percent of Hispanic parents and 56 percent of black parents indicated that they favor the Common Core, according to the poll. At the same time, 49 percent of those in opposition are white parents.
Common Core's agenda is to implement college--and career-ready standards and tests into schools. For many non-white parents, any form of standardized education is better than the substandard education that's historically been given to underserved communities. However, many whites see the standards as a political overreach by the Obama administration, which has trifled with federal education funding.
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According to the poll, a parent's designation as a Democrat or a Republican certainly played a role. Conservatives were more likely to be opposed to the Common Core, and conservatives tend to be disproportionally white. Sixty-one percent of Democrats and 57 percent of independents indicated that they supported the Common Core. Compared that to just 26 percent of Republicans.
Leticia de la Vara, senior strategist for civic engagement at the National Council of La Raza, said that education is important for all Latinos, whether it's the "recent immigrant or a sixth-generation American," according to The Hechinger Report. She believes that standards are "leveling the playing field so that our kids are not relegated to lesser instruction because of the zip code that they are born into."
According to the poll, Hispanics tend to be more optimistic about the standards. And this is confirmed by the fact that 65 percent of Hispanics parents said they believe that the standards will help their children to do better (compared to 59 percent of blacks and 40 percent of whites). In addition, the poll indicated that Hispanics were more likely to want to be more involved when it comes to their child's education. And both white and non-white parents believe that Common Core can be too focused on reading and math, and less focused on music and art.
The Hechinger Report indicated that blacks and Latinos desire a higher education more than whites, and receiving a standard education is appealing to black and Latino parents who want the best things for the school-age children. Non-white parents believe that the standards encourage quality, institution-level education for their children. At the same time, white parents offer lower levels of support for standards because they have more at stake. Their children will receive the same levels of education as non-white children, who've seldom been granted luxuries such as non-fiction writing classes and art during school hours.
Overall, the poll showed that more parents were in support of the standards. According to the results, Common Core offers a promise of education fairness, even though schooling isn't inherently fair, particularly when it comes to the education of children of color. The Hechinger Report cautioned Hispanic, Black Parents More Likely to Approve Common Core State Standards: Poll : Latin Life & Culture : Latin Post: