CURMUDGUCATION: Bill Bennett's Baloney

CURMUDGUCATION: Bill Bennett's Baloney:

Bill Bennett's Baloney

William Bennett appeared on Campbell Brown's reformster PR site to stick up for the Common Core,but he ignores some inconvenient truths in the process.

The first stretcher is in his thesis-title: the GOP is wrong to run away from the Common Core-- because the standards are working. "Working" is a heck of a subjective term here, but let's see where he's going, shall we?

He starts with some history, noting that many GOP governors who used to love the Core have decided to dump the standards because it's politically expedient to do so. He is not wrong, but he conveniently ignores parts of the story. Perhaps most notable is that so many of these states actuallyadopted the standards before they were actually written. Bennett also gives a head nod to the notion that "federal overreach" sullied the otherwise beauteous standards, as if the standards would have had a chance of adoption without the full force of federal coercion and cash behind them (spoiler alert: they would not have).

So the story is not, "States adopted educational standards because they examined the standards and decided that Common Core would make education in their states great. Now those same state leaders are dumping the Core for crass political reasons."

No, the story is, "Some politicians adopted a policy because they thought it would be politically (and financially) advantageous to do so, and then dropped that policy when it became politically CURMUDGUCATION: Bill Bennett's Baloney:

Send Word to Harrisburg

If you are in Pennsylvania, and you care about the proliferation of our lousy Keystone and PSSA tests (our version of the federally-mandated Big Standardized Tests), then you have not just an opportunity, but an obligation.

The PA State House Education Committee is having public hearings about the state of PA testing next Wednesday, July 29 (10AM in room G50 of the Irvis Building, 450 Commonwealth Ave, Harrisburg, if you're in the neighborhood).

But if, like me, you have a life and obligations and commitments and you can't make it to harrisburg, there is an alternative. From our friends at Opt Out PA:

If you are an educator or district administrator in PA with a unique view on the negative impacts on high stakes testing, please consider submitting written testimony by Monday the 27th to the following contact: Jonathan Berger, Executive Director, Education Committee (R) PA House of Representatives at jberger@pahousegop.comAsk that your comments be entered into the hearing record, and your testimony will be disseminated to all committee members prior to the hearing. For resources on relevant legislation and opting out of high stakes tests visithttp://optoutpa.blogspot.com/

So, I know what I'm doing over the next few days.


I have no idea what the outcome (or intended outcome) of the hearing is supposed to be, nor how much attention the letters will receive. But even if they aren't read, handing a legislature a giant 

Send Word to Harrisburg