Common Core PR Offensive Rewrites History to Ignore Failures
By Anthony Cody.
This week we have seen a renewed attempt to rehabilitate the beleaguered Common Core standards, just as the scores arrive in many states, largely meeting projections that they would yield increased failure rates and a wider “achievement gap.” These results are the most basic problem that the Common Core has. These standards were designed to deliver massive failure, and the tests are delivering as promised. But rather than question these results, some advocates are trying to shift the focus onto a brighter view.
The headline from Think Progress is beyond belief. “People Like Common Core Better Once They Know What It Is.” But when you read the article, you discover that support for Common Core is actually continuing to drop. One would think that teachers are in a position to know far more than the general public about the Common Core, but Quinlan notes that:
Teacher support of Common Core has slipped from 76 percent in 2013 to 40 percent this year, according to the Education Next and Harvard Kennedy School poll.
How does this jibe with the headline stating that people like Common Core better the more they know about it? I would think teachers know more about the Common Core than anyone.
Drawing on polling done by the Gates-funded Center for American Progress, (see poll results here) Think Progress spinmeister Casey Quinlan states:
… the majority of voters polled believe that the U.S. Department of Education created the standards and almost half of voters thought the standards were a specific curriculum. Only 4 percent of those polled knew that teachers were involved in the creation of Common Core and 14 percent knew that governors were involved in its development.
The public should be forgiven for the mistaken belief that the US Department of Education created the Common Core. After all, “career and college-ready standards” (largely interpreted to mean Common Core) were required by the DoEd for Race to the Top funds and for NCLB waivers that states needed to continue receiving federal funds. Law prevented the Department of Education from creating the Common Core, but Arne Duncan and Bill Gates created a workaround. Gates provided the funding, directed to nonprofit organizations, the National Governor’s Association (NGA) and Chief Council of State School Officers Common Core PR Offensive Rewrites History to Ignore Failures - Living in Dialogue:
