By Neal McCluskey
Why the big concern about the Common Core? For many it’s about the quality of the standards, which is a topic well worth delving into. But the real problem is that — continued protestations of supporters notwithstanding — adopting the standards has been anything but truly voluntary, and they are very likely to lead to [...]
NCLB Is ‘Voluntary,’ Too is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
The push to nationalize the content taught in public schools across the country should be of great concern to state leaders. The Common Core national standards effort represents a massive federal overreach into what is taught in local schools, further removing parents from the educational decision-making process, and likely to cost state taxpayers $16 billion over seven years just to implement. As more details emerge about the content and quality of the Common Core national standards backed by federal funding and the Obama Administration, questions about the coherence, international competitiveness, … More
By Neal McCluskey
Two years ago Fordham Institute President Chester Finn called people like me, who saw the move toward national curriculum standards as a huge lurch toward federal control, “paranoid.” Well it looks like he might be catching a little of the paranoia, too. Or, at least, while still calling Common Core adoption “voluntary,” he recognizes that the Obama [...]
Common Core Supporter: Maybe Opposition Not Paranoia is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
South Carolina legislators have introduced a measure to pull the Palmetto State out of the Common Core national standards. Senator Mike Fair, who introduced the measure, voiced his concerns about the state’s involvement in the national standards push in the Greeneville News: The Legislature never had a chance to review Common Core because the feds timed their deadlines for adopting them to fall when the Legislature wasn’t in session. So, to qualify for a shot at Race to the Top money in 2010, the (previous) state superintendent and the (previous) governor … More
By Neal McCluskey
Apparently, if you try to undo something the feds want you to do, they’ll slap you around until you confess they’ve never threatened you. At least, that’s how Education Secretary …
‘Say I Threatened You Again, And You’ll Really Be Sorry!’ is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Neal McCluskey
With the release of a new Brookings Institution report today, and one from a consortium of groups last week, resistance to the national-standards offensive seems to be mounting. And even though …
War Against the Core is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Neal McCluskey
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) or Common Core? NCLB and Common Core? If you look at the evidence, the answer to both questions is “no.” There’s precious little evidence that NCLB has worked, and just as little that national standards will do any better. Despite all the fine sounding talk about the federal government demanding “accountability” [...]
Little Evidence for Either is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
