The state of Arizona has taken a novel approach amidst the Common Core wars. The state will not abandon the new standards; they will simply not call them by the same name. Instead of Common Core, they will now be known as “Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards.’’
The idea of changing the name by which state officials would refer to the new education standards was that of Gov. Jan Brewer. She was responding to hostility from critics over what they see as a federal intrusion. Press aide Andrew Wilder said that the name change will ensure the standards “are better understood by the public.”
Republican leaders in the state are upset by the move, arguing that it is designed to deceive the public rather than deal with the problem.
“This is just changing the window dressing,” said Diane Douglas, a Republican running for state school superintendent. She and others remain convinced that, whatever the name, the standards being implemented are essentially being forced on Arizona by the federal government.
Douglas acknowledged they actually were adopted by the National Governors Association. But she said federal grant dollars are linked to states agreeing to use them.
Governors in Maine and Iowa (where the standards are known as the Iowa Core) have issued executive orders asserting states’ rights to determine the content of academic standards and to determine how children will be educated.
For more information on the situation in Arizona, please visit: http://azstarnet.com/news/local/education/common-core-name-changes-standards-remain/article_7a97e40c-bdbf-579f-960c-cbad2db9e9c4.html
For what other states have done regarding Common Core, see http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2013/10/21/three-common-core-executive-orders-change-little
