Andrew Smarick at EdNext keeps up with the buzz over Common Core as much as anyone, and his conclusion is that the Common Core is here to stay. Despite negative press in recent weeks and months with some states opting out of certain testing services, changing the name of the testing, or repealing the standards altogether, Smarick believes in the resilience of the Common Core. Here are some excerpts from his article:
…Even [in Indiana, where the standards have been dropped], Common Core critics think the replacement standards are so similar to the Core they call them “cloned” and “rebranded.” …
The only theater of operations in which opponents can claim even partial victory is common assessments. Andrew Ujifusa recently catalogued the state-level trouble facing the two assessment consortia. For example, Tennessee recently broke off its long engagement with PARCC, deciding to open a competition for the production of future tests….But even this anti-testing thrust has only led thirteen states to choose not to participate in either assessment consortium. The loss of these states certainly undermines efforts at generating comparable state results and brings into question the expenditure of $350 million in federal funds for common tests. But nearly three out of every four states are still participating…
Maybe because the politics are so one-sided (at least so far), recent discussion has increasingly focused on the implementation of the standards. Rick Hess wrote a short piece arguing that opponents need to offer an alternative because, absent CCSS, states still need a set of content standards.
Education Week has developed a tracker that will help readers follow state legislation related to the standards and associated assessments. To date, Indiana, Oklahoma, and South Carolina have repealed the Common Core, citing increased divisiveness over the issue.
For more information, please visit the following:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/2014-anti-cc-tracker.html http://educationnext.org/resilience-common-core/
