5/12/2014
Indiana became the first of the 45 states that adopted the Common Core State Standards to withdraw. As the legislature considers numerous lawsproposed to delay and investigate the CCSS, some think it won’t be long before New Jersey follows suit.
After signing the withdrawal law, Indiana’s Governor Mike Pence predicted that Indiana would be just the first of many states to reconsider the CCSS. He stated:
I believe when we reach the end of this process there are going to be many other states around the country that will take a hard look at the way Indiana has taken a step back, designed our own standards and done it in a way where we drew on educators, we drew on citizens, we drew on parents and developed standards that meet the needs of our people.
Jim Stergios, Executive Director of the Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based think tank, said that Indiana’s action could “open the floodgates.” Stergios continued that it is not surprising that the opposition has “galvanized” now that the CCSS has begun to influence their curricula and is having a negative impact on state and local budgets. He also said, “And legislators only start to get the message when they are confronted by new costs and angry voters.”
Glyn Wright, executive director of the Eagle Forum, said, “We hope that other principled governors…will emulate Governor Pence’s leadership by defending taxpayers, families, and state sovereignty in leading their state out of the Common Core.”
However, University of Arkansas professor Sandra Stotsky says the new Indiana proposed curriculum is too similar to the Common Core. In an article on Fox News.com, she released an Indiana DOE report that “found that more than 70 percent of the standards for sixth through 12th grade are directly from Common Core,” and about 20 percent of the rest were edited versions of the CCSS.
Criticism of the CCSS around the country has grown in part due to the excessive costs of implementation, which have been estimated to be more than four times the total Race to the Top money. These extra costs will be borne by state and local taxpayers.
Criticism is also increasing due to fears that the CCSS will establish a national curriculum, because whoever controls the standards and the tests effectively controls the curriculum. Many teachers have complained that they must teach to the test, and cannot teach their normal curriculum.
The most qualified members of the CCSS Validation Committee pointed out the poor quality of the standards and refused to certify the CCSS. Some people have even referred to CCSS as the Obamacare of education and others are calling CCSS Obamacore.
(Editor’s Note: For more information and a discussion of CCSS See, “New Jersey Student Achievement Threatened by Common Core”; “Weak Common Core Curriculum Dumbs Down New Jersey Students”; and “Common Core is ‘Education Without Representation’ – NJ Legislators Start to Object”)
Parents Object To Data Collection
On Monday April 21, inBloom, Inc. a company that manages data on public school students announced that it was closing down. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Corp. of New York had financed inBloom with $100 million. Nine states had agreements with Atlanta based inBloom to collect data on their students. The states had been required to establish longitudinal databases on their students as a condition to receive Obama’s Race to the Top money.
However, concerned parents in various states including New York and Louisiana strenuously objected to the many intrusive data points being collected and rallied state lawmakers to their cause. New York legislators responded by requiring the State’s Department of Education to cut ties with inBloom, despite the fact that New York had previously strongly supported the concept.
Leonie Haimson, a former New York City parent, said in The Wall Street Journal, “Hopefully, today’s announcement that inBloom is closing its doors will make government officials, corporations and foundations more aware that parental concerns cannot be ignored.”
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