Posted on 05/29/2015 8:26:16 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
As a public service, we try to track the progress, or lack thereof, of the latest top-down education reform concocted by elites and insiders—Common Core. We are aided immeasurably by the Heartland Institute which publishes updates on Common Core’s setbacks and advances in School Reform News.
In the May issue, we learn that:
• The governor of Mississippi vetoed a commission on Common Core;
• “Ohio may soon give certain school districts the option of creating their own exams;” and
• Montana parents went to court to repeal Common Core.
Meanwhile, parents fighting Common Core still face uphill struggles in Arizona and West Virginia, often struggling against Republican officeholders such as Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. Nevertheless, as more parents, and even teachers, become aware of what C-squared contains, the backlash against it grows.
Michael Goodsey, a high school English teacher in San Luis Obispo, told Vivian Hughbanks, a writer for SRN, that his bosses told him to cap the class time his class spends on literature at 30 Percent. And that “literature” may very well not be of the classic variety.
“According to a 2015 Brown Center report on American education, fourth-grade teachers are teaching more nonfiction works than in 2009,” Hughbanks writes.
Let’s teach kids something they can understand, can rely on, and can apply to almost all things in their lives...the Three R’s.
Beware however regarding reform of Common Core. The South Carolina legislature did a away with compliance with the federal standards and directed the State Board of Ed to write their own standards and tests. The end result: most of the same Federal Common Core that was in existence.
As long as we view education as purely utilitarian in nature we will fail our children and society at large.
Excellent comment! Common Core and similar programs are only symptoms of a far greater problem. There is a modern philosophy of education that is foundational to whatever reform is made, no matter the administration or governmental level. For a short description of this philosophy, see: John Dewey & the Decline of American Education by Henry T. Edmondson III. It’s only 144 pages and well worth reading.
Just because Commie Core has been repudiated doesn’t mean it’s dead. They’ll have a hell of a time getting it out of the textbooks and dealing with brainwashed teachers.
yes and we’ve see variations of this for at least a quarter of a century because the people who concoct them think that all their plans need is a name change.
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