Conflicted on Common Core

 

Recently, Troy Senik suggested that Common Core has the potential to be the sleeper issue in the 2016 Republican presidential primary race. Common Core, which effectively establishes uniform educational standards for English and math on a national level, is deeply unpopular among elements of the Right and it certainly has the potential to be a major factor in the selection of the next Republican presidential candidate.

Honestly, I haven’t paid a great deal of attention to the issue until now. I don’t have children, my own education was largely private, and is, in any case, completed. That said, Common Core is going to be a major issue facing our nation as a matter of both politics and policy. Consequently, I’ve been trying to determine my own position on the matter.

I have to say I’m conflicted. I have serious principled concerns about the extension of federal involvement in the education, but at the same time I have to say that I find it hard to believe that a program which is both opposed by the NEA and supported by education reformers such as Michelle Rhee is an unambiguously bad idea.

As a matter of general principle I’m skeptical Common Core on grounds of both limited government and federalism. I don’t really think the state should be providing education at all, but if it’s going to do so it seems to me to be a matter constitutionally left to the states. Since Reagan, the GOP has fantasized about doing away with the Department of Education and the establishment of a national curriculum via Common Core is certainly a step away from the realization of that goal. On a more practical level I’m concerned the Common Core will lead to less accountability on the part of educators, as it will inevitably entail greater layers of bureaucracy and less responsiveness to the concerns of local constituencies and parents. I also disapprove of the way Common Core is being used as a Trojan horse to achieve a national curriculum when there is no political mandate for one.

As far as the substantive elements of Common Core go, I’m not sure where I stand. Criticism of the Common Core standards has come from both directions. Some critics claim that Common Core standards are not stringent enough and that will lead to a dumbing down of American public education. Others assert, just as strenuously, that the standards are unreasonably high, placing impossible expectations upon already overburdened students. Based upon my own cursory research it seems as though neither criticism is wholly valid or wholly without merit. The expectations set by Common Core appear to be less stringent than those found in our high-performing public schools, but dramatically more demanding than those found in low-performing schools.

This brings me to where I see the potentially positive arguments for Common Core. Setting aside my principled objections to public education in general and and federal involvement in education specifically, there is a very practical question of how we best educate our nation’s children.

America’s public education system is nowhere near as good as it should be, but neither is it the unmitigated disaster that many people claim to be. We don’t stand atop the PISA rankings, but we’re not at the bottom either. Compared to his peers in comparable countries the average American student is mediocre.

However, evaluating American education based on average PISA scores masks the true problem with our educational system. The problem is not that the average American student is mediocre when compared to his peers around the world. It is that our lowest-performing students fare much worse than their international peers. American education isn’t uniformly bad, it’s just that where it is bad it is spectacularly so. It is in its potential to improve the education of our poorest performing students that I think Common Core has merit.

Two of the most frequent criticisms of Common Core which I have encountered are 1) that it eliminates the ability of local school boards to tailor their educational approaches to best fit their students’ needs, forcing them instead to “teach to the test”; and 2) that it diminishes teachers’ accountability to the parents of the students they are educating. I don’t find either of these criticisms particularly compelling.

I simply do not see why locally-established curricula are necessarily preferable to national standards on a practical level. As I see it, the more relevant question is whether the standards applied are appropriate and the curricula effective. One of the major reasons so many of our schools, particularly in the Democratically-controlled inner-cities, perform so poorly is that the standards set in place by the local school boards are simply too low. Imposing the higher standards established by Common Core would seem to me to be an improvement.

I also don’t find much merit in claims that local educational authorities need flexibility to tailor their curricula to their particular student bodies in order to educate them effectively. It’s undeniably true that we live in a vast and diverse country, but the techniques needed to successfully teach children to read, write, and do sums should not vary dramatically based on locality. (There is not a particularly Southern Californian method of long division.) Furthermore, I have genuinely never understood the objection to “teaching to a test.” If the goal is to teach children to read, write, and do sums what is wrong with teaching to a test of a student’s ability to read, write, and do sums?

I am more sympathetic to concerns that Common Core will reduce accountability to parents. Parental involvement is crucial to the successful education of children. That said one of the main problems with our low-performing schools is that they are in impoverished communities where the level of parental involvement is low and teachers face little accountability in practice. In such cases, federal accountability, though by no means ideal, is preferable to no accountability at all.

As you may have noticed, most of my analysis of Common Core has been focused on its effects on low-performing schools. This is because I think the practical effects of Common Core will largely be on low-performing schools. In middle-class and affluent communities with comparatively high quality public schools I do not think the effect of Common Core will be particularly significant.

It’s true that the standards established by Common Core will often be lower than those currently in practice at quality public schools, but that will not necessarily lead to a lowering of the caliber of the education those schools provide. As things currently stand, high-performing schools provide an education which exceeds the standards established by state and local authorities. I think it likely that where Common Core standards fall below those currently in place they will have little effect, much the way the minimum wage has little effect on the income of doctors or lawyers.

Similarly, I think Common Core will have little effect on teacher accountability to parents in high-performing schools. Accountability is largely a factor of parental involvement and I don’t think parents who currently taking an active role in their children’s education will cease to do so as a result of Common Core.

So here’s where I’m at:

I think the Common Core is likely to improve the education of students in our lower performing schools while not having much effect on their peers in better performing schools. I’m rather ambivalent about the practical merits of local control of education, but I have a strong principled inclination to favor it and I strongly disapprove of the extra-democratic means by which Common Core is being implemented. I’m still not sure where I ultimately come down on the issue.

Can anyone on Ricochet help me out?

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  1. Eeyore Member
    Eeyore
    @Eeyore

    One data point – One of the key Common Core concepts for third grade mathematics: social justice.

    • #1
  2. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    Eeyore:

    One data point – One of the key Common Core concepts for third grade mathematics: social justice.

    That is certainly troubling. How does is social justice introduced into 3rd grade math? I can’t think of a sufficient justification for it, but the various ways it could potentially be introduced range from mildly bad/annoying to catastrophic/brainwashing.

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  3. user_517406 Inactive
    user_517406
    @MerinaSmith

    I have serious concerns about the content of curriculum, particularly in history and literature.  The father who was arrested this week when protesting a pornographic book his 14-year-old had to read could do that at a local level.  Could he do so with an educational bureaucracy that is nationwide?  Nope.  Is a curriculum coming out of the regulatory state that is mostly on the left going to teach a version of American history most of us recognize?  Nope.  

    I heard Michelle Rhee defending Common Core to Brett Baier the other day.  I wasn’t convinced.  It’s another attempt at control by “experts.”  We don’t need them.  Common Core isn’t going to raise the standard in failing schools because the standard is not the problem. It’s the broken families and lack of books and emphasis on education at home.  There’s a lot of interesting stuff going on in education these days that has nothing to do with Common Core.  That’s where we should be focusing our attention–what works in Charter and other schools.  Then get that word out and change schools one at a time, not with something imposed from above.

    • #3
  4. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    Eeyore:

    One data point – One of the key Common Core concepts for third grade mathematics: social justice.

     I’m reminded of this quote from Yes, Prime Minister:

    Jim Hacker: “Math has become politicized: If it costs 5  billion pounds a year to maintain Britain’s nuclear defences and 75 pounds a year to feed a starving African child, how many African children can be saved from starvation if the Ministry of Defence abandoned nuclear weapons?”
    Sir Humphrey: “That’s easy: none. They’d spend it all on conventional weapons.

    • #4
  5. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    Merina Smith: I have serious concerns about the content of curriculum, particularly in history and literature. The father who was arrested this week when protesting a pornographic book his 14-year-old had to read could do that at a local level. Could he do so with an educational bureaucracy that is nationwide? Nope. Is a curriculum coming out of the regulatory state that is mostly on the left going to teach a version of American history most of us recognize? Nope.

     My understanding was that Common Core was about Math and English (specifically grammar and reading comprehension). Does it set standards for History and Literature?

    • #5
  6. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    Merina Smith: There’s a lot of interesting stuff going on in education these days that has nothing to do with Common Core. That’s where we should be focusing our attention–what works in Charter and other schools. Then get that word out and change schools one at a time, not with something imposed from above.

     I agree with you here.

    • #6
  7. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    Merina Smith: The father who was arrested this week when protesting a pornographic book his 14-year-old had to read could do that at a local level.

     I confess that I’m not familiar with this story. What happened?

    • #7
  8. Roberto Inactive
    Roberto
    @Roberto

    Salvatore Padula:

    Accountability is largely a factor of parental involvement

     
    If we accept that this is true then…

    Salvatore Padula: I think the Common Core is likely to improve the education of students in our lower performing schools

    …why would this be true? If Common Core does nothing to make schools more accountable for results why would you believe it to lead to some improvement?

    Are you stating that the problem with our nation’s worst schools is merely that they are unable to find standards to teach to? There are no examples already out there of success for them to emulate?

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  9. user_517406 Inactive
    user_517406
    @MerinaSmith

    Sal, he went to a school board meeting to protest a novel that his 14-year-old daughter was required to read because the content was pornographic.  He was on Megan Kelly’s show last night.  She had reviewed the offending pages and agreed that it was completely inappropriate.  The school board allowed him two minutes to speak and when he went a bit over had him arrested, not something they do for most people (no doubt including themselves) who go over the allotted time.  He was making the point, correctly in my view, not only that the kids shouldn’t be required to read that stuff, but that parents should be notified when their kids will be exposed to questionable material.  I realize this involves judgment calls, but sounds like there wasn’t much question about the novel he was protesting.

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  10. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    Roberto:

    Salvatore Padula:

    Accountability is largely a factor of parental involvement

    If we accept that this is true then…

    Salvatore Padula: I think the Common Core is likely to improve the education of students in our lower performing schools

    …why would this be true? If Common Core does nothing to make schools more accountable for results why would you believe it to lead to some improvement?

    I thought I had explained that I think the increased accountability will be to the feds.  I’m saying that Common Core will not have much effect on parental involvement. As I said, accountability is largely a factor of parental involvement. It is not solely a factor of parental involvement. Common Core will likely increase the accountability of teachers in poor-performing schools, not to parents (who are in any case disinterested), but to the feds. Federal accountability is nowhere near as useful as is parental accountability, but it’s better than no accountability at all. In our current system, teachers in failing schools are all too often not accountable to anyone at all.

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  11. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    Roberto: Are you stating that the problem with our nation’s worst schools is merely that they are unable to find standards to teach to? There are no examples already out there of success for them to emulate?

     No, what I’m saying is that there is no accountability for failing schools which fail to meet even the insufficient standards that they are already subject to. Common core ties funding to meeting the standards it establishes.

    • #11
  12. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    Merina Smith:

    Sal, he went to a school board meeting to protest a novel that his 14-year-old daughter was required to read because the content was pornographic. He was on Megan Kelly’s show last night. She had reviewed the offending pages and agreed that it was completely inappropriate. The school board allowed him two minutes to speak and when he went a bit over had him arrested, not something they do for most people (no doubt including themselves) who go over the allotted time. He was making the point, correctly in my view, not only that the kids shouldn’t be required to read that stuff, but that parents should be notified when their kids will be exposed to questionable material. I realize this involves judgment calls, but sounds like there wasn’t much question about the novel he was protesting.

     Why would Common Core prevent him from seeking redress? It doesn’t establish reading lists. The books assigned would still be determined at a local level. I understand the thin end of the wedge concern, and to a degree I share it, but what Common Core does is establish uniform standards for Math and Language Arts.

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  13. user_517406 Inactive
    user_517406
    @MerinaSmith

    I’ve been a little confused about what it covers too.  It sounds like it focuses on  language and math per se, but that some of the requirements about what kind of reading kids have to do spill over to history and science.  The reality of textbooks is that what is included is highly influenced by the educational establishment. You can bet that the more the feds have their finger in the educational pie, the more they will dictate what goes in all textbooks, not just English and math texts.

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  14. Midget Faded Rattlesnake Member
    Midget Faded Rattlesnake
    @Midge

    I also don’t find much merit in claims that local educational authorities need flexibility to tailor their curricula to their particular student bodies in order to educate them effectively.

    Perhaps the benefits of local control are more obvious if you think less of the whole student body and more of the negotiating power individuals or sub-populations within the student body who have good reason to want their education tailored in some way.

    If, say, graduation requirements are set by your local school system rather than the state, negotiating an unorthodox approach to filling them – or even renegotiating some of them altogether – becomes possible. When these requirements are set by the state, however, negotiation is impossible, even when filling the requirements according to state specifications leads to obvious absurdities.

    Like having to prioritize four years of English classes over everything else, because your state decided everyone “needs” four years of English no matter what, even when those last two years of English are AP and your 8th grade essays were at college level.

    The principal of my elite public school privately apologized to me on graduation day. His school shouldn’t have let someone like me down, he said.

    • #14
  15. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    Salvatore Padula: It doesn’t establish reading lists. The books assigned would still be determined at a local level.

     So I looked into the matter further. While Common Core does not establish mandatory reading lists it does provide a list of “exemplar texts.” Here is the list for grades 9 and 10:

    Homer. The Odyssey

    Ovid. Metamorphoses

    Gogol, Nikolai. “The Nose

    De Voltaire, F. A. M. Candide, Or The Optimist

    Turgenev, Ivan. Fathers and Sons

    Henry, O. “The Gift of the Magi

    Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis

    Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath

    Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451

    Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart

    Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird

    Shaara, Michael. The Killer Angels

    Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club

    Alvarez, Julia. In the Time of the Butterflies

    Zusak, Marcus. The Book Thief

    Sophocles. Oedipus Rex

    Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth

    Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House

    Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie

    Fugard, Athol. “Master Harold”…and the boys

    Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 73

    Donne, John. “Song

    Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “Ozymandias

    Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Raven

    Dickinson, Emily. “We Grow Accustomed to the Dark

    Houseman, A. E. “Loveliest of Trees

    Johnson, James Weldon. “Lift Every Voice and Sing”

    Henry, Patrick. “Speech to the Second Virginia Convention

    Washington, George. “Farewell Address.”

    Lincoln, Abraham. “Gettysburg Address.”

    Lincoln, Abraham. “Second Inaugural Address.”

    I don’t see anything objectionable.

    • #15
  16. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    Merina Smith:

    I’ve been a little confused about what it covers too. It sounds like it focuses on language and math per se, but that some of the requirements about what kind of reading kids have to do spill over to history and science. The reality of textbooks is that what is included is highly influenced by the educational establishment. You can bet that the more the feds have their finger in the educational pie, the more they will dictate what goes in all textbooks, not just English and math texts.

     In the list of “exemplar readings” I posted above there are a few political and historical speeches. I don’t really see the problem with that. I do share your concern about the politicization of education, but I don’t see that happening with Common Core specifically (at least not more so than is the case with state and locally imposed standards).

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  17. Midget Faded Rattlesnake Member
    Midget Faded Rattlesnake
    @Midge

    My case wasn’t some freak, either. I later learned that an alarmingly high number of my elite public high school’s brightest and most talented students dropped out when they saw the curriculum wasn’t going to fit, took the GED, and completed their education at our local community college (which happens to be rather good).

    In retrospect, I sorta wish I had done that. Sorta. The truth is, doing that, though it may have advanced my education, would have created future credentialing problems.

    Part of our problem is the huge gap between credentialing and actual learning. I think this gap could be more easily closed by giving public schools (assuming there should be any) more local accountability. I suspect nationalizing curriculum requirements, on the other hand, will only serve to ossify the current gap between credentialing and learning.

    Kids should be learning more at earlier ages, anyhow – or at least the kids who could handle it should.

    (Also, I don’t object to teaching to the test, either. People take standardized tests too seriously. They’re only an imperfect evaluation tool, but doing well on them is a ticket to opportunity.)

    • #17
  18. user_517406 Inactive
    user_517406
    @MerinaSmith

    Sal, the readings look fine, but I think it’s about what happens with the textbooks.  Realistically, there will not be a huge number of them to choose from.  The slant of the textbooks is critical and I don’t have much faith in an educational bureaucracy to get that right.  I’d much rather that demand come from state and local entities.

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  19. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    Midget Faded Rattlesnake:

    Perhaps the benefits of local control are more obvious if you think less of the whole student body and more of the negotiating power individuals or sub-populations within the student body who have good reason to want their education tailored in some way….

     That is a concern, but I don’t think that the difference in flexibility between states and the federal government is all that great. As a practical matter, when you’re talking about someone in the position you described, course selection is more dictated by college admission requirements than by state curricula.

    In any case, the type of flexibility you describe is not the kind typically demanded by the opponents of Common Core. They usually are not objecting to the requirement that a class be taken as much as to what that class will consist of.  They decry the fact that they have to “teach to the test” instead of being free to impart the knowledge they think important (even if that doesn’t include the ability to read, write, or do sums.)

    • #19
  20. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    Merina Smith:

    Sal, the readings look fine, but I think it’s about what happens with the textbooks. Realistically, there will not be a huge number of them to choose from. The slant of the textbooks is critical and I don’t have much faith in an educational bureaucracy to get that right. I’d much rather that demand come from state and local entities.

     I think that where we differ is that I don’t think that the various state entities which currently are responsible for the adoption of textbooks are doing a particularly good job and that, while I think a degree of politicization is probably inevitable in such matters, the worst offenders in the adoption of partisan textbooks have been at the more local levels of government. Now it could be argued that that is less of a problem because localized politicization is based on the locality’s wishes, but I think politicization is bad regardless who is responsible for it.

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  21. Midget Faded Rattlesnake Member
    Midget Faded Rattlesnake
    @Midge

    Salvatore Padula:

    Midget Faded Rattlesnake:

    Perhaps the benefits of local control are more obvious if you think less of the whole student body and more of the negotiating power individuals or sub-populations within the student body who have good reason to want their education tailored in some way…

    That is a concern, but I don’t think that the difference in flexibility between states and the federal government is all that great.

    Agreed.

    As a practical matter, when you’re talking about someone in the position you described, course selection is more dictated by college admission requirements than by state curricula.

    Colleges used to (and to some extent still do) run their own private entrance and placement exams.

    Perhaps because state curricula are already so standardized, it’s convenient for colleges to check whether applicants completed X number of high school courses in subject Y rather than, say, evaluating applicants’ prior education in other ways. But that doesn’t mean other ways aren’t possible, or that other ways wouldn’t be more meaningful.

    Standardized tests are an alternative already in use. Authenticated portfolios of students’ writing (they already do such portfolios for art programs) could be another option.

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  22. West Facing Squirrel Inactive
    West Facing Squirrel
    @WestFacingSquirrel

    My eldest is in an AP English class, and none of the books you listed have been offered to her this year.  She has read a total of 2 books this year ( one was the first Freakonomics book).  They  regularly have current events assignments, and for her midterm final had to write an essay on what the government could do to combat global warming.  This is for an  advanced English class!  I was studying Shakespeare when I was her age.  This is not rigorous.  This is outrageous.

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  23. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    West Facing Squirrel:

    My eldest is in an AP English class, and none of the books you listed have been offered to her this year. She has read a total of 2 books this year ( one was the first Freakonomics book). They regularly have current events assignments, and for her midterm final had to write an essay on what the government could do to combat global warming. This is for an advanced English class! I was studying Shakespeare when I was her age. This is not rigorous. This is outrageous.

     That is truly appalling, particularly for an AP English class. It seems like Common Core might be an improvement.

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  24. user_517406 Inactive
    user_517406
    @MerinaSmith

    WFS–terrible story.  Not sure whether CC would help in such a school or not…

    Sal, while it is true that local districts can choose terrible texts, I have more faith in them than anything nationalized.  Basically, I want to preserve localism because I foresee a coming deep need to vote with one’s feet to a place where it is possible to live the kind of life you want and raise your children as you wish to. The more the federal government dictates the shape of education and culture, the less possible that will be.  

    My brother’s family was here to visit recently.  His kids range in age from 7-14.  They live in Idaho and I was struck by how innocent they are.  They really are kids, not miniature adults.  I think it is because they are being raised in a place where schools have conservative values and the community as a whole supports that.  I don’t want the feds sticking their dirty fingers into that world.

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  25. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    Merina Smith: My brother’s family was here to visit recently. His kids range in age from 7-14. They live in Idaho and I was struck by how innocent they are. They really are kids, not miniature adults. I think it is because they are being raised in a place where schools have conservative values and the community as a whole supports that. I don’t want the feds sticking their dirty fingers into that world.

     And you think that national standards on Language Arts and Math would lead to the adoption of textbooks which are so politicized that they would prevent your brother and his community from having schools which are consistent with their values?

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  26. user_517406 Inactive
    user_517406
    @MerinaSmith

    Salvatore Padula:

    Merina Smith: My brother’s family was here to visit recently. His kids range in age from 7-14. They live in Idaho and I was struck by how innocent they are. They really are kids, not miniature adults. I think it is because they are being raised in a place where schools have conservative values and the community as a whole supports that. I don’t want the feds sticking their dirty fingers into that world.

    And you think that national standards on Language Arts and Math would lead to the adoption of textbooks which are so politicized that they would prevent your brother and his community from having schools which are consistent with their values?

     From the standpoint of getting the feds into the production of textbooks and limiting options, yes.  I am suspicious of anything that attempts to standardize localism.  Kids from Idaho have competed fine on the national stage in getting into good universities and the like heretofore.  I guess this looks to me like a solution in search of a problem in many ways.  It won’t fix the real problem and will exacerbate others.  

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  27. user_129440 Member
    user_129440
    @JackRichman

    My guess is that Common Core will fade away. Conservatives are rightly suspicious of it as the federal camel’s nose in the tent of education. Many people on the left oppose testing lest it lead to teachers being held accountable for performance.

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  28. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    Jack Richman:

    My guess is that Common Core will fade away. Conservatives are rightly suspicious of it as the federal camel’s nose in the tent of education. Many people on the left oppose testing lest it lead to teachers being held accountable for performance.

     I think you’re probably right.

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  29. West Facing Squirrel Inactive
    West Facing Squirrel
    @WestFacingSquirrel

    My whole point is that this curriculum in my daughter’s school is Common Core!  This is what happens when education  is centralized– more politization and less real learning.

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  30. user_653084 Inactive
    user_653084
    @SalvatorePadula

    West Facing Squirrel:

    My whole point is that this curriculum in my daughter’s school is Common Core! This is what happens when education is centralized– more politization and less real learning.

     Common Core doesn’t set curricula. It sets standards. The curriculum in your daughter’s school may be Common Core, but the curriculum in her AP English class isn’t. What I’m concerned by as far as your daughter’s class goes is that she’s going to have to take the AP English test and her class clearly isn’t preparing her for it. AP classes aren’t effected by Common Core at all; the AP standard is dramatically higher than those imposed by Common Core and it is the AP standard which is supposed to be taught in AP classes. That the curriculum in your daughter’s class is woefully undemanding is a product of a bad teacher and a local school administration which allows that teacher not to do his or her job properly.

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