In case you missed it:
Common Core lifts TN's chances
The Tennessean, May 5, 2013 - There is really just one main question for the throngs of upset parents who have spoken out against the Common Core State Standards at public meetings over the past week:
Where have they been until now?
Common Core has been in the works since 2008, as a set of expectations for what each student should know in each grade through 12. Tennessee political, business and educational leaders had loudly called for more rigorous education standards, because the measurements for progress in Tennessee’s schools gave a false impression of success.(link)
My Comment:
I am coming to the conclusion that common core is a positive development and that it is not a takeover or nationalization of education. It does not create a national curriculum but a set of benchmarks as to what a student should know at what grade level. America is falling behind in the world in education. Something must be done. Unfortunately, Tennessee is close to the bottom in education rankings. An "A" student in Tennessee may be "D" student is some other states. America is too mobile of a country and too interconnected to not have some expectation that that people across the Nation have a common core of knowledge at different points in their education. Please, before you jump on the anti-common core bandwagon, take time to study the issue.
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Where were the Tennessean articles in 2008? Where was the "news" that Common Core "state" standards would be a requirement to get the Race To The Trough money? How about the big money behind them from the Gates Foundation and GE? Or didn't they care since we had a Democrat governor at the time?
ReplyDeleteWhy work so hard today to claim Republican leadership for them when Bredesen was governor when he and those other governors allegedly demanded and wrote them? If this is a Republican-led initiative, why is the NEA endorsing it? They didn't initially, but something changed their mind in 2009. Might have been interesting to report on that too.
If as the Tennessean feigns, the parents should have been concerned, then why weren't they even consulted by our state government before changing the standards or agreeing to implement them? Where is the Tennessean article from 2008 with Phil Bredesen asking for public comment on the academic standards he was allegedly writing at the NGA? As usual, the parents are "unqualified", "uncertified", "uninvolved" and the professionals will tell you what you need to know.