Common Core Woes

Indiana First State to Back Out of Common Core
By Jim Vail


A revolt against the corporate takeover of education is currently underway - with conservatives leading the way.

The tea party folks are upset with mainstream republicans who are backing the corporate agenda to impose standards tied to punitive testing measures.

Indiana just became, according to media reports, the first state to back out of the Common Core straight jacket, and is instead writing their own academic standards.

They believe in local control of education, a democracy kind of thing.

So far 45 states have adopted Common Core, mostly being bribed to implement the standards.

This is what the republican Indiana governor had to say about education in his state:

"I believe our students are best served when decisions about education are made at the local and state level."

The AP reports that 36 states will begin field tests of new assessments on the Common Core standards, although the real tests won't be given until another year.

This has led to a bill in New York to suspend Common Core after recent tests showed only 30 percent passed in NY. 

So far the teachers unions have backed the Common Core, with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten calling it "revolutionary."

However, rumblings within the teacher ranks are starting up.

Word has it the teachers caucus Core just passed a resolution denouncing the Common Core and plans to bring it up to the delegates meeting next week for a vote.

Before that happens it may go to the Chicago Teachers Union executive board first to approve the resolution before it would come up for a vote at the meeting.

The other option would be for any delegates to propose the resolution at the delegates meeting next week and then the delegates would vote on approval.

Educational heavy weight Diane Ravitch, who has written extensively in support of public education, has denounced the Common Core and it's unproven methodology.

Stay tuned!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/03/24/293894857/indiana-becomes-first-state-to-back-out-of-common-core?sc=17&f=1001