Hechinger Report asks: “Are we on the verge of a mass Common Core repeal?”

The Hechinger Report from Columbia Teachers College in New York City isn’t exactly a Red State conservative newsletter, but even this journal is asking, “Are we on the verge of a mass Common Core repeal?”

Hechinger points out that many state legislatures were taken over by conservatives and Republicans in the recent elections and many of those now in power are no fans of the Common Core State Standards.

Hechinger additionally points out that all of the criticism isn’t coming from conservatives, either. The article mentions Carol Burris, principal at South Side High School in Rockville Center, New York, who is a highly outspoken Common Core critic. Her comments have run in multiple places (such as here and here) in the Washington Post’s “Answer Sheet” education blog, for example.

Another highly liberal critic of Common Core is Diane Ravitch. Her blog regularly takes swipes at the standards, including running even more of Burris’ comments (Somewhat as an aside, in the Ravitch blog Burris contends that Common Core won’t fix chronic achievement gaps in this country. We’ll have a lot more to say about that shortly, so stay tuned in early January).

As Hechinger points out, some of the Common Core critics’ biggest concerns involve the more or less federal takeover of the process. That includes federal control by funding of two separate testing groups that were organized to develop Common Core tests. Folks around the country now understand that testing ultimately will determine what Common Core really means, so major federal influence over testing is very important. Already, many states (including Kentucky) have opted out of those two testing groups, but distrust in the entire process continues to fester.

There are also concerns that Common Core triggered some very contentious changes in teaching approaches, changes now lighting up the Internet with tons of parent and educator complaints. Whether intended or not, Common Core reignited the math wars. The Core’s suggested reading lists have also become a hot button as they push the camel’s nose of English language arts under the tents of all other subjects like math, science and social studies through suggested reading for all academic areas.

So, while the jury still remains out on Common Core in Kentucky (although the state is currently conducting a review of the standards in math and English language arts), it looks like in a number of other states the jurors may already have heard enough.