Says: “Damage Will Last for Years to Come”

Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars, lays it on the line about what he sees as long-term problems for the nation because of the Common Core State Standards. His new article in the Heartlander cites a deterioration in the instruction of literature, a postponement of math mastery and a further decay in educational opportunity to enter more advanced careers as just a few of the problems resulting from use of the Common Core State Standards.

Wood also charges that the standards are bare minimum only. That charge has even been backed up by Kentucky’s past commissioner of education, Terry Holliday. Holliday publicly admitted in multiple forums that the Common Core State Standards are “only minimum standards.”

Wood says it will probably take years to fix due these educational mistakes due to the excessive investments in time and money that have already been made in these undemanding standards.

This news about Common Core problems comes as the Kentucky legislature debates the current session’s Senate Bill 1, which would bring major changes to the state’s education system. That includes changes to the way the state develops and adopts education standards that could set the stage for a partial or complete withdraw from Common Core.

Part of the drive for this new bill is concern that the adoption of Common Core in Kentucky actually did not follow the guidelines in another piece of legislation, Senate Bill 1 from the 2009 Regular Legislative Session. That earlier bill said the resulting system was to meet the needs of all students, including “advanced learners.”

As Wood correctly points out and Holliday’s comments confirm, the Common Core State Standards do not meet the needs of more advanced students. As such it is clear Common Core State Standards really do not comply with Kentucky state law and need to be very significantly altered if not completely revised.