In Kentucky, college professors and a new governor could jettison Common Core.
Concerns that Common Core loosens educational standards have found a political climate that’s more inclined to approach the standards with a renewed skeptical eye, according to The Federalist.
For Kentucky, an early battleground state over the standards, a success for the new standard could be reversed as Governor-elect Matt Bevin previously signaled his opposition. Some of the opposition stems from the perception that Common Core fails to improve standards, and even weakens them.
“The massive deficiencies of the national standards mean students will be even more unprepared for college work than they were before,” The Federalist noted. Instead of providing all students a strong grounding to prepare them for success, Common Core hurts their prospects and drags professors down with them, by law.
Opposition surpasses the proposed standards. Widespread data mining and “the sheer range and complexity” of it breeds disregard for the new standards.
If Kentucky professors grow in their disillusionment with Common Core, Bevin could have the political cover necessary to repeal the standards and let Kentucky go its own way. It’d be a public-relations blow to Common Core, and one at a time where support for Common Core has been slipping among Republicans and Democrats alike.
Defenders of Common Core cite more challenging tests to dismiss concerns over lax standards. The difficulty of persuading states to adopt a common framework and approach to education is bound to create a pool of resistance regardless of what the framework entails.
However, arguments over standards, for or against, will be settled by professors adapting to students, not policymakers. If higher education faculty reject an approach that rests on the idea that it will better prepare students for higher education, it’s hard to imagine Common Core would survive.
