The political fight over Common Core is being waged, but is it too little, too late? Some say the standards have already taken over American education, while others say they are losing steam before they have even been fully implemented.
An article by Politico‘s Kimberly Hefling claimed that Common Core has “quietly won the war.” The standards are “embedded in the classroom,” she wrote, and currently in effect for four out of every five public school students.
Neal McCluskey of the Cato Institute had a different view. He wrote that rather than quietly winning the war, Common Core standards are quietly retreating.
The Obama administration included the Common Core requirement into it’s 2009 stimulus package, offering a $4 billion “Race to the Top” incentive for states to improve their education quality and results.
McCluskey argued Common Core standards were largely implemented without the public even knowing they existed, and resistance began in 2011 when schools were told to implement the new standards.
Texas, Virginia, Alaska and Nebraska refused to adopt the initiative at a state level. Last year, Indiana, Oklahoma, and South Carolina joined in dropping the standards.
Some states like Missouri, North Carolina and Arizona still adhere to the standards but have attempted to rebrand them with new names because the idea of “Common Core” is so unpopular.
More than 40 states still currently adhere to Common Core, however many have adopted their own tests to measure learning.
The U.S. Department of Education selected and paid for two companies — the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) — to develop tests that would ensure students were assessed in accordance with Common Core standards, and to set nationally comparable performance levels.
McCluskey reported that in 2009, SBAC had 31 members states, which has since dropped to 18 member states, and PARCC started out with 25 states and DC, and is now down to only 11 states and DC, with several more on the verge of dropping out.
The standardized testing is unpopular with parents across the country, many of whom had their children opt-out of state reading and math tests this spring.
However, even states that have rejected Common Core are having a hard time moving away from the standards. Hefling wrote that states like Indiana are simply developing their own similar standards and tests.
The fight over Common Core continues to play out on the national stage. GOP presidential candidates New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal have both reversed their support for Common Core and are now trying to move their states away from the standards, while others like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich continue to support Common Core.
