Making Sense of the Common Core

For those who are not aware, every public school must follow a set of standards for what and when certain skills are taught to our children. This means for example, schools must ensure every first grader knows how to add and subtract, and every 7th grader can solve for x. 

In 2014, the Common Core Standards were introduced as a complete overhaul to the American system of education. Previously, the states’ education departments had complete control over these standards, and each varied in emphasis and pacing. There was a big push in the 1990s and 2000s for states to create their own bubble tests to demonstrate student achievement. However, the system showed its flaws, as the incentives to provide easier the tests to produce higher test scores led states and schools to water down curriculums. 

As countries in Europe and Asia outpaced our students in every category, the science and technology economic sectors started moving out of the country and outsourcing projects. In response, the US Congress issued the initiative that all states should adopt the same set of standards, and that these would be redesigned to prepare students to be problem solvers and critical thinkers in an age of rapid technological advancement. 

Like most sweeping educational reforms, the execution of the Common Core has already stumbled. The task of implementation was bestowed by the National Governors Association who were lobbied heavily by private text book businesses. 

Before long a whole new market was born, as these companies capitalized on these new standards to force schools to buy whole new curriculum sets. Teachers had to scramble to buy the next bottle of snake oil to get their students prepared for the Common Core. 

With the Every Child Succeeds Act of 2015, the Federal Government attempted to withhold funding from No Child Left Behind if states were unable to adopt the new standards. However, some of the states have fought back and there are several states, like Texas and Alabama, who never ratified. The current position of our Federal Government is that they are guidelines and strongly encouraged. There has been a politicization of these standards that was unexpected.