LttE: Common Core Standards not necessarily up to standards

After reading the article in the DC Herald about Common Core State Standards, I started doing a bit of research. My findings left me in opposition of Common Core. My reasons follow.

First, we in Indiana already have top notch standards, which leads me to have several lingering questions. How will adopting a national one-size-fits-all set of standards improve education here? Should we implement something without any knowledge of the outcomes? Will private schools be subject to these standards as well?

Second, the law states that the federal government cannot establish a national curriculum or national testing. While it is true that Common Core is not under the U.S. Department of Education, rather it was developed by the National Governor’s Association Center with hefty financial support from the Gates Foundation, adoption of Common Core was an incentive for President Obama’s Race to the Top initiative. Another incentive from the federal government to adopt Common Core is the ability for states to apply for a waiver to exit No Child Left Behind. This seems to me like another method the federal government initiates to circumvent the law.

Third, I personally don’t like the idea of abdicating our rights as a local community to the federal government in deciding what we should teach our children. I found that a school can deviate from the Common Core by 15% before being non-compliant. By Indiana agreeing to Common Core, it will open yet another form of a distant, far-reaching federal bureaucracy intruding into our lives.

I urge you to do your own research – on the Common Core’s website and beyond, and if you too find yourself in opposition to Common Core State Standards, please let your state legislators know your position.