Education

‘Real News From The Blaze’ Discusses One-Size-Fits-All Federal Education Standards

Two years ago, 46 states adopted Common Core, a national set of education standards designed to improve school and student performance in math and reading. The Wall Street Journal reports that the voluntary academic standards across each grade were heavily promoted by the Obama administration through its $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition. The program has now though come under recent fire in at least five states that have adopted it, as opponents of the Common Core worry that it’s created a “national curriculum” at the expense of state and local municipalities specific needs. WSJ reports:

A 2010 report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a right-leaning educational-research group, said the Common Core standards “are clearly superior to those currently in use in 39 states in math and 37 states in English. For 33 states, the Common Core is superior in both math and reading.”

But conservative lawmakers and governors in at least five states, including Utah and Alabama, recently have been pushing to back out, or slow down implementation, of Common Core. They worry that adoption of the standards has created a de facto national curriculum that could at some point be extended into more controversial areas such as science.

[...]

A study released this year by a researcher at the Brookings Institution think tank projected Common Core will have no effect on student achievement. The study said states with high standards improved their national math and reading scores at the same rate as states with low standards from 2003 to 2009.

On “Real News” Thursday the panel opened up discussing this case and whether standards for education should be made at the federal level, or for that, anywhere outside the local school boards.

Jedediah Bila argues that policy like Common Core takes the flexibility out of the education system. From experience as an educator, Jedediah believes that individual classrooms come from different academic backgrounds and have different needs where they would perhaps not all function best when forced to learn at the same nationally set curriculum.

“Once you say on a national level, we’re going to do something–a one size fits all approach,” Bila said. “That takes away all the individualized approach to education–that makes it work in places like charter schools–and it tears it out of the system.”

Playing devil’s advocate, Will Cain made the point that advocates for national standards have many statistics on their side showing that without federal guidelines, the same states fail to compete on the same level of their piers. Watch a clip from the segment below:

Comments (14)

  • synapse
    Posted on May 17, 2012 at 6:32pm

    It would be abhorrent to have a one-size-fits-all national educational curriculum for so many reasons. For one, it opens up the possibility of a national propaganda and brainwashing of all youth into a single ideology, and it does so by taking away state rights. Haven’t we learned this lesson from history?

    And Will Cain did a horrible job of playing devil’s advocate for two reasons: First, he falsely presumes that states not taking part in the national curriculum will fall behind. Second, why should every state perform at the same level? We know that not all people perform at the same level so why should states?

    Report Post »  
  • blackyb
    Posted on May 12, 2012 at 4:57pm

    When things are as contaminated as this administration have advanced, it need burning to stop the infection.

    Report Post » blackyb  
  • blackyb
    Posted on May 12, 2012 at 4:56pm

    Dump anything Obama proposes or passes out like taking out the trash. We are going to have to go back to the drawing board. Everything they have is to progress agendas not suitable for our youth.

    Report Post » blackyb  
  • robert42vet
    Posted on May 12, 2012 at 7:03am

    So basically if we look at history of this, we see the Feds using their current positions to wrestle more and more control of how education will be done in every school.

    Before long there will be Washington state‘s view on kids getting condoms and abortions without parental consent at the ripe ol’Junior High levels. Add in California‘s teaching transgender and gay appreciation to middle school kids with Colorado’s view kids should be trained to think the US Govt caused 911, New Yorks view that gangs should be tolerated in the Junior High and High School grounds, Florida’s view that kids that play sports well need not attend classes, and Kansas‘ view that teaching Darwin’s theory is sin. Illinois view that pi=4 and Connecticut’s view only vegan meals be served within 500 feet of a school.
    Then comes the hows, 1 teacher per student and 10 administrators per teacher and budgets that cant get passed for 10 years after the year they were drawn up. All references to God or anything spiritual being removed from all property and the family being threatened by every whim and nuance anyone in the chain feels ‘could be happening and could be unfair’. All references to anything Military especially if it demonstrates heroisms and valour to be replaced with a stark reminder of how evil the US and especially White males in the US are.

    Hard to believe why anyone would be resistant to this idea.

    Report Post »  
  • Wiggyky
    Posted on May 12, 2012 at 3:49am

    If you are lucky enough to stay in one city/town all your life then there is no problem.

    However, most of you commenting obviously have not been in a family that has frequently moved around the Country. I personally went to 16 different schools between 1st and 12th grades (Father was in the military).

    Now let us see how many think it is fair for a child to be ok in one school, move to the next school and find they are a year behind where you were. Then move to another school and find you are 2 years behind then the next school you find they are 2 years ahead of your last school.

    If you have 10th grade History by John Brown on the East Coast, then get to the West Coast and find revised History by Joe Schmoo and it is less accurate than the previous one….where is the fairness?

    Oh and while you are at it check your school board and see if it consists of politicians (knowing nothing about the schools) or teachers/former teachers (who have actually been in the classroom).

    Academic hard core subjects should be the same nationwide. Yes leave room for the states to have the electives. If people used logic and common sense they could balance it with no problem. Problem is logic and common sense doesn’t exist anymore. I know from the lack of it forced on me and later my own children. Experience is better than opinions here.
    .

    Now tell me making your child purposely fail due to different standards is in the best interest of your child

    Report Post » Wiggyky  
  • Individualism
    Posted on May 11, 2012 at 9:45am

    Goverment involvement in education is to make the masses stupid and easy to control.

    Report Post » Individualism  
  • lukerw
    Posted on May 10, 2012 at 11:17pm

    ‘One Size fits All’/‘No Child left Behind’: DUMB DOWN THE SYSTEM!

    Report Post » lukerw  
    • lukerw
      Posted on May 11, 2012 at 2:11am

      Of course… the current American Education System was created under FDR as a Progressive Experiment… was never intended to educate Concepts (Thinking)… was designed to cause Memorization of Facts for Testing (Obedience)… and was designed to produce Workers for the Industral Society. So, it is not that we need More Government involvement… to raise Standards… rather we need NO Government involvement!

      Report Post » lukerw  
  • The_Jerk
    Posted on May 10, 2012 at 9:58pm

    The commies are already pushing the International Baccalaureate Program, IB, in many of our schools. They have the full support of the U.N. through UNESCO.

    Report Post »  
  • Thoughtyman
    Posted on May 10, 2012 at 9:38pm

    I saw an article some time ago (http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2011/03/longhorns-17-badgers-1.html) that listed top performing states vs. the bottom dwellers in the test scores of their respective students. Virtually all of the poorer performers had a large population of minority students and virtually all of the better performers had a smaller population of minorities. When the specific classes of students, i.e., whites v. whites, blacks v. blacks, hispanics v. hispanics, etc. were compared, many of the wide disparities disappeared between the states. For better or worse, there is a difference in how minorities in general perform on these tests.

    Further, it’s simplistic to say schools need more money or smaller class sizes or more teachers. The problem seems to be social, societal, familial, and cultural. I think the road to academic success starts in the home with caring parents who set expectations and support their children to achieve. From there, the public education system is a conduit.

    Report Post »  
  • Psychosis
    Posted on May 10, 2012 at 8:29pm

    since the creation of the fed dept. of ed. test scores have remained flat lined or declined in no audit of the educational system has it improved in any way

    but boy have they thrown a sh!tload of money into it much to the unions delight

    Report Post » Psychosis  
  • soybomb315
    Posted on May 10, 2012 at 8:20pm

    The federal government collects mandatory taxes from the states and then gives them a portion only if they participate in ‘voluntary’ programs. Pathetic

    Give me liberty (ron paul) or give me death (of the republic)

    Report Post » soybomb315  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on May 10, 2012 at 8:14pm

    The federal government has no business in education,they have no constitutional authority to be involved in education.The Bill of Rights says that powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved to the states and the people.

    We need to get the feds out of the business of education,abolish the unconstitutional Dept.of education,this country survived before that parasitic department was inflicted on us.

    Report Post » progressiveslayer  
    • DesertPaine
      Posted on May 10, 2012 at 9:27pm

      It’s not that hard Progressiveslayer, is it? Either the authority is there or it is not. A nation that wants to form an opinion on a matter first and then try to shoehorn their want into foundations loses moral authority, no matter the issue. Yes…feds do not and cannot belong in education. Period. Good idea, bad idea, right, wrong. Doesn’t matter.

      Report Post »  

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