In yet another reason to worry about Common Core, a proponent of the education standards said that “the children belong to all of us.”
The liberal think tank Center for American Progress held a forum on the English and math standards on Friday that have been adopted by 45 states and Washington, D.C., CNSNews.com reported.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan, left, speaks with student Stephanie Gil after roundtable discussion with local students, parents and educators at the Benito Juarez Community Academy in Chicago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2013. (AP/Kamil Krzaczynski)
A panelist and former Massachusetts education secretary Paul Reville dismissed opposition to Common Core.
“To be sure, there’s always a small voice – and I think these voices get amplified in the midst of these arguments – of people who were never in favor of standards in the first place and never wanted to have any kind of testing or accountability and those voices get amplified,” Reville said, according to CNSNews.com. “But those are a tiny minority.”
He continued arguing against leaving standards entirely at the local level.
“Why should some towns and cities and states have no standards or low standards and others have extremely high standards when the children belong to all of us and would move [to different states in their educational lives]?” Reville said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) this week is expected to introduce a Senate resolution critical of the Common Core state standards, and objecting to the use of $4.3 billion in Department of Education “Race to the Top” grants to promote its adoption.
During the Center for American Progress panel Friday, Reville said states have voluntarily adopted the standards because it made sense for them.
“So, it’s less about where it came from and more about, ‘OK, now we settled on this as a set of targets, what are the strategies we need to implement, to be successful at it?’ Because educators and students want to be successful,” Reville said.
The Center for American Progress was founded by John Podesta, current counsel to President Barack and former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton.
Common Core education standards were adopted by 45 states for English and math for kindergarten through 12th grade. Though not formally a set of national standards, many critics believe it has become de facto standards through an Obama administration’s carrot and stick approach. Common Core is supported by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers.
The standards have even prompted opposition on the left, as the as the New York State United Teachers, the state’s public school teacher union, announced formal oppositions to the standards.
