Dear Commons Community,

Two Republican governors, Mary Fallin of Oklahoma and Nikki Haley of South Carolina, have just signed laws pulling their states out of the Common Core State Standards initiative amid growing anti-Core sentiment around the country. As reported in The Washington Post:

 
“Fallin signed the law on Thursday, while Haley did it last week, joining Indiana in officially rejecting the Core. A few other states, including Florida, are considering whether to keep the standards or have already “rebranded” the standards by changing the name and deciding to create their own standardized tests for accountability purposes rather than use the Core tests now being designed by two multi-state consortia. Fallin, who had once supported the Core, said:

 
“We cannot ignore the widespread concern of citizens, parents, educators and legislators who have expressed fear that adopting Common Core gives up local control of Oklahoma’s public schools.”

 
What does this all mean for the future of the Core? The standards were adopted in 2010 and 2011, with the support of the Obama administration, by 45 states and the District of Columbia, and schools have been implementing them for a few years. Most of those states are keeping the standards, at least for now.”

 
It is unfortunate that the resistance is growing against the Common Core. The basic concept of the Common Core is good but the implementation in many states was rushed and poorly done.  The result has been a backlash among parents, teachers and conservative activists who see it as over-reach of the federal government’s involvement with education.  Arne Duncan and the U.S. Education Department share much of the blame for this.

 
Tony