Heritage Foundation
Protecting Educational Freedom This
Independence Day: Cracks in the Common Core
By Lindsey Burke
July 4, 2013
Just in time for Independence Day, the
foundations of the Common Core initiative are showing some cracks.
Common Core is an effort to establish national
standards and tests to define what every child in public school will learn. It
has been heavily incentivized by the Obama Administration and is an
unprecedented federal overreach into local school policy. But recent moves in
several states across the country could mean that curriculum freedom remains
alive and well.
On Monday, Oklahoma superintendent of education
Janet Barresi announced that the Sooner State would be pulling out of the Common
Core testing consortia. Barresi told the Tulsa World that because of myriad
technical problems with the assessments and higher anticipated costs, “If we
move ahead with this, we are going to be asking the state to drink a milkshake
using a cocktail straw.”
Oklahoma’s withdrawal follows Alabama, which
also withdrew from the common assessments earlier this year. Both states still
plan to follow the Common Core standards but will be assessing how students
perform on those standards with tests they have chosen.
Some states have gone a step further to ensure
educational freedom. Indiana Governor Mike Pence (R) has paused implementation
of Common Core for the next year, allowing the state to assess the cost to
taxpayers and affording the Indiana Department of Education and a legislative
study committee the opportunity to determine whether Common Core standards are
superior to Indiana’s existing standards.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett (R) has
likewise hit the pause button on Common Core standards implementation, allowing
time for the standards to be approved by the legislative education committees
and the state’s Regulatory Review Commission. And in Michigan, Governor Rick
Snyder (R) signed a budget prohibiting any new state funds from being expended on
Common Core implementation.
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