Common Core Concerns?

Last updated on: December 23, 2013 at 10:05 am by Scot McKnight

Common Core Concerns? 2013-12-09T07:08:04-06:00 Scot McKnight

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Source:

Millions of parents across the country are starting to become concerned, as they see test scores in states on the leading edge of Common Core implementation plummet. Officials have greeted this failure with strange satisfaction, clearlyhaving known that this would be the result of the new system they put in place. Parents start out puzzled by this behavior, but when they investigate, here is what they are discovering:

There is a powerful engine of “reform” at work in the “venture philanthropy” of the Gates Foundation, which has sponsored the development, adoption and implementation of the Common Core, spending close to $200 million so far on the project. While every Common Core web site claims that the standards were “authored by states,” those who inquire learn that the standards were written by a small groupof individuals affiliated with a handful of non-profits funded by the Gates Foundation.

The US Department of Education is operating in close cooperation with the Gates Foundation to manipulate states into adopting Common Core. When Race to the Top grants were made available to states, the Gates Foundation made its staff available to help prepare the grant applications for states willing to adopt Common Core. The Department of Education, prevented by law from promoting national standards,worked in concert with the Gates Foundation (and private organizations funded by Gates) to get around the law.

Many non-profits and professional organizations, and even our unions, have accepted millions of dollars in funding from the Gates Foundation in exchange for active support for Common Core. These organizations have not behaved as if they have any real influence, but rather have accepted the Common Core system as inevitable. They risk losing legitimacy in they eyes of their members as the Common Core project begins to collapse.

The Common Core is propelled by a vision of education as serving the needs of commerce and corporations. Many of the arguments for Common Core portray our children as products on an assembly line. As a high level Gates Foundation officialwrote recently, “I am pleased to see the excitement in the business community for the common core. Businesses are the primary consumers of the output of our schools, so it’s a natural alliance.”

The Common Core doubles down on NCLB’s insistence that schools be “held accountable” for constantly rising test scores, acting as if these scores are an adequate reflection of student learning. Common Core is all about measurable outputs, and making sure student performance can be quantified in ever greater detail.

Common Core designers intended test scores to crash. From the start, we have heard veiled allusions to the effect that “we have been lying to our children” in not telling them how inadequate they are. Arne Duncan’s recent remark about “suburban white mothers” upset that “their child isn’t as bright as they thought, and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought,” shows this intent clearly. The collapsed scores, coupled with policies that force the closure or “transformation” of schools, the promotion of charter schools, and the use of test scores for purposes of teacher and principal evaluation, create an unsustainable environment in our schools. And this is all by design.

Common Core is being used to justify an unprecedented expansion of “educational technology,” to be used for computer-based testing and delivery of instruction. This investment in machinery has been termed “personalization.” So instead of investing in small class sizes that allow truly personalized instruction, we have districts like Los Angeles spending a billion dollars on iPads so students can access Common Core curriculum and tests.

Common Core expands our education system’s reliance on data. Once we have decided we can measure and quantify learning, the way to improve is to have ever MORE measurement, and ever MORE data. And we discover that the systems to store such data must be expanded, and that detailed data on our own children is being compiled and stored in “cloud-based” systems, and may be made available to third party corporations.

Education

Previous Post

December 23, 2013

Did Jesus Have "Real" Brothers and Sisters?

Next Post

December 24, 2013 God Getting Human on Him

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What famous garden did God place Adam and Eve in?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Eden Sinai Gethsemane Bethel