<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:14pt"><div><span>I think Cody's article is probably on target. Again, setting up an unproductive debate, narrowly framed, all serving powerful interests.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>DG</span></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" style="display: block;"> <br> <br> <div style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> On Sunday, January 26, 2014 7:53 PM, David Johnson <davidjohnson1451@comcast.net> wrote:<br> </font> </div> <blockquote style="padding-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; margin-left: 5px; border-left-color: rgb(16, 16, 255); border-left-width: 2px; border-left-style: solid;"> <div class="y_msg_container"><div id="yiv5968162011">
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<h1 class="yiv5968162011asset-name yiv5968162011entry-title" id="yiv5968162011page-title"><font size="3">Comments and
opinions on this article about Common Core, David and Lynn ?</font></h1>
<h1 class="yiv5968162011asset-name yiv5968162011entry-title">Are Progressive Critics of Common Core
"Getting Played" By Enemies of Public Education?</h1>
<div class="yiv5968162011asset-meta"><span class="yiv5968162011byline">By <span class="yiv5968162011vcard yiv5968162011author"><a class="yiv5968162011fn yiv5968162011url" href="http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Anthony
Cody</a></span> on January
7, 2014 3:33 PM </span></div></div>
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<div><span style="line-height: 1.62;">Today, </span><span style="line-height: 1.62;"></span><a style="line-height: 1.62;" href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/common-core-conservatives-education-101796.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Politico
offers an analysis</a><span style="line-height: 1.62;"> of conservative's
organized opposition to the </span><span style="line-height: 1.62;">Common Core
which points out that the end game for many of these Koch-funded groups is total
annihilation of public education, through the expansion of vouchers for private
and parochial schools, and home schooling. The response on the part of some has
been to suggest that those of us on the progressive side who have also been
critical of Common Core have "been played." That somehow we have lent credence
to this conservative movement, and therefore we are being manipulated or
used. </span></div>
<div><b>But blaming progressive critics of Common Core for the rise of this
conservative movement turns reality on its head.</b> The people who have
let down our public schools are those who are willing to embrace standardization
and high stakes tests as some sort of "progressive" guarantor of equity. We have
been down this path with No Child Left Behind, which was sold to us by an
alliance of liberal and neo-conservative politicians. We were told children in
poverty would get more attention and resources once standardized tests "shed
light" on just how far behind they were. We got teacher 'evaluation' schemes
built around faulty VAM metrics, leading to mass demoralization and too-many
losses of strong educators, simultaneous with a hypocritical push to replace
seasoned teachers with Teach for America novices. The result? Intense pressure
to raise test scores, narrowed curriculum, and school closings by the hundreds -
all with the mantle of approval by our "liberal" leaders. Who really got played
here?<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></div>
<div>Then Common Core came along in 2009. Everyone was weary of NCLB, and ready
for change. But some of us could read the writing on the wall. The fancy words
about critical thinking and "moving beyond the bubble tests" sounded nice, but a
closer look revealed standards that were originally written with little to no
participation by K12 teachers. The promises to get rid of bubble tests only
meant that the tests would be taken on expensive computers. The promise to
escape the narrowing of curriculum only meant we would be testing more often, in
more subjects.</div>
<div><span style="line-height: 1.62;">So many of us <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2009/07/national_standards_process_ign.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">started
raising concerns</a>. The basic premise of Common Core was similar to NCLB - our
schools are failing, and we must respond with "higher standards," and more
difficult tests. But the indictment of public education has been wrong from the
start, and we should not lend it credence by supporting phony
solutions.</span></div>
<div><span style="line-height: 1.62;">But those who objected were drowned out by
the incentives provided by Race to the Top and a bottomless well of grant
funding from the Gates Foundation, which purchased support from the PTA,
professional organizations like ASCD, and even our unions.</span><span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></div>
<div>In April, <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2013/04/time_for_teacher_unions_to_hop.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">I
wrote about the trap our leaders fall into</a> when they embrace the
Common Core with enthusiasm, and offer largely unqualified endorsements of its
inherent goodness:</div>
<blockquote>
<div>But there is a new reason to get up on our hind legs and fight the Common
Core and it is very political. A number of conservatives are making this a
major issue. While corporate Republicans like Jeb Bush remain thoroughly
wedded to Common Core, the real energy of the party is elsewhere. The energy
is with the more Libertarian types, like Rand Paul and Glenn Beck. They are
likely to escalate their attacks on the Common Core, and they already hate
unions. That makes it very easy for<a href="http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-state-standards/glenn-beck-outs-the-common-core/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>
them to attack Common Core</b></a> as a Big Government, Big Union plot to
squash local control of schools and impose a monolithic curriculum on the
populace.</div>
<div>The Obama administration's education policies have been, by and large, a
disaster. And Republicans are poised to <a href="http://blog.ourfuture.org/20120329/Now_Watch_Republicans_Hang_Education_Reform_Around_Democrats_Necks" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>rev
up their attack machine</b></a> on these grounds and teacher unions will be
smeared right along with the administration so long as they are on
board.</div></blockquote>
<div><b><span style="line-height: 1.62;">It is not progressive opponents of
Common Core who have set our public schools and unions up for this. It is the
corporate reformers, and those willing to promote their grandiose Common Core
project.</span></b></div></div></div></font></div></div></div><br><br></div> </blockquote> </div> </div> </div> </div></body></html>