Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. speaks to supporters in this Nov. 4, 2014, photo.Draft legislation proposed by U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., could solve the Common Core problem once and for all.
If his Every Child Ready for College or Career Act passes, it will be up to states and not the federal government to determine what type of educational standards and college readiness tests they have. The draft of the bill, which updates the now “unworkable” 2001 No Child Left Behind law, mandates the states to have “high and challenging standards” but declares that “the federal government may not dictate or get involved with what those standards should be, or require states to submit their standards to the federal government for review or approval.”
If a state, in turn, chooses Common Core standards and accountability tests, that is what it would use. If another state chooses another set of standards and tests, that is what it would use.
“The question,” Alexander said in a Senate floor speech earlier this week, “is are there too many tests, and who should be in charge of the tests?”
The bill, which he said the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has worked on for six years and which relies on 30 years of work by state governors and state school officers, would do several things parents across the country have said they want. It would bring education decisions closer to the local level, and it would end the federal government mandating a one-size-fits-all solution for the entire country.