Many Tennesseans are unaware of Common Core, a troubling new set of federal education standards, because it was agreed upon without the consent, knowledge or involvement of parents and taxpayers.
It might surprise you to know that on recent visits to state legislators in Nashville, they did not know much about Common Core either.
Our Race to the Top application was submitted in January 2010 and then-Governor Phil Bredesen agreed to a set of new standards, sight unseen. The first draft of the standards was not released until March 2010. Several of the experts on the Common Core validation committee refused to sign the final standard documents due to their inferior content.
Dr. R. James Milgram of Stanford University, for example, stated the Common Core’s math standards would have American children performing 1-2 years behind other countries by the 8th grade. Noted education reform leader Dr. Sandra Stotsky stated Common Core’s English Language Arts standards were just “empty skill sets” leaving our children at a 7th grade reading level upon graduation and replacing 50-70 percent of literature with technical reading materials.
The National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers own the copyright on Common Core standards. As a result, no one using Common Core can change anything about the standards. If parents don’t like what is being taught, they might as well not waste their time complaining to teachers, the principal or the school board.