What does Common Core mean to Wissahickon School District?

Common Core is a nationally controlled set of educational content standards and testing for K – 12 students that proponents want to be used in all 50 states. The Federal government enticed states to adopt Common Core by offering money, including $40 million to Pennsylvania. On March 14, 2013, the Pennsylvania State Board of Education voted to put into place Common Core Standards in English/Language Arts (ELA) and Math. This means that the Wissahickon School District must adopt the national Common Core standards and testing for all of our K – 12 students. Common Core raises many concerns for teachers, administrators, students and parents in our school district.

First, it severely restricts educators’ and parents’ ability to influence and modify course content to suit local needs. For example, the English & Language Arts standards shift the reading curriculum from the great works of literature towards non-fiction, such as government pamphlets and informational texts like technical manuals. Since the Common Core standards are copyrighted, they cannot be modified.

Second, implementing Common Core is expensive. The Pioneer Institute and the American Principles Project estimate that implementation will cost Pennsylvania $645 Million, taking funds from school budgets that are already squeezed.

Third, Common Core lowers educational standards. Dr. R. James Milgram, Professor Emeritus in Mathematics from Stanford University, 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 graduating from high school.

Finally, Common Core creates significant privacy concerns by empowering the U.S. Department of Education to create huge databases that will include more than 400 metrics on each student including health histories, disciplinary record, family income range and religious affiliation. At the same time, federal privacy regulations for education were changed to allow any and all data collected on our children to be shared with Federal agencies and private entities without any consent from parents.

Because of these concerns, educators and parents across the state have convinced Governor Corbett to put the implementation of Common Core on hold in Pennsylvania until further review. In the PA house, five bills have been introduced to restrict or completely kill the implementation of Common Core.

If you want to learn more and/or take action on Common Core in Pennsylvania, please visit: http://nopacommoncore.com/