By now, most parents of school aged children have heard of Common Core Standards. Yet, many people still don't truly understand what these standards are, and what their implications are. Oddly enough, Lexington County schools have not hosted ANY public forums to present BOTH sides of the Common Core debate--rather, parents must rely on the school districts for the rather biased information about the standards.
I hope that people will research these standards which are set for full implementation in 2014-15 in South Carolina.
A few fun facts that many people don't know:
1. Common Core Standards are copyrighted--That means they CANNOT be changed, once implemented. Check out this Common Core website, (http://www.corestandards.org/terms-of-use/). It says, specifically, “Copyright: This website and all content on this website, including in particular the Common Core State Standards, are the property of NGA Center and CCSSO, and NGA Center and CCSSO retain all right, title, and interest in and to the same.”
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On the same website (http://www.corestandards.org/public-license/) it says: THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS ARE PROVIDED UNDER THE TERMS OF THIS PUBLIC LICENSE. THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT AND/OR OTHER APPLICABLE LAW. ANY USE OF THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS OTHER THAN AS AUTHORIZED UNDER THIS LICENSE OR COPYRIGHT LAW IS PROHIBITED.
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Any publication or public display shall include the following notice: “© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.”
2. Under Common Core, local control is minimized. If you read the Common Core Implementation Guidelines?( http://www.achieve.org/files/FINAL-CCSSImplementationGuide.pdf.), specifically page 22, you will see that it CLEARLY states that you states can’t adopt “as much or as little” as they see fit, nor can they add MORE than 15% to the CCSS standards:“When 48 states and three territories signed on to the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI), it was their goal to create a shared set of expectations in English Language Arts and mathematics. Therefore, states who adopt the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are expected to adopt them in their entirety. While states will not be considered to have adopted the common core if any individual standard is left out, states are allowed to augment the standards with an additional 15% of content that a state feels is imperative. For example, some states may include literature from authors born in the state or about groups or events important to the state. In some cases, these requirements are even written into law. States may also need to add content to courses so that they align with other existing policies. It is important to note, however, that adding to the CCSS is purely optional.”
Page 23 of the same document goes on to say, regarding adding to the standards, “As states consider their strategies for adopting and implementing the CCSS, they need to carefully and
deliberately consider the benefits and tradeoffs of augmenting the common standards, rely on their common sense and stay within the spirit of the 15% guideline. “
Are you ok with copyrighted standards, that must be accepted in their entirety, and that can't be augmented by more than 15%? I am not. Common Core is not “just a set of standards”. Nor are these standards “state-led”—if they are, I would love to know the names of the individuals in South Carolina who helped develop the standards. If the standards are so great, why is there legislation to stop these standards? Why are television ads being aired to promote Common Core—since when does education have to be “sold” to the public? Why will school districts not host forums, to present both sides of Common Core, so parents can be truly informed?