Common Core State Standards: Why Parents and Citizens Should Be Concerned

CCSS Are Based on Shaky Assumptions

• Assumes — without proof– that Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are the best standards.
• Assumes national standards are the route to superior academic and economic performance.
• No linkage has been found between national standards and economic development in other nations.

CCSS Are the Opposite of Local Control

• Public schools have long been guided by principle that those closest to a problem are able to make the best decisions. But under CCSS, more control moves to Washington.
• Local control encourages civic involvement and ensures good educational outcomes.
• “Top down” standards and testing ensure less local involvement.
• CCSS requires states to adopt at 85 percent of the standards. There can be no variation.
• In doing so, local communities surrender the ability to make key decisions about education
  programs.

CCSS Are Not Rigorous

• Academic experts contend CCSS are not uniformly rigorous or internationally benchmarked.
• Goal of “college readiness” defined as “prepared to enter nonselective community colleges.”
• English language arts standards de-emphasize classic literature in favor of “informational texts.”
• Algebra I’s placement in Grade 9 ensures most students will not have calculus in high school.
• Stanford Professor James Milgram: Math standards will put students two years behind the nations with which we compete.

CCSS Were Not Developed by the States

• CCSS developed not by local officials but by two professional trade associations.
• Work to write the standards was financed largely by private foundations.
• CCSS is a massive overhaul of public education. Yet there was no public vetting of standards. Journalists were refused records of meetings, were told that CCSS committees were not subject to public records law.

CCSS Change Governance of Education

• Standards are owned and copyrighted by nongovernmental organizations (i.e., National
  Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers).
• Entities who own the standards are not accountable to parents or students; that leads to diminished
  parental and state rights.

CCSS Costs

• National study estimates CCSS implementation over7 years will cost $16 billion.
• The Pioneer Institute estimates North Carolina will spend approximately $525 million to
  implement CCSS over the same time period.
• Who pays? Up to now, Race to the Top funds have been used for CCSS. Grant expires in 2014. No additional federal money has been allocated by the state or local school districts.