Common Core started out as a noble plan. It was even able to convince our President that it was a good idea. So cleverly was it crafted, that most journalistic editorial boards still have not yet woken up.
But its original implementation proved to be difficult for American Businesses to execute. They had a choice to make.
They could meet the ideals and miss their profit goals, or they could meet their profit targets and skimp on the ideals, ... and so they opted for the latter...
The maker of the Smart Balanced Assessment tests (AIR), dumbed down the educational standards, choosing to not pursue any new proven way of learning, but to instead, take the old questions off the "No Child Left Behind" tests and recycle them as Common Core....
The exact problems we had with testing under the" No Child Left Behind Act", are with us today, and perhaps worse.
This knowledge, recently under scrutiny has come to light, and now America's Business community, including the Chamber of Commerce, is doubling down in op-eds across this country, to market their "push back"..
Instead of saying " no it is not true that we are dumbing down our educational values," they are instead saying this: "who needs those old fashioned 4-year-university educational values, anyways?"....
As one of the first states to engage in the Race to The Top, Delaware has contracted to, and in 25 payments last year, spent
$8,500,679 dollars to AIR, American Institutes of Research, to develop the test and curriculum for our children...
One hears from the mouth of Delaware's Governor Jack Markell himself, that he must have the best educated workforce possible for his small state to compete in a global economy..... yet the curriculum of for Common Core is dumbing them down.
Here is what the company he contracted to make their tests, is saying about the overall course of American education....
"we believe that strong two-year college leaders, working with state and local businesses and with state policymakers, can and will become more central players in the economic development of the nation."
The distinct inference is: no longer will an Ivy league education suffice: our leaders will now come from two year community colleges....
Remember this is from AIR, American Institutes of Research, the group making the tests and curriculum for the Smart Balanced Assessment state of Delaware.
If you didn't already guess, here is the problem.
If you don't ever teach to the levels of a four year college degree or university, and only teach to the achievement of a two year level or associates degree, who is going to fill up our 4 year colleges and universities?
The report goes on to show their data. Their synopsis being that if a student goes to a community college in a state where wages are high (California), he gains more than the national average wage over his lifetime. If he goes to a school in an area where wages are low (Mississippi), he earns less than the national average wage over his lifetime... (Duh. At least that part of the report makes sense.)
This despite the problem that of those seeking an two year associates degree, only 25% ever meet their two year goal within a framework of 6 years....
For this... we are scrapping the educational standards and programs already in place which have indeed kept our four year colleges full over all these years.....
When one replaces higher standards with lower standards, one is dumbing down education.... When the group stressing that policy is the actual maker of your state's curriculum and creator of its tests to which all will be taught, one should expect the logical outcome of that state's student's being dumber than if no changes had ever occurred at all.....
And it now appears...... the official media (Chuck Todd?) is more interested in ingratiating themselves inside the careers of their friends and sources, up and coming politicians, than in telling you this truth....
that Common Core dumbs down your kids by dropping down our educational standards to achieving success only at a community college level.
Go figure.