The first meeting of the Michigan House Common Core Committee was frustrating to say the least. Testimony was presented by Mike Cohen, President of Achieve and Mike Flanagan, Michigan’s State Superintendent. Both strong advocates of Common Core had testimony that included biased terminology, misleading statements, incomplete answers to questions and Cohen had blatant lies. (Video of hearing can be viewed here).
A second hearing with two hours given to speakers against the Common Core would be balanced and helpful but it appears that Representative Kelly has instead opted for equal time for both sides to present their arguments.
Michigan’s own Leader for Liberty, Hillsdale President Larry Arnn.
Hillsdale Professor Daniel B. Coupland has already publicly criticized Common Core.
“If education has become –as Common Core openly declares– preparation for work in a global economy, then this situation is far worse than Common Core critics ever anticipated. And the concerns about cost, and quality, and yes, even the constitutionality of Common Core, pale in comparison to the concerns for the hearts, minds, and souls of American children.”
Video of Professor Coupland’s lecture can be watched at this link. The hearing will be the first time Dr. Larry Arnn has spoken publicly. We are looking forward to his remarks.
Testimony to defeat Common Core will also come from Joy Pullmann Research Fellow, Education, The Heartland Institute; Managing Editor, School Reform News.
Pro-Common Core testimony will be presented by MSU Professor William Schmidt. Consider this underwhelming endorsement of CC quote from Prof. Schmidt:
Washington, D.C. – Dr. William Schmidt today released key conclusions from his research detailing how the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for mathematics can potentially improve the performance of U.S. students if implemented appropriately. In an event co-sponsored by Achieve, Chiefs for Change and the Foundation for Excellence in Education, Dr. Schmidt presented a briefing on his work: Common Core State Standards Math: The Relationship Between High Standards, Systemic Implementation and Student Achievement.
– Schmidt explained during the event that the CCSS for mathematics strongly resemble the standards of the highest-achieving nations, and that they have more focus, coherence and rigor than most of the state standardsthey replaced. He also found states with standards most like the CCSS for mathematics have higher scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), demonstrating that standards – and implementing them well –matter.
– On average, states required 3-6 additional mathematics topics in earlier grades over that suggested by the CCSS for mathematics, leading to the often referred to “mile wide, inch deep” character of mathematics education prior to 2009
Also speaking is Mike McShane for American Enterprise Institute, who supports Common Core but highlighted 10 major concerns in a series of articles you can read here.
Additional hearings are scheduled for
**We are hoping grassroots testimony will be taken at this meeting.
We encourage you to consider attending these meetings if you can. Be sure to visit your Representative and Senator, in person if possible, while they are home for summer break. Even if they are not on this committee, they will be voting on the issue.