Resources on Common Core Opposition

Here are links to some helpful resources about the Common Core State Standards.

Overview

Controlling Education from the Top, May 2012.  This 23 page white paper written by Emmett McGroarty and Jane Robbins and published by American Principles Project and the Pioneer Institute.  Common Core suffers from a number of systemic defects. We have already seen that the claims of state involvement and voluntariness are misleading at best. This paper demonstrates that other claims are doubtful as well, and that any state evaluating the Standards should consider the following problems: (1) quality and content of the Standards; (2) legality of the federal promotion of the Standards and assessments, and the usurpation of state autonomy; (3) governance of the Standards; (4) fiscal cost to the states; and (5) student and family privacy rights.

Reasons for Concern About the Common Core,February 2012.  This one page document lists reasons for opposing the Common Core State Standards.

Common Core State Standards What Parents, Taxpayers, and School Boards Should Know, March 2011. This four page flyer gives an overview of the Common Core State Standards and provides reasons for opposing them by refuting many of the promotional claims.

Content

Common Core Standards Still Don’t Make the Grade: Why Massachusetts and California Must Regain Control of Their Academic Destinies,commissioned by the Pioneer Institute and writtenbySandra Stotsky and Ze’ev Wurman.

Common Core State Standards Content, a collection of information and reviews of the ELA and Math content standards.

Testimony for a Hearing on a South Carolina Bill to Amend the 1976 Code, Sandra Stotsky, South Carolina General Assembly’s K-12 Education Senate Subcommittee.  February 8, 2012.  The quality of the ELA standards is addressed.

Testimony of Ze’ev Wurman, South Carolina General Assembly’s K-12 Education Senate Subcommittee, Feb. 19, 2012. This addresses the quality of the Common Core math standards, negative effect of Common Core on AP/higher level math, and the cost of implementation.

Testimony of Ze’ev Wurman, South Carolina General Assembly’s K-12 Education Senate Subcommittee, Feb. 22, 2012.  This addresses the quality of the Common Core math standards.

Legality & Process

The Road to a National Curriculum: The Legal Aspects of the Common Core Standards, Race to the Top, and Conditional Waivers,by Robert Eitel and Kent Talbert with contribution from Williamson Evers, commissioned by the Pioneer Institute and co-sponsored by American Principles Project, the Pacific Research Institute, and the Federalist Society, February 2012.  This discusses the illegal implementation of the Common Core Standards.

Education Revolution…Without the People?, EmmettMcGroarty, TownHall Magazine, March 2011.  This explains how the federal government and special interests foisted the Common Core onto the states.

Cost to the States

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics: Analysis and Recommendations Report to the Legislature January 2011, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Washington State

National Cost of Aligning States and Localities to the Common Core Standards, commissioned by American Principles Project and Pioneer Institute,co-sponsored by Pacific Research Institute, and written by AccountabilityWorks.  The estimated cost of implementing the Common Core is $17 billion.

State Costs for Adopting and Implementing the Common Core State Standards

Testimony of Ze’ev Wurman, South Carolina General Assembly’s K-12 Education Senate Subcommittee, Feb. 19, 2012. This addresses the quality of the Common Core math standards, negative effect of Common Core on AP/higher level math, and the cost of implementation.

Centralized Governance

2012 Brown Center Report on American Education:  How Well Are American Students Learning?  With a section on predicting the effect of the Common Core State Standards, Brookings Institution, Feb. 16, 2012.

Testimony of Jay P. Greene, U.S. House Subcommittee on Early Education, Elementary, and Secondary Education. Sept. 21, 2011.  The evidence indicates that the Common Core’s central management nature will impair innovation.

Closing the Door on Innovation Why One National Curriculum Is Bad for America:  A Critical Response to the Shanker Institute Manifesto & The U.S. Department of Education’s Initiative To Develop a National Curriculum and National Assessments Based on National Standards, May 2011.

Privacy and Data Collection

How the Feds Are Tracking Your Kids,Emmett McGroarty and Jane Robbins,New York Post, Dec. 28, 2011.  This addresses how the State Longitudinal Database Systems threatens child and family privacy.

Exiting the Common Core

A National Education Standards Exit Strategy for the States, Lindsey Burke, Heritage Foundation.  This explains how a state can develop an exit strategy from the Common Core.

Model Resolutions.  This page has a collection of resolutions opposing the Common Core State Standards and related issues.