What Critics Have Gotten Wrong About Common Core

With only 19% of Republican parents supporting the Common Core according to a Gallup Poll and reported by Politico,  the policy has plentiful opposition rhetoric.

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Glenn Beck, conservative commentator, called the standards “leftist indoctrination” and Megyn Kelly of Fox News has said that many parents are worried the Common Core “forces teaching to the test,” meaning, obliges teachers to gear all classroom activities towards taking a test, to the exclusion of other enriching work.

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So far, 45 states have adopted the Common Core, which still maintains many staunch proponents.

The Common Core’s website lists over 25 organizations that have released statements of support in addition to a “Myths vs. Facts” page that defends the standards against many of opponents’ skepticisms.

In a 2013, article the National Review related that one of the most frequent criticisms of the Common Core is that the curriculum does not place enough emphasis on classical literature. Although the Common Core curriculum does incorporate an increased amount of often dry, nonfiction reading, it leaves decisions regarding literature choices to state and local government. The National Review article also quotes education experts who say that nonfiction reading promotes a better vocabulary and ability to recall background knowledge.

Skeptics are also concerned about teachers having had too small of a role in the creation of the Common Core standards. However, the Common Core website assures parents that the creation of the standards actually “relied on teachers” and, contrary to common belief, do not tell teachers what to teach but rather allow teachers to choose “how to best help students reach the standards.”

Jeb Bush, 2016 potential GOP presidential candidate, supports the Common Core Curriculum. Bush told Fox News that the standards actually raise standards and states that the “simple fact is that we need higher standards.”

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Related Stories:

• What are Global Influences Behind the Common Core?
  
• What Proponents Have Gotten Wrong About Common Core