The Common Core State Standards Initiative, simply referred to as Common Core, is an education reform that has been accepted in 45 U.S. states. The Common Core Initiative was developed between 2006 and 2010, and was intended to replace current state standards (Kornhaber, Griffith, and Tyler 3). Common core was put in place to align school curriculums across the country, to allow standardized testing to be implemented. With standardized testing put into place, it allows government to look at these test scores and determine which schools are in need of corrective actions. The original aim for the Common Core Standards was to provide all students with equal educational opportunities and resources. The problem with that is, because of the equal
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They explain that while the standards themselves could possibly be useful framework for teachers, the new Common Core aligned assessments (standardized testing) are used to unfairly label students, punish teachers and close schools (3). They specifically reference that schools which are poor, mainly Latino/African American, or schools that are segregated are the ones “most likely to be turned into test-prep factories so that children meet the demands of success metrics (5).” This paper references the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which is a law that required students to be tested in English and math once they reach high school level. NCLB failed to make any significant improvement, which doesn’t help build a good case for Common Core since it is even more focused on testing. Twice a year students are given computerized tests over their knowledge of the Common Core Standards, over Mathematics and the Arts (6). Alice Wexler also discusses the failure of the NCLB act. Wexler talks about how Common Core shares the same idea that no child will be overlooked in the learning process that NCLB had (53). Common Core has the same basic standardized testing ideas as NCLB, and as previously stated NCLB showed little to no notable change in academic performance, which would lead one to believe Common Core would share the same downfall. Especially since Common Core is even more heavily test
They explain that while the standards themselves could possibly be useful framework for teachers, the new Common Core aligned assessments (standardized testing) are used to unfairly label students, punish teachers and close schools (3). They specifically reference that schools which are poor, mainly Latino/African American, or schools that are segregated are the ones “most likely to be turned into test-prep factories so that children meet the demands of success metrics (5).” This paper references the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which is a law that required students to be tested in English and math once they reach high school level. NCLB failed to make any significant improvement, which doesn’t help build a good case for Common Core since it is even more focused on testing. Twice a year students are given computerized tests over their knowledge of the Common Core Standards, over Mathematics and the Arts (6). Alice Wexler also discusses the failure of the NCLB act. Wexler talks about how Common Core shares the same idea that no child will be overlooked in the learning process that NCLB had (53). Common Core has the same basic standardized testing ideas as NCLB, and as previously stated NCLB showed little to no notable change in academic performance, which would lead one to believe Common Core would share the same downfall. Especially since Common Core is even more heavily test