The Common Core's Fundamental Trouble

Valerie Strauss examines how a lot being said about the Common Core standards is inaccurate, but she first discusses the positive claims made for the Common Core. Strauss then points out that the “Common Core State Standards” are misnamed because they actually are not state standards; she explains, “they’re national standards, created by Gates-funded consultants for the National Governors Association (NGA)”. Like Ravitch, Strauss points out that these Common Core standards haven’t been tested in real schools anywhere. Therefore, there is no evidence that they prepare students for college and the real world. Strauss says, “the new Common Core tests will be considerably harder than current state assessments, leading to sharp drops in scores and proficiency rates”. She brings up the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) forum that failed in both raising academic performance and narrowing gaps in opportunity and outcomes. “In reality, NCLB’s test scores reflected the inequality that exists all around our schools.” These tests showed that millions of students weren’t meeting existing standards, and the sponsors of the Common Core concluded that more challenging tests would be the answer. Strauss strongly disagrees with this and believes that it will cause more high school dropouts than it will prepare students for college. Overall, she does not think that adopting the Common Core Standards will change the game for the better.

Although there are many positive claims made for the common core, there may be just as many negative claims. Of course it would be revolutionary if this “Common Core project” could help students be better prepared for college and change things for the better in schools across the world. However, this truly may not be the answer. Both Ravitch and Strauss pointed out that there is no evidence that the Common Core standards are going to be successful. If the No Child Left Behind forum showed so many failing schools, why would it be a good idea to create more difficult tests? There are numerous schools that are considered poor and failing. If students in these schools are unable to pass these tests, what makes anyone think that they are going to pass harder ones? This doesn’t make much sense to me. I do agree with Strauss that this would only cause more dropouts. The Common Core standards certainly have many positive aspects about it, but as Ravitch said in her article, they may not be for everyone. Every school should use what works best for them.