When the Circus Descends

Monday, April 21, 2014Printer-friendly version

The New York Times Op-Ed columnist David Brooks authored the following piece highlighting the ridiculous attacks on the Common Core from its opponents on the right and the left. Here are some of the best quotes from the article:

When the Circus Descends

By David Brooks, The New York Times

April 17, 2014

"We are pretty familiar with this story: A perfectly sensible if slightly boring idea is walking down the street. Suddenly, the ideological circus descends, burying the sensible idea in hysterical claims and fevered accusations. The idea's political backers beat a craven retreat. The idea dies.

"This is what seems to be happening to the Common Core education standards, which are being attacked on the right because they are common and on the left because they are core."

And,

"But the new initiative is clearly superior to the old mess. The math standards are more in line with the standards found in the top performing math nations. The English standards encourage reading comprehension. Whereas the old standards frequently encouraged students to read a book and then go off and write a response to it, the new standards encourage them to go back to the text and pick out specific passages for study and as evidence.

And,

"It is true that the new standards are more rigorous than the old, and that in some cases students have to perform certain math skills a year earlier than they formerly had to learn them. But that is a feature, not a bug. The point is to get students competitive with their international peers.

The idea that the Common Core is unpopular is also false. Teachers and local authorities still have control of what they teach and how they teach it. A large survey in Kentucky revealed that 77 percent of teachers are enthusiastic about the challenge of implementing the standards in their classrooms. In another survey, a majority of teachers in Tennessee believe that implementation of the standards has begun positively. Al Baker of The Times interviewed a range of teachers in New York and reported, 'most said their students were doing higher-quality work than they had ever seen, and were talking aloud more often.'"

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Achieve has developed materials to help states, districts, and others understand the organization and content of the standards and the content and evidence base used to support the standards. Visit https://www.achieve.org/achieving-common-core.

If you find a news clip supportive of the Common Core, please send it to Chad Colby at ccolby@achieve.org

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