June 21, 2013
Delaware Governor Jack Markell, who co-chaired the Common Core Standards Initiative, explains in the Washington Post op-ed, how “The Tea Party is Wrong on the Common Core Curriculum.” He addresses the critics’ misconception that the standards were developed by the federal government.
“This assertion lacks any basis in fact. The Common Core was developed during a year-long process by state leaders — Democrats and Republicans — along with highly respected members of the business community and people in education, including many teachers.”
Governor Markell emphasizes in his article that the states have always led the charge in education policy, and that it was state leaders that realized through collaboration they could set common academic guidelines and share resources to ensure that students are college and career ready.
Common Core critics also assert that the standards will eliminate local control of the school’s curriculum; Governor Markell states this is not true. He explains that the local school boards will continue to have “discretion in how to work with their schools and educators to teach those higher objectives, from the texts they use to the teaching techniques they employ. The difference is that the expectations for a high school junior in Delaware will be the same as in California.”
Read Governor Markell’s article here.
Join us at The Intersection by subscribing here. Please reply with “subscribe” in the subject line.
