John King Sets Up A Straw Man Argument

Over the past few weeks, the education reform/Common Core evangelists in NY State have been making the rounds, preaching Common Core curriculum and how wonderful the new, more difficult Common Core tests will be.

Unfortunately, NYSED Commissioner John King has been selling a barrels of snake oil and wagons full of straw men along with the Common Core gospel:

King, Walcott, and New York State policy makers have shifted into counter-attack mode in recent weeks as critics — led by the state teachers union — have charged them with raising standards without giving educators the tools to change their teaching. They have visited editorial boards, made high-profile school visits, met with parents, and briefed reporters — all to argue that shifting to the new standards is worth the short-term frustration and anxiety that teachers, students, and parents are experiencing during the transition.


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King addressed the union’s ongoing criticism on Sunday.

“I’m disappointed that they have not shown greater leadership,” King said. “They believe it would be better to have assessments based on the old standards than to have our standards reflect the standards that we’re teaching. I think that is a mistake and it doesn’t really make any sense at all.”

No, Dr. King, critics of the Common Core tests do not believe it would be better to have "assessments" based on the old standards.

They believe that the radical changes you and your fellow education reformers have shoved through all at once - Common Core curriculum, Common Core tests, teacher evaluations tied to test scores - should have been piloted before being thrust on the entire state.

You can talk about the urgency to make changes to the system all you want.

That urgency doesn't detract from the responsibility to make sure these radical changes do not harm students, teachers and schools and piloting these changes certainly would have given us a chance to see what works and what doesn't before high stakes decisions on students, teachers and schools are made using these Common Core tests.

But you and Merryl Tisch and Andrew Cuomo and the rest of the education reform braintrust didn't want to pilot anything because you have another agenda here:

It's to use these Common Core tests to destroy schools, fire teachers and complete the privatization of the system.

Set up all the straw man arguments you want while you preach the Gospel of the Common Core, Dr. King.

Parents are waking up to your deceptions and are not fooled by your propaganda.

In fact, all over the country, parents are waking up to the agenda behind the Endless Testing movement Dr. King and Regents Chancellor Tisch and so many other education corporatists push, and they're fighting back.

No wonder the edcuation reform/Common Core evangelists are taking to the road to preach.