I am seeing something more and more frequently.
Teachers who were generally supportive of the move to the Common Core Federal Standards a few years ago have turned against them as they have seen the political agenda underlying the move to Common Core.
They have come to see the standards not as a pedagogic tool to improve teaching and learning in schools but as a political tool to scapegoat teachers and schools for the problems that exist in the system.
Smug and arrogant education leaders like Merryl Tisch and John King figure the Common Core cow is already out of the barn and nothing can be done to get her back in.
But as the Common Core tests have been rolled out and more and more parents begin to turn against the tests, and as the standards are rolled out simultaneously along with the new evaluation system for teachers and teachers who used to support the standards turn against them, Tisch, King and the other Common Core proponenets risk hitting the tipping point where a critical mass of parents and teachers turn against the movement.
I dunno, maybe Tisch and King and Rupert and Andrew and Bill and Exxon Mobile and Pearson and the rest of the Common Core proponents can make sure the center holds no matter how parents and teachers feel about the current reform movement.
But I don't think so.
This is driven home to me every time I meet somebody who used to parrot the reformy party line on Common Core who now sees the political agenda behind the whole thing and opposes it.
I recently typed up a blog post about the dumbing down of the Saxon Math curriculum. The whole education establishment needs to be privatized and divorced from Federal Money: http://jennyhatch.com/2013/04/30/uncommon-lore-the-original-saxon-math-curriculum-math-a-firm-foundation-to-build-a-homeschool-on/
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