Common Core "Expert," Candidate For Wyoming State Schools Chief, Now Says She Opposes CCSS

The Common Core rats are jumping as far away from the sinking Common Core ship as possible:

Before Wyoming adopted the Common Core State Standards in language arts and math in 2012, state schools chief candidate Sheryl Lain worked for a private organization to train teachers how to use the standards to help their students learn to read.

Lain, 70, an instructional leader in the Wyoming Department of Education, now says she is opposed to the Common Core. In a debate Tuesday, Lain likened the standards to a federalization of education and said the state Board of Education adopted them using a “shadow” process.

But on at least seven occasions in 2011, as Wyoming was considering the standards and Lain was employed at the state Department of Education, Lain worked for a private company training teachers across the country how to use the Common Core, among other skills, to support struggling readers.

Between April 4 and Nov. 2, 2011, she led teacher training sessions in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Missouri, Minnesota and Illinois for the for-profit Bureau of Education and Research.

Attendees were charged between $199 and $215 for a daylong workshop with Lain, according to program descriptions on the company’s website.

Workshop descriptions promised teachers, among other things, that Lain would show them practical ways to embed the Common Core State Standards for literacy into interventions with struggling students.

During an exchange with fellow Republican schools chief candidate Jillian Balow at a debate in Riverton on Tuesday night, Lain said explaining the Common Core was part of her job.

“Really all my life I’ve been a conservative,” Lain said, noting that she argued against federalization of education in a debate as a high school senior. “But once those standards were adopted and rules promulgated, my job as an instructional leader was to get out and demystify these standards for the Wyoming teachers.”

That does not explain why Lain marketed herself as an educational expert on the Common Core throughout 2011, before Wyoming adopted the standards.

Via email to the Star-Tribune, Lain said her work with BER is not an endorsement of the Common Core. The BER trainings focused on literacy, which she said would be necessary no matter what the standards are.

What's Common Core for "full of shit"?

At any rate, if it isn't becoming clear to you that Common Core is an albatross that cannot be saved by stupid social media events like #supportthecore, stories like the above should help convince you.

The Core is toxic and many politicians, even former Common Core "experts" and supporters like Lain, are running from it.