Summary of Common Core State Standards

 

  1. CCSS give the federal government authority to determine what will be taught in every subject in every classroom across the U.S. This federalizes education and limits local control of schools.
  2. The federal government will be creating assessment tools including some tests.
  3. Students attending school choice options will have to pass these federal exams. To do so, they must study the curricula shaped by the federal government.
  4. During the Governors’ luncheon in Feb. 2010, Obama told governors to commit to adopting CCSS to receive federal Title 1 funds. The standards had not even been written for the governors to study. This allowed the federal government to add the word State to the standards so the public would think that the normal process of teacher and public involvement had been employed when the standards were developed.*
  5. Under that premise, states cannot nullify their own legislation.
  6. CCSS ignore the following federal statutes: The General Education Provisions Act, the Department of Education Act, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 which prohibit the DoED from exercising any direction, supervision, selection of textbooks or instructional materials, or control and administration of curriculum.
  7. CCSS ignores student and parent privacy rights. Stimulus money is given to states that implement a STATE LONGITUDINAL DATA SYSTEM (SLDS). This system collects data on students from the time they enter school and continues for the rest of their lives. Social Security numbers, disciplinary issues, health issues, and IQ are recorded and shared among “governmental agencies” without requiring permission from students or parents.
  8. According to the International Baccalaureate Organization, the CCSS and International Baccalaureate curricula share standards shaped by many UN treaties including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with an emphasis on Article 26. This declaration was adopted in 1948. The IBO partnered with UNESCO in 1996. 
  9. Among the many critics of CCSS is Dr. Sandra Stotsky, a Professor of Education Reform and 21st Century Chair in teacher Quality at the University of Arkansas. She explains that English standards are “empty skills sets” and “weaken the base of literary and cultural knowledge needed for authentic college coursework.” She also expressed concern about misleading definitions and neglects to teach students to distinguish between argument and expressions of opinion or to distinguish between academic argument and advocacy or persuasive writing!*
  10. Ze’ve Wurman, past Senior Policy Adviser in the Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development in the US Department of Education, notes that CCSS math standards replace the traditional foundation of Euclidean geometry with an experimental approach. Additional problems that he has identified include but are not limited to: failure to require proficiency with addition and subtraction until grade 4, a grade behind the expectations of the high-performing states and our international competitors. CCSS does not require proficiency with multiplication using the standard algorithm until grade 5, a grade behind expectations.*
  11. CCSS are the curricula standard created by Benjamin S. Bloom in 1956. His taxonomy also followed the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CCSS is simply a much more aggressive form of Bloom’s educational goal of creating a population with a “world philosophy.”
  12. The CCSS undermine our American republic, its values and traditions.

*http://pioneerinstitute.org/download/controlling-education-from-the-top/ p. 7, 21-25

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