With all the recent scandals in the news these days, this one has gotten far less attention than it deserves. Arne Duncan, Obama’s Secretary of Education, has been working behind the scenes to implement an extremely controversial program called Common Core. Common Core is nothing more than the federal government nationalizing our children’s education.
It all started under the Bush administration and No Child Left Behind (NCLB), an expensive program in which the federal government tied funding to standardized test scores. The program has produced zero noticeable gains in student achievement. Some would say that the program is a failure, but they are the deceived (I was one of them) who actually believed the rhetoric, that NCLB is about improving standards. Now I know better, NCLB was Phase 1 of the of the Fed’s take over of state schools. So, in light of Common Core, I’d say that NCLB was a raging success, a tactical wonder.
NCLB, set the precedent for Obama’s “Race to the Top.” Despite fervent promises from Bush and Obama to the contrary, both NGLB and R2T have become the weapons of choice to beat States into submission. The Fed’s used the massive NCLB and R2T taxpayer funds to hook the States. Then as soon as the States took the bait, the Obama administration began to reel them in, threatening to hold funding if States did not comply with federal mandates!
The 1st phase of Common Core is national standards in English and Math. That is because these subjects really aren’t very controversial. But I predict that over the next 3 years, as soon as everyone has accepted Common Core Phase 1, Obama’s socialist Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, will eagerly roll out Phase 2, then phase 3, and 4. After all, Arne Duncan is dreaming of his Utopian society, where “In all seriousness, … schools should be open 12, 13, 14 hours a day, seven days a week, 11-12 months of the year.”
If this is the first time that you have heard about Common Core, you should know that 45 States have already adopted it! Minnesota, Virginia, Nebraska, Alaska, and Texas are the last Free States! Common Core is resurfacing in the news because many states adopted Common Core years ago, but are just now implementing it.
So, as I always say, if you are not already homeschooling, it would be great time to start! However, homeschoolers should know that many homeschooling curricula have also been infected with the Common Core. For a detailed list of Homeschool Curricula that has remained independent of Federal Standards check out, The Educational Freedom Coalition. For more information on Common Core check out this video series from STOP THE COMMON CORE.
I found your site via The Educational Freedom Coalition site. Thanks for your support of TEFC. Glad to have found your site as well; it looks to be a plethora of helpful information! Blessings!
Great article witb great infonand links. Thanks!
Alaska is doing some trial thing with common core right now and Nebraska where I live is thinking about it. Their number one reason: yep the money, they don’t want to lose out on the money. So I am sure other states are thinking this too. Luckily there’s enough people awake to make our voices heard
A lot of people are beginning to campaign against common core but what I want to know is how is everyone proceeding with their homeschool if curricula and testing are already aligned? And if you do have kids attending school how will we keep our own kids from being sucked down the common downward spiral? A recent phone talk says that common core is about two grade or developmental levels behind. I found that on stop common core Florida .
Also, as taxpayers, we need to understand this. An article I read about Pennsylvania stated that the switch to cc would cost around 645million and r2t was only covering about 6% of that. Our governor Scott is “if you can’t pay for it you can’t have it” kind of guy. I don’t think he has even read the ccs, he has already passed a law that is contrary to ccs and didn’t even realize it.
Sorry about the rant. Thanks for your website.
Hi Betsy,
State regulations for Homeschoolers are different in every state, so not all homeschoolers will be affected the same way. For instance, in Idaho homeschoolers are not subjected to state testing, so Common Core will not affect us. In other States, homeschoolers will be forced to comply with Common Core because they must take all the same standardized tests as government school children.
For parents who have children attending public schools, I recommend homeschooling. It doesn’t always have to be either/or. You can do both. Find a great homeschool curriculum and use it to supplement wherever you find the schools lacking.