Published July 21, 2010
The state board of education votes today on whether to adopt national standards for math and English, called “Common Core,” or stick with the Bay State’s own highly regarded standards. (Our Bianca Vazquez Toness is there now.) Update: The board has approved adoption of Common Core standards.
Need to get up to speed? Here’s the latest.
On Monday, I linked to a Pioneer Institute report (read on Scribd) that finds deep flaws in the national standards and advises Massachusetts not to fix what ain’t broke. A member of the board of ed and a former superintendent of Boston schools debated the matter on Radio Boston.
Afterward, I received an e-mail from Jonathan Palumbo, the spokesman for the state’s executive office of education:
I see that you have posted on your website materials from a research group here in Boston with opinions on the Common Core national standards. Is there any way to post as well the reports from the Massachusetts teachers and professors who also reviewed Common Core and came to a different conclusion than this group?
The reports from English and math experts are on the ESE website: http://www.doe.mass.edu/boe/docs/0710/item1.html.
I think it would be fair for your visitors to have the opportunity to see both sides as opposed on just one.
Agreed. Those findings prompted Education Commissioner to back the Common Core standards. The Boston Globe, in an editorial Tuesday, also backed the new standards.
Yet another report, released this morning by the nonprofit Fordham Institute (read on Scribd), is cagier, saying the pros and cons of adopting Common Core make it “too close to call.” The study’s lead author, Chester Finn, explained the findings to WBUR’s Bob Oakes on Morning Edition today.
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