Comments about ‘Letter: Common Core's influence’

The conspiracies abound. Most conservatives don't like NCLF and an option was given to the states. Now you don't like it? Don't take the money. Simple. And Utah can continue to trail in education. Instead of political intrigue. maybe the U.S. could instead raise standards so that we can compete better in the world.

Let's remember that Utah is one of the "founding fathers" who sought this common core by working with other states. Now people are upset because our president is supporting our great cooperative project?

So where was this letter writer's outrage when Reagan, bush, Bush II, all engaged in the exact same tactics? Oh wait, I get it, only Demos can't do the stuff that repubs consistently did when they had power. Got it.

"Let's remember that Utah is one of the "founding fathers" who sought this common core by working with other states. Now people are upset because our president is supporting our great cooperative project?"

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Repubs also came up with the idea for an "individual mandate." Now that Demos suggested this, they have become against it.

It's pretty obviously that one party is merely trying to score political points by going against everything the President and his party says or does... Even if it's ideas that they supported just a few years ago.

As I see it, this letter is more about Obama than Common Core. Sounds alot like something Orrin or Lee would say even if they originally supported it.

" Sen. Marco Rubio wrote a letter to the Obama administration detailing their violation of three federal laws using such methods."

This should have more properly stated that in his opinion three federal laws were violated. Rubio is not a one man supreme Court. He could be wrong.

There was and still is plenty of outrage among Republicans and others over NCLB. That continues to be a mess we are forced to deal with. Going from one terrible federal ed program to another is not in the best interest of Utah's children. Education should be locally controlled and competitive. Let's be innovative! Local talent and competition will bring the best solutions to the top.

Who liked NCLB? Nobody, but when Republican Utah legislators threatened to back out the feds said they would not only pull education funding but other federal funding as well. We were coerced into it. Common Core is NCLB on steroids.

It's amazing how much people think they know about Common Core without ever having done a shred of research except to hear the USOE say there's nothing to worry about. There's plenty to worry about. This is a federal takeover of education. It will be a total loss of local control. Read the evidence page and posts at the Utahns Against Common Core website. CC didn't come about by the states pushing for this move. Please do your own homework.

More pure nonsense from a nonsensical writer who knows nothing of the subject but what's been spouted from the propaganda machine.

The Common Core represents a complete grassroots effort from the states, frankly with Utah leading the charge. Utah educators helped design the standards. I personally participated in several capacities along the way.
That President Obama has accepted the Common Core means that he is accepting the states' collective efforts at curriculum reform.
The federal govenment is going to be involved in education regardless of what curriculum is taught. Why? Our federal tax dollars represent over 10% of the education budget in Utah. Nearly the whole of special education services come from federal money.
Do any of you have children who receive special education services? Do you want them to have a specialist and/or medical personnel available to schools to help your child? Adaptive equipment? If so, you need the federal government's involvement in public education. Utah sure isn't going to spend money on children with disabilities.

@ OAK
I have done the research regarding Common Core and your comments are always the same old tune that the federal government is taking over education. One reason NCLB failed was because of the lack of federal funding. Education needs federal funding especialy in Utah where our elected legislators refuse to adequetely fund our schools. Your agenda always seems to lean towards privitization. For all children to succeed we need quality public education and the common core standards are a positive development to help our children learn.
As far as common core the state of Utah is not tied to any federal programs or grants. Our Utah educators continue to control the curriculum. The standards set grade level expectations so our children will be on par or higher with the rest of the nation. Why wouldn't we want a program like that?

This letter is right on! I'm trying to figure out where it says anything about a conspiracy. I'm always amused when people start crying "conspiracy theorist" just because someone points out the Federal government's involvement in an issue.

That point aside, NCLB was a disaster, and Common Core is worse in many ways. It was developed by bureaucrats at the National Governor's Association, and bounced off of groups of professionals in various states at stages along the way. The NGA is funded by Federal grants and contracts. It seems a far stretch to say the Federal government isn't involved - if I pay someone to do my yardwork for me, am I somehow not the one responsible for the yardwork getting done? Of course, supporters of CC are split on whether the Federal government IS involved, as we can see from the posts in this thread alone.

The idea that the U.S. needs to abandon its Constitution in order to educate its children and "compete in the world" is sorely misguided. The Constitution leaves education to the states, and it's through this naturally diverse, competitive model that we can continue to lead the world.

@Winglish,
Wow, that's quite a spin. However, you know as well as I do that Obama didn't merely "accept" Common Core, he pushed for it. Hello- Race to the Top?

"If you're going to get Race to the Top money, you have to adopt the state common standards as is without any changes at all. And therefore, the feds have made them federal standards."

That quote wasn't from some conspiracy theorist on a blog. It was a statement made by a member of the Utah State Board of Education at a SBOE meeting on Feb. 5, 2010 after he pointed out that the CCSSO and NGA were not taking state board input on the Common Core standards. In fact, the states were not allowed to send anyone to be on the CC writing team. If this was really an effort by the states, then how come the states weren't allow to decide who was going to write the standards? How come states weren't allowed input until after the drafts were written? And please, name one Utah educator that helped design the Common Core standards.

What amazes me is that the Governor and the State Board of Education so readily gave up their stewardship over Utah's educational standards- a responsibility we gave to them and one which they accepted when we elected them- just for the chance at some federal money. In the end, the Obama administration got Utah to adopt common national standards, and we didn't get a dime.

Now we get to purchase new math text books for every single grade throughout the entire state, re-train our teachers to teach to the Common Core standards, throw out Algebra and Geometry as it's been taught for over 100 years and replace another new experiment in math- Secondary Math I, Secondary Math II, etc., spend millions and millions every year on Common Core assessments- and for what? Unproven and untried standards? Research has shown that standards do not correlate to student achievement. What an incredible waste of money!

I agree that NCLB was a disaster, and that's because we continued to take the responsibility for education away from the parents, teachers, and local schools. It didn't work. So, now we'll try the same thing, more top-down mandates and control. It won't work either. Regardless of party affiliation, top-down, big-government education doesn't work. The Feds have been involved in education since the sixties. Has education improved? No. The people who put men on the moon were educated in a system that was very local and very autonomous. This method is proven to work because it allows for individuality and creativity. In the end, the best education comes from parents, teachers, and the student working together. If we, as parents, give up OUR responsibility for our children's education to anyone else, no matter how much of an expert or how well-intentioned, we have failed.

Common Core is nothing more than the "Perfect Storm" of stimulus money enabling progressive elite educators to finally and completely take over the entire education system and the minds of our most precious assets, our children...abandoning all local control and parental input. And the standards and curriculum are only the tip of the iceberg. What is being ushered in is nothing short of Orwelian. The only thing that can stop it now is grassroots involvement. If you care about the future of this country, educate yourself about what this really is, roll up your sleeves and help stop this massive assault on our freedoms and everything we value in this country.

The Common Core is a disaster educationally, financially, and in terms of liberty. It limits classic literature. It limits (okay, effectively deletes the possiblity of) high school calculus. It mandates infotexts in English classrooms. It CANNOT BE AMENDED in any way by any one in the state of Utah. (It's copyrighted by NGA and CCSSO! So much for "we wrote it ourselves.") No voter got to vote on adopting Common Core for Utah's kids. No teacher got to vote on it. No legislator got to vote on it. Three Utahns signed us up: Governor Herbert, Larry Shumway, and Debra Roberts. Three people shoved this on all of us and it has got to be shouted from the rooftops that we want out. We want our freedom back. We want to control what our children will be learning locally--not by D.C. groups with good intentions and no accountability to parents or voters! Common Core is a nightmare, folks. Wake up.

Oh my gosh Sheryl just more fear of the federal government. How many times does it need to be stated that the Utah Core Standards and curriculum choices are controled by parents, teachers and local school boards. The standards are a foundation for learning in the classroom. A teacher I spoke to said he likes the common core because his students are more engaged he has more flexibility with his teaching methods and the kids are doing better within the new program. I may be wrong but I wonder if the Eagle Forum is behind all of this oposition to the common core. For many years they have been so anti public education. They have such a narrow minded agenda lobbing against childhood immunization, seat belt laws, teaching our students sex education and rights for children of undocumented immigrants. I think this is just their new target.

Apparently these people have not taken the time to read the Common Core. I have. The reading standards do indeed call for informational texts to be read in class, as mentioned by our beloved Heber friend or friends. There is also a set of literature standards which make up fully one-half of the reading standards and that do indeed call for classic literature to be read in the classroom.
Just a little FYI- Informational texts have been a part of the Utah State Core of Curriculum for years and years. Absolutely nothing changes with the adoption of the Common Core other than an increase in rigor at each grade level.
Furthermore, there is absolutely nothing in the Common Core that prevents a school from offering a calculus course. There will continue to be advanced courses available to students who desire to take them. As a matter of meeting Common Core requirements, my own school had to create an honors program where previously there was nothing of the sort available to gifted students. The Common Core has already "upped the bar" in Utah.

I'm not sure I'm a fan of the common core but Sheryl, you need to relax a bit. Your not helping the argument against it.

I find it curious that Autumn Cook is opposed to having professionals involved in the creation of educational standards. I hope we never treat our medical professionals as poorly as we do our teachers, otherwise we'll have local citizen activists deciding surgical standards instead of the AMA.

Teachers only build brainpower.