Making Standards Make Sense
I’ve never really understood the Race to the Top requirement that states sign on to a set of common academic standards that haven’t even been created yet.
It seems to me that we’re putting the cart before the horse. The U.S. Department of Education is pushing common standards before we’re had a good discussion on what those standards should be. Even more important, we haven’t had a good discussion of whether uniform standards across 50 states is a good idea.
The issue is especially problematic for Massachusetts, which has among the highest standards in the country. If the state signs on to a common 50-state curriculum, it could be forced to lower its standards. It makes sense for Massachusetts not to, but there’s already been a penalty. Failure to sign on to the Common Core Standards Initiative (CCSI) resulted in its losing points in round one of the Race to the Top grant competition.
Democrats for Education Reform observes:
While we recognize the need for common core standards, we think the opportunity to push states to develop high standards should not be sacrificed on the altar of an absolute requirement that such standards be common across all 50 states. Massachusetts is widely recognized as having among the highest standards of any of the 50 states. We think the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) should reconsider such a strict timeline for the adoption of CCSI, especially for a state like Massachusetts that could wind up adopting a set of standards that are lower than the ones it currently has in place if pushed too early to join CCSI. It is particularly unreasonable that the RTTT guidelines would force states to adopt CCSI standards before they are fully developed.
Flypaper sensibly suggests:
At the very least, make it clear that if a state learns that its own standards are superior to the Common Core, it can rescind its promise to adopt them. In other words, say you won’t dock Massachusetts for having second thoughts if it becomes clear that its own standards are still the best in the land.
[...] we’ve said here before, it makes no sense to insist that states that want a shot at Race to the Top grant money [...]