The PR campaigns to rehab Common Core before 2016 have begun. Having said that,
this is the most hilarious, talking point laden puff piece I’ve seen in a while:
Former Romney spokesman: Common Core popular in many quarters
The thrust of this article repeats the biggest talking point out there, that Common Core allows for ‘local control’. What’s more that McCoy’s assertion of ‘local control’ is somehow tied to how ‘popular’ Common Core is. We’ll get to the latter of that, first let’s talk ‘local control’.
Was Mr. McCoy intending to insult the intelligence of the reader?
To say that Common Core is about local control of any kind is to tell a whopper.
Standards that were created by a select few, funded by non-governmental organizations and belong, by copyright, to two D.C. trade organizations is not local control.
Standards that have no mechanism for change in them is not local control.
Standards that were put into Race To The Top applications as a condition for receiving grant money is not local control, that’s the Fed dangling a cash carrot in front of a starving state.
Standards that are tied to high stakes testing which will ultimately dictate all materials, books, resources and more is not local control.
Common Core represents a consolidation of power and a drive towards nationalizing our education system, as such Common Core is the opposite of local control.
If Common Core is about local control, then why has it been such an ugly fight to try and get rid of it?
If Common Core is about local control, then why are unelected, non-governmental organizations such as big corporations and private foundations the ones who are having to spend millions to defend it… from citizens and parents.
Common Core is about control alright, but not local control. Control by big business, by politicians wanting to look like they’re doing something ‘real’ about education and by those who stand to gain a windfall in profits from it. This is corporate education reform and it is not locally controlled.
Food for thought there, GOP establishment.
The other theme in McCoy’s piece is that Common Core is also widely popular.
No, again.
The only place that Common Core is popular is with those who stand to gain financially from it in some fashion or politicians who are eating up the spoonfuls thoroughly debunked talking points from the Core supporters like Jeb Bush, Bill Gates, the CCSSO, the NGA and the Chamber of Commerce.
Ok, to wrap this up, I found the most hilarious line to be this one:
Why are the standards so popular? Ford argues that parents “came to understand there were big gains being made in classrooms across the country.”
Um… No.
As more parents learn about Common Core, they tend to reject it. The polls are not showing it as popular, but support in 2014 was dropping off – big time. The campaign to ‘rebrand’ or rename the standards in the states hadn’t really worked to stem the rejection either. Neither did calling parents stupid by mocking an elderly vet. [Flashback: Six One Seven Scrubs All Accounts Of ‘Grandpa’ Common Core Video]
Remember, supporters like the Chamber, CCSSO and NGA recognized about a year ago that when they polled people and described the standards without the name Common Core attached, people agreed we need ‘high standards’. They found that a lot of parents still didn’t know about the Core, but that wasn’t going to last. Supporters of the Core had to get to the unknowing parents and public — fast.
Why are we seeing articles like this one from people who run or have run political campaigns? Because the GOP effectively owns Common Core and they need to do their prep for 2016.
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