The Hechinger Report – Emmanuel Felton
“The Common Core has won – at least on one front. The standards and the tests designed based on them were, in part, a response to a growing sense that under the No Child Left Behind law – which penalized schools that weren’t making gains on annual state tests – states were making those tests easier so that schools would show progress. Stagnant scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as the nation’s report card, were held up as proof that states weren’t being honest about how many of their students were truly on-track. The Common Core, which is in place in more than 40 states and the District of Columbia, was designed to increase rigor by having teachers focus more on conceptual learning and critical thinking. When former Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced $330 million in funding for two new Common Core tests, he called the tests a game changer.”(more)