The Common Core Curriculum is a set of standards in mathematics, English, literacy and other skills. They define the required knowledge and capabilities a student should have at the end of each school year. Some people strongly support this initiative, as they find it to be rather irreplaceable and important for the future of US education. Others consider it to be outdated, emphasizing the decline it has caused. However, there is a more neutral approach that can provide an unbiased perspective on CC.
The article The Common Core Moral Panic represents those Americans, who are in strong support of this initiative to this day. They emphasize that this set of standards was welcomed by many people during its first years (Watson & Williams, 2018). However, it was later met with backlash and reversed in some states. There were some attempts to replace the initiative, however, they resulted in failure, as most of the standards in the new sets coincided with CC. Finally, the article is concluded with the acknowledgement being politicized, thus concluding that the backlash against Common Core was caused by a moral panic from both Democrats and Republicans.
The opposite opinion, however, is based on the assessment of data received after several years of implementing this initiative. The results caused by the set of standards ranged from being average to horrible (Rebarber and McCluskey, 2018). The article further emphasizes the decline in math skills, with the low performing students being more severely impacted by CC. To combat the aforementioned issues, the authors believe that states should be allowed to review standard-based reform, while simultaneously including various approaches to reforms in education.
It is important to mention a more neutral approach to this initiative. The author of the article Evaluating Common Core values the intentions behind the initiative. Its goal was to increase student learning and improve elementary and secondary school education (Deas, 2018). However, the support for Common Core lacks a research base, which is one of its most severe issues. Moreover, the article mentions that high standards and making them uniform across the country is insufficient. Thus, the writer concludes that it is better to help students develop social and civic pride. This measure may eradicate the flaws of K-12 US education and help underprivileged students.
References
Deas, K. (2018). Evaluating Common Core: Are Uniform Standards a Silver Bullet for Education Reform?. Educational Foundations, 31, 47-62.
Rebarber, T., & McCluskey, N. (2018). Common Core, School Choice & Rethinking Standards-Based Reform. White Paper No. 186. Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research.
Watson, K., & Williams, S. (2018). The Common Core Moral Panic. North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education.