Critics Post 'Manifesto' Opposing Shared Curriculum

More than 100 critics sign opposing document

A group led by critics of the new common academic standards issued a manifesto last week arguing against development of shared curriculum and tests for those standards.

The document , signed by more than 100 leaders in education, business, and politics, most of them conservatives, is a response to a “ call for common content ” for the standards, issued in March by the Albert Shanker Institute, a Washington-based research and advocacy group named after the late president of the American Federation of Teachers. ( "Leaders Call for Shared Curriculum Guidelines," March 9, 2011.)

Calling itself a “counter-manifesto,” the paper is also a response to the U.S. Department of Education’s $360 million investment in the development of assessments and curricular supports for the common standards. That money was awarded to two large consortia of states as part of the federal government’s Race...