To the Editor:
Having left parents utterly in the dark ...
• When the Common Core State Standards were being written,
• When they were being adopted in unseemly haste by state politicos hungry for federal Race to the Top loot, and
• When provisions were being made for local amendment of the standards when their flaws and shortcomings become painfully evident. (Oops, there are no such provisions.)
Now, powerful national interest groups pushing the common core are producing tons of slick videos and print materials intended to convince parents just how wonderfully these one-size-fits-all standards will serve their children (“Standards Backers Seek Out Support of Parents,” Sept. 26, 2012).
The progressive Alfie Kohn may differ on many issues from the conservative Heritage Foundation, but they are both correct in asserting that a slick marketing campaign is no substitute for the honest debate that should have occurred long before the Common Core State Standards initiative was a fait accompli. And experienced classroom teachers should have been in on those deliberations as well.
Robert Holland
Senior Fellow for Education Policy
The Heartland Institute
Chicago, Ill.
