Common Core

The supposed decay in public education, whereby the United States is declining rapidly and falling behind other industrial nations, has been blamed on bad teaching and the lack of common and consistent standards. The solution to this supposed decay in public education is not only a common set of standards, but common tests that align with those standards. These tests are positioned as next generation assessments. Common Core: Passing the test? describes the development of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the accompanying next generation assessments. It questions whether America's public school classrooms will be able to focus on enhancing student learning and authentic assessment or whether the classrooms will become even more focused on teaching to the test. Chapter 1 provides a brief review of the pathway and arrival of the CCSS on the nation's agenda. It also details the initial development of the two primary assessment consortia through the federal government's Race to the Top Assessment Program. Chapter 2 delves into the two assessment consortia, the "winners" of the Race to the Top Assessment Program, and reviews their articulated objectives and their means to achieve those objectives. The chapter also explores the role of for-profit entities lurking underneath the surface of all aspects of education reform. Chapter 3 provides an overview of the promises of the CCSS next generation assessments and explores the necessary conditions for schools to be able to implement next generation assessments, such as technology integration and professional development of teachers. Chapter 4 reviews the ways in which assessment in classrooms can truly become next generation by utilizing authentic and formative assessment methods. Chapter 5 explores the winners and losers of the Race to the Top. And the book concludes with a summation of the possible consequences of the continuation of the current path of education reform. Common Core: Passing the test? posits that the CCSS assessments and this next generation of school reform will perpetuate the engine of inequity and the existing social hierarchy. The audience for this book includes educators, policy-makers, decision-makers, and individuals concerned about the privatization of higher education and the continuation of policies and reforms that perpetuate social inequities in education.