Why States Are Pulling Out of Common Core: EdLinks 8/17

Common Core Pullout: Interesting take on why both low and high performing states are considering pulling out of common core standards.  I suppose that we in Tennessee would fall into the “lower” category.  Never having taught in a state in the “higher” category, I’d be interesting in hearing from how old state standards compare to common core.  My only experience in TN is that they have increased the standards we work with:

When 45 states and the District of Columbia quickly adopted Common Core in their pursuit of federal largesse, it seemed the common standards and tests would take the country by storm. Fast-forward three years, and the nation is split between higher-performing states chafing at the prospect of less rigorous standards leading to declining student performance, and their lower-performing counterparts that are unwilling or unable to fund the transition to Common Core tests.

The article mentions the $16 billion in implementation costs over 7 years in the lowest performing states. This is especially relevant given the rumblings I’m hearing that Tennessee is considering pulling out of the PARCC assessments due to costs.

In related news, superintendents in East Tennessee have expressed their support for Common Core to help improve college readiness rates.

Transportation woes: director of transportation for SCS resigns, leaving Hitesh Haria in charge.  See our article from a few days ago for a brief profile.

Teacher License Changes: Tennessee’s Board of Education voted 6-3 to adopt the modifications to the teacher license system in our state that we wrote about here a few days ago.  For another perspective, check out this post from Tennessee Education Report.

SCS experiences a payroll glitch that leads to a large number of employees going unpaid Friday.

Sen. Campfield at it again: And in perhaps our MOST important (that is, ludicrous) education update this week in Tennessee, Sen. Campfield pre-filed legislation that would, as he puts it;

preserve the rights of students and teachers to say “merry Christmas” and other “traditional greetings” during the holidays, Knoxville News Sentinel reports.

“This stops all these silly lawsuits that say you can’t say ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘happy Hanukkah’ or have a Christmas tree,” the Knoxville Republican told the News Sentinel.

This only adds to the ridiculous issues that Sen. Campfield chooses to take on, including his “Don’t Say Gay” bill in 2011, a bill that would require counselors to report students sexuality to their parents if they say they are gay, and cutting welfare payments to parents with students who fail to make adequate grades by 30%.

At a time when TN student achievement is in the bottom half of all states and we are fighting to adequately implement common core, bravo, Sen. Campfield, for tackling these truly important issues.