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Last week I <a
href="http://www.cato.org/blog/only-little-people-oppose-common-core">posted
video</a> from an American Enterprise Institute conference
featuring supporters of national curriculum standards—the Common
Core—dismissing concerns that implementing the standards might cost
lots of taxpayer arms and legs, and laughingly brushing aside
concerns that the Common Core might lead to federal control of
school curricula. The latter emanated largely from Chester “Checker”
Finn, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, whose
organization is a leading national standards supporter.<br>
<br>
Yesterday news came out that made clear just how serious—and
unfunny—concerns about a federal takeover are. <a target="_blank"
href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2013/04/common_assessment_groups_to_undergo_new_federal_review_process.html">According
to</a> <em>Education Week</em>, the U.S. Department of Education
will start a “technical review process” for the Department-selected
consortia creating the national tests to go with the standards. And
what will that review look at? Not compliance with accounting
standards or something administrative, but test “item design and
validation.” That means, most likely (in-depth information from the
Department was off-line as of this writing) reviewing <em>the
specific questions that will go on the tests</em>. And what is
tested, of course, ultimately dictates what is taught, at least if
the test results are to have any concrete impact, ranging from
whether students advance to the next grade, to whether schools gain
or lose funding. Since the ultimate point of uniform standards is to
have essentially uniform accountability from state to state, they
will have to have some concrete impact, rendering this a clear next
step in a major Federal incursion into curricula.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.cato.org/blog/saying-common-core-not-federal-joke-jokes-us">http://www.cato.org/blog/saying-common-core-not-federal-joke-jokes-us</a>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
"Molon labe." MILLIONS of us will be waiting!
--USA Patriots, 2013</pre>
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