The Providence Journal reported after Christmas about a new group of parents in Rhode Island who are organizing to oppose the Common Core State Standards in their state. Barrington School Committee member and math teacher, Scott Fuller, created the website for Stop Common Core Rhode Island with a petition that can be signed by Rhode Island residents who are concerned about the Common Core.
Fuller, who is also a math teacher in Cumberland, voiced several concerns about the new standards, which face a surging national backlash in states from Michigan to Florida.
“I’m upset that there was no local input from teachers, parents and school committees,” he said Thursday. “I see it from the teacher’s perspective and from that of the School Committee. It’s too much, too fast. I don’t think this is the way democracy works.”
(The Barrington School Committee has not taken a formal vote on this issue.)
Fuller outlined several additional criticisms. Echoing national critics, Fuller said the standards were never field-tested and yet school districts are being pushed to revise their curricula to conform to them.
Fuller said no one has calculated the cost of implementing the new standards and the test that will replace the state’s existing assessment, the New England Common Assessment Program or NECAP, which is now tied to high school graduation….
… Finally, Fuller said that the new tests were not benchmarked against international standards.
“The Common Core initiative is highly organized at the national level,” the Stop the Common Core Web site states, “and deploys well-funded, coordinated and sophisticated advocacy, grass-roots and public relations campaign tactics to drum up support for the program, raising serious concerns about transparency and legitimacy.”
While some members of the petition drive want Rhode Island to abandon the Common Core, Fuller said he would like a thoughtful pause to allow local educators and parents the opportunity to evaluate the standards and the test.
You can read the rest of the article here and see the petition here.