I am always delighted with the daily column from Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post. In the last year or so I keep seeing her columns reposted again and again by other writers and bloggers in education. Well, the August 13 column featured a guest writer, Marion Brady, writing “Eight problems with the Common Core Standards.”
Wow! Mr. Brady hits the nail on the head. Great points here. He’s the latest educational expert who points out the behind closed doors development of the Core Standards, a point which most Americans and even fewer parents actually understand. I particularly like his analysis of controversial Michelle Rhee, who pushed D.C. teachers and administrators into a major cheating scandal and then left the district to become every teacher union member’s worst nightmare. His highlighting of the consistent unfairness in the way international test results are reported for American students is right on, as are his comments on poverty and school achievement.
I wholeheartedly recommend Valerie Strauss and her own regular commentary as well. Do yourself a favor and sign up to get her column every day. At the bottom of the column–under the comments–you can sign up for an RSS feed and get this rich source of current educational commentary from Valerie and from top-notch other writers every day.