The War Over The Core, Ctd

by Dish Staff

One-time Common Core supporter Bobby Jindal found himself squaring off against his former allies once more last week, when he filed a lawsuit against the Department of Ed alleging that the standards “effectively nationalize [the] education curriculum” and are “patently incompatible with the Tenth Amendment.” Although many view the move as political theater ahead of the ’16 elections and few expect the suit to succeed on its merits, Max Ehrenfreund characterizes it as “an escalation” of the campaign against the standards. In a lengthy article about the conservative backlash against the Core, Tim Murphy notes that its drafters “always anticipated a learning curve – just not a political insurgency intent on destroying the program before it had a chance to produce results”:

The trajectory of Common Core just might wind up resembling that of the Affordable Care Act.

Once the hysteria passes, it’s likely to be viewed as a genuine improvement to the education system– even if the vision of a national standard isn’t fully realized. “The [original] promise was, ‘Wow, this is nearly every state in the country!'” the New America Foundation’s [Anne] Hyslop says. “We may not have that moving forward, but we’re at least going to have a good 25 or 30 states.” From the perspective of the policymakers who pushed for Common Core seven years ago, that would still be a success story.

But it came at a heavy cost: The grand bipartisan consensus has been cut clean to the bone, offering a preview of the obstacles facing future reform efforts. If you thought math and reading standards were a hard sell, try biology. And activists are already taking aim at [Common Core co-drafter David] Coleman’s new Advanced Placement tests, administered by the College Board—tests they fear have been infected with the ills of Common Core.

The political consequences are still unfolding. In June, the Pew Research Center released new evidence that the gap within the GOP had closed: self-identified “business” conservatives opposed Common Core at the same rate as “steadfast conservatives” (61 percent). If that holds true, the 2014 midterms, where many candidates have staked out anti-Core positions, just might determine the standards’ fate in many states. Common Core now faces the highest-stakes test of all—the ballot box.

All Dish coverage of Common Core here.