Restore Our Constitution 

The Heartland Institute has been at the forefront of pushing back on Common Core education standards—a Washington-led scheme to take away the long-held control of curriculum from states, school boards, teachers, and parents. Our effort is led by Joy Pullmann, research fellow for education policy and managing editor of School Reform News. 

Common Core State Standards for K-12 schools were adopted with little public debate by every state but Alaska, Nebraska, Texas, and Virginia in 2010, part of the price of getting federal dollars under the Obama administration’s “Race to the Top” program. Now educators, parents, and policymakers are taking a closer look at what they agreed to, and many don’t like what they see.

In this Heartland Institute Policy Brief (PDF), Pullmann reveals some major weaknesses of  ommon Core. The program represents a major centralization of control over curriculum, contrary to the American tradition of decentralized control and funding. Instead of being “world class,” the standards represent a significant step back from what experts say are the standards America really needs.

No wonder many states are now holding hearings on whether to back out of the Common Core project. Click here for Pullmann's latest report on Common Core in a standard 8-1/2 x 11 Policy Brief format, or click here for an alternative format for printing as a booklet (print on 8-1/2 x 11 paper, double-sided, folded) to share with friends.

Testimony before state legislatures:

• Pennsylvania (pertinent information for all PARCC states): Testimony / Video
• Wisconsin (pertinent information for all Smarter Balanced states): Testimony / Video

Get the 411 

• Video of Joy giving a basic overview of Common Core in one hour.
• "Education Department Helps Leak Students' Personal Data," Washington Examiner.
• "States Should Move Swiftly to Protect Student Data," Orange County Register. 
• Common Core Science Standards, short background and information paper. 
• "‘State-Led’ Common Core Pushed by Federally Funded Nonprofit," School Reform News
• "Alabama Common Core Tests May Examine Kids’ Motivation, Behavior," School Reform News
• "Education Policies Led by Gates, Not States?" School Reform News
• "Unwritten Tests Present Major Common Core Obstacle," School Reform News
• "Sen. Grassley: Stop Federal Funds, Coercion on Common Core," School Reform News
• "Tax-Sponsored Common Core Meetings Closed to Public," School Reform News

Rebuttals

• "It Doesn't Take a Tinfoil Hat to Critique Common Core," response to Kathleen Porter-Magee and Sol Stern on National Review Online. 
• "Common Core Fairy Tales": A reply to Sol Stern and Joel Klein's Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Heartland's Common Core Podcasts:

• Richard Innes: Schools, Data-Mining, and Invasions of Privacy, May 2013
• Joy Pullmann: What Parents Think About Common Core, April 19, 2013
• James Shuls: Common Core Ruined My Son's Math, January 28, 2013
• Joy Pullmann: The Common Core Standards, May 23, 2013
• Vern Williams: A Teacher's Thoughts on the Common Core, December 14, 2012
• Stanley Kurtz: Obama's Education Takeover
• Sol Stern: A Conservative Defends the Common Core, August 17, 2012
• Lindsey Burke: NCLB Waivers, Virginia, and the Common Core, July 6, 2012
• Common Core Calamity in California: An interview with the Hoover Institution's Bill Evers, July 29, 2010
• Common Core Standards: An interview with Lindsey Burke of The Heritage Foundation, June 23, 2010