At JEA we have been watching and working on the Common Core movement for the past three years. As we have learned more about CC and the state standards that have been developed to implement them, we see that journalism had been teaching students to meet these standards long before they were written.
The biggest problem with CC is that it has been married to the current standardized testing craze, and the results has been a sort of Bride of Frankenstein creation that is truly scary. We would all be so much better off if journalism programs were simply judged as they have long been judged — by the products they produced and the recognition they receive from their peers.

Diane Ravitch's blog

Researchers usually find that students flourish where there is stability in the school, with an experienced staff, clear expectations, small classes, and a rich curriculum.

In Kentucky, first state to implement and test the Common Core, student scores fell and achievement gaps widened.

This teacher in Connecticut foresees rough weather ahead as the state and federal government launch a massive experiment:

I wonder about the impact specifically in Connecticut where we are rolling out a new comprehensive teacher evaluation system at the same time [as Common Core]….so we have teachers learning new standards, possibly new curriculum, new evaluation processes, new observational rubrics for lessons, teaching and then setting learning goals based on results of one type of test in 2014, and then another online, common core test in 2015…how many schools will fail? How many teachers will not make gains with their students? How many will be fired? How many…

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