One-size-fits-all fixes never work

Published 10:34 pm Friday, November 22, 2013

By Staff Reports

 

  1. Opt-out movement accelerates amid Common Core testing issues
  2. Teacher outraged by what third-graders are being asked to do on 2016 Common Core test

When one-size-fits-all policies fail to fit, those policies’ defenders look for someone — anyone — to blame, rather than their own judgment. That’s why Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s off-the-cuff remarks on Monday are no surprise.

“Education Secretary Arne Duncan tried Monday to quell the outrage sparked by his comments that injected race and class into the debate about the Common Core academic standards taking root in classrooms across the country,” the Washington Post reported. “Duncan said Friday that he was fascinated by the fact that some opposition to the standards was coming from ‘white suburban moms’ who fear that ‘their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were.'”

The comments are as offensive as they are wrong. Duncan realized this, and posted a hasty retraction on the Department of Education website.

“I used some clumsy phrasing that I regret — particularly because it distracted from an important conversation about how to better prepare all of America’s students for success,” he wrote. “I want to encourage a difficult conversation and challenge the underlying assumption that when we talk about the need to improve our nation’s schools, we are talking only about poor minority students in inner cities. This is simply not true. Research demonstrates that as a country, every demographic group has room for improvement.”

Let’s look at his initial claim, and then his retraction.



First, most objections to Common Core are legitimate questions about the role of the federal government in education. Historically, it has always been a state and local issue — for the simple reason that we care about our own children (and our children’s education) more than some faceless bureaucrat in Washington does. We know best.

Second, one size never fits all. In education, differences matter. There are different regions, different socio-economic levels and different languages spoken in the home. These all mean there are different starting points, and even different goals in public education. Common standards ignore these realities and they shackle educators, preventing them from adapting materials and methods to their unique students.

Finally, Duncan’s claim that “white suburban” parents don’t want educational accountability because they fear their kids aren’t smart is both offensive and fallacious. Duncan is trying to change the subject away from what’s far more common than Common Core — the failure of public education to provide even a minimum level of learning to many children.

The kids aren’t the problem here; neither are the moms.

As for Duncan’s retraction, it falls short of an apology and simply tries, again, to change the subject. Of course every demographic group has room for improvement. That’s not the question. The question is whether top-down rules and policies set in Washington is the best way to deliver that improvement.

Who really improves education? All the evidence shows parents do. Parental involvement is the best measure for a student’s success — exactly the kind of parental involvement those “white suburban moms” demonstrate. Washington should celebrate any sort of engagement by parents.

Texas has rejected Common Core, and Duncan shows why that has proved to be a good decision.