As you may have heard (my phone’s notifications certainly blew up yesterday when this announcement came out), Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, in a bid to rescue his floudering-before-it-begins presidential run, announced that after five years of shoving the Common Core State Standards down our throats, he is joining the bandwagon of parents across the country, and now proudly shouting:”No More Common Core!” See, e.g., ABC’s coverage of his announcement.
It is a heck of a sound bite, and will bring him some momentum in the 24-hour news cycle. However, it is a sham. His announcement changes nothing. Because along with his announcement, as we here in New Jersey have come to expect, he included some fine print:
Meanwhile, Christie said that the state will continue using a new standardized test [i.e., the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) test] that was developed to measure how students were doing with the Common Core.
So Christie is “rejecting” Common Core but still requiring kids to take PARCC, a test developed to measure their achievement of the Common Core. Additionally, teacher and school evaluations throughout the state will still be based (10% this year, and as of now, 20% next year, and 30% in years to follow) on kids’ scores on those Common Core-aligned tests. Placement decisions for children will still be predicated on their “achievement” of the Common Core standards, evaluations for teachers will still be predicated on their students’ “achievement” of the Common Core standards, and schools will still be labeled as “failing” based on their students’ alleged “failure” to achieve those Common Core standards — all as measured by PARCC.
Christie’s announcement changes nothing, and shame on the media for lapping it up so naively. Christie’s so-called rejection of Common Core is simply a sound bite for him to take on the road to Iowa and New Hampshire while our NJ public school kids continue to deal with a language arts curriculum that doesn’t teach them to consider texts and ideas within their broader historical context.
The irony is that Christie’s faux-announcement proves what so many of us have been saying all along: curriculum and education these days aren’t standards-driven, they’re test driven. The one thing this announcement does provide is a lesson in the convoluted logic of politics. So in that sad, cynical sense, at least Christie is providing our kids with a lesson in practical civics, which many of their schools no longer teach.
However, as long as the Common Core-aligned PARCC test continues to be the barometer to allegedly measure our schools, teachers, and children’s efficacy, Christie’s announcement is worth even less than the paper his speech was written on. If you believe otherwise, then man, I’ve got a bridge to sell you…
parentingthecore 
Well, now YOU! are the “media” and you are not lapping it up.
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He is still an ass hole just dressed up wearing a tie to look important. He is the biggest double take around. He thinks he is slready the next president. He just joins the ship of other fools who are running just to hear their name nmentioned on TV. If we all totally ignore him maybe he will get the hint and go away. All of his sincere long winded speeches are just crap.
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Christie has made a joke of a political/education decision gone bad. NJ and NY politicians should leave these decisions to educators and parents. Does he not realize that voters will not forget this change comes only for a future presidential run? He insults every voter in NJ.
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