Should homeschoolers be concerned about the Common Core?
All citizens, regardless of their family’s educational choice, should be very concerned about the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI). When state policies shift in such a fashion that our elected representatives hand over authority reserved for the people to non-elected groups, it creates a climate in which we need to step in and say enough is enough.
The brief video clips and links on this page describe the shift of state/local control of what is taught and tested in public and private schools to federal control through national standards and assessments. Most state departments of education, including Ohio, have chased and received federal grants that have bound students enrolled in public and private schools to these new standards in Math and English. These are not more rigorous standards, but they will form the basis for new national assessments.
By using these national assessments, states are relinquishing control over what is taught – not through state or federal laws, but through the power of the purse.
In Ohio, home educators are not required to follow the dumbing down of state standards, use state curriculum models, or take less rigorous state assessments. The focus of our concern is the potential for discrimination against home educated students if these assessments become the gatekeepers into the university/college experience.
Please use the links and video series below to begin informing yourselves with the problems inherent with these progressive reforms for public and private schools. If you understand where this is headed you will be better equipped to help protect our children from inevitable consequences.
We also encourage you to contact your state legislators and respectfully urge them to take Ohio’s educational choices back from the federal government. Be sure to copy your state school board representative on your communication with legislators regarding this issue.
Start Here:
Video narrated by Jane Robbins (American Principles Project)
Broad explanation of the risks associated with Common Core (nationalized standards and assessment policies)
Click for Part 1:
Chapter 1 Origins of the Common Core
Chapter 2 Testing Mandates
Click for Part 2:
Chapter 3 Education Without Representation
Chapter 4 Sub-Standard Standards
Click for Part 3:
Chapter 5 Intrusive Data Tracking
Chapter 6 High Price Tag
Click for Part 4:
Chapter 7 National Standards Do More Harm Than Good
Chapter 8 Future Effect of Common Core
Click for Part 5:
Chapter 9 Where Does All This Lead?
Chapter 10 Take Action!
What does HSLDA say about Common Core?
HSLDA’s Website on Common Core
What do Curriculum Publishers say about Common Core?
Each curriculum publisher has their own stand on Common Core State Standards. Tina Hollenbeck has done extensive research and gives you access to hundreds of curriculum publishers’ statements on Common Core on the Homeschool Resource Roadmap (formerly known as The Educational Freedom Coalition).
Concerns with Common Core
Pioneer Institute – Public Policy Research White Pape
Reasons for Concern Quick Fact She
Common Core’s Effect on (Current) Curriculum
Common Core’s Effect on College Entrance Exams
The College Board’s Statement on Common Core
Data Mining (State Longitudinal Databases)
HSLDA’s statement on collecting student specific data
Privacy Issues and State Longitudinal Data Systems
Helpful Websites for Further Research
First Sources
Common Core State Standards Initiative website
Ohio Department of Education Common Core page
National Center for Educational Statistics
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
(HIPPA laws do not apply: Department of Health & Human Services Regulation Section 160.103 states, in part,: “Protected health information EXCLUDES individually identifiable health information in education records covered by the Family Education Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA), as amended 20 U.S.C. 1232 g”.)
U.S. Department of Education Race to the Top
Educational Summary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Entire document)