Common Core standards were put in place in order to set a minimum amount of knowledge and skills acquired by the students regardless of their state of origin. Its purpose is to eliminate the gap between top performers and bottom ones, and thus, in theory, the Common Core standards can be considered as a major component of the “great equalizer.” The reason is that it equalizes the education system across the nations, which pulls up the disadvantaged schools. However, policy enforcement was based on vigorous testing, and Koretz argues that reform policies led by tests are not plausible and should be put under reconsideration (as cited in Walsh, 2014). Therefore, the Common Core’s largest problem was implementation, which used incorrect and ineffective strategy. Putting a great deal of emphasis on test score results in the increased tension among educators and students, who are forced to focus on the limited knowledge that the given testing measures cover. In other words, tests are not ideal because they cannot measure all of the aspects that schools provide. Experts state that one cannot apply testing for everything because the latter does not assess all of the value that schools offer.
The main reason for the failure of the Common Core is the fact that the policy wants to set universal standards for students without standardizing the distribution of resources and educating the teachers. The thing that stood out in the article is its claim that the United States lacks a proper centralized system of distributing materials and training teachers (Goldstein, 2019). The primary reason is that one simply cannot expect that setting the Common Core standards alone without an effective and fair system of distribution of resources will help students become more competent.
References
Goldstein, D. (2019). ‘It just isn’t working’: PISA test scores cast doubt on U.S. education efforts. The New York Times. Web.
Walsh, B. (2014). The problem and promise of Common Core. Usable Knowledge. Web.