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Richard Porter
Professor Liese
Eng 2010
Dec 3rd, 2014
Portfolio Submission
The English 2010 portfolio is included in the pages beyond this cover. Our goal this
semester was to choose one topic and present it in several different writing styles and forms. The
topic I chose was Common Core State Standards as it is something my family has been trying to
come to terms with in my 5th graders education and something we will continue to deal with as
my daughter just started kindergarten.
The papers contained within this portfolio are written in three different formats. First you
will find a memoir about my familys dealings with the Common Core system and our personal
experiences with the subject. Next you will find a research paper talking about what Common
Core Standards are all about and what the detractors of the programs have to say. Finally, the
third piece is a position/argument paper designed to stir emotions in the reader and help them
understand the frustrations parents and teachers are experiencing when dealing with Common
Core State Standards. Hopefully these documents will be interesting to read and provide some
insight to how things in the field of education are being handled for students today.

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Richard Porter
Professor Liese
English 2010
Nov 30th, 2014
Memoir of a Parent Dealing with Common Core
Things have changed in drastic ways since my days of school. My sister and I used come
home from school and run right back outside. We would play until our parents would come
home from work, and then we knew it was time for homework. We would sit and study, as
education was a very important part of growing up in our home. If we ran into trouble, our mom
would be there to help us through what we were stuck on. Without the help of our support
system at home, we would not have valued education or the benefits it brought us.
This learning model was something I thought I would carry on to my children as they
came of age to get into their school programs. When my son started out it was basic enough,
letters, numbers, and sounds. His first 3 years seemed routine and we would work hard on
getting him to learn the things being taught in his classes. In his 3rd and 4th grade classes things
took a turn. He started coming home angry with his homework. He didnt want to do it because
he couldnt figure it out. This was where I thought the classic support system would help him out
and get him moving on his homework. I had never been more wrong. One day of particular
frustration to my son, I sat down and started to help him with simple two digit multiplication. He
showed me a problem. I solved it. He looked at me with the most puzzled look Ive ever seen on
his face. Dad, thats not how you do it, he stated. I showed him again. He then showed me the
work he was being forced to do for the simple math problem put before him. There were boxes

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drawn and multiples draw out all over the page and the most graphic and complicated system
Ive ever seen to accomplish a very simple process. Is this how they make you do it? I asked.
He assured me it was. I told him, I dont know anything about how your teacher is showing you
how to do this. I know how to do it the way I was taught and I can show you that if you want.
He agreed and completed his homework in 15 minutes with the simple way I learned in 4th grade.
He had taken almost 20 minutes to do one problem the way his teacher had shown him. Thinking
I had done a good job, we discussed the options, and my son liked doing it the way I showed
him.
A few days went by and my son brought home the assignment we had worked on
together. He had gotten a 0 on the homework. He was also told he had to redo the assignment. I
was baffled. We had checked all his answers with a calculator and shown all the work on his
assignment. There was no way the answers were wrong, I sat down and double checked it. I
asked, What happened? My son looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said, We did it
wrong. I dont understand why, but my teacher is making everyone do it again because no one
did it the right way. It turns out the graphic box way of learning two digit multiplication was the
new common core standard way of teaching math and everyone who had their parents help them
with the homework had failed it because the parents had no idea what they were teaching or how
this box method worked. Of the 30 kids in his class, more than 20 were redoing the assignment.
My son went to the table, got out his makeup homework assignment, and proceeded to struggle
with it for more than an hour. All I could do was watch. His frustration came back almost in an
instant. It was the hardest hours I ever watched him do school work.
As I sat watching my son struggle with his homework, I decided to look into the new
method this math was being taught. The boxes and graphs he was using was part of the new base

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10 multiplication standards of common core. I had never heard of common core. The information
I found was in regards to educators and lawmakers clashing over the standards common core set
out for students. This wasnt helping me find out what he was actually doing, just showing me
there was controversy surrounding it. As I tried to make sense of it all, I decided to go talk to his
teacher about it. Why not get the information straight from the horses mouth rather than try and
make sense of the debate surrounding it? Yes, I had a course of action and I was going to help
myself and my son at the same time. Next day comes and I go in to talk to my sons teacher. I
have a few questions about an assignment my son had to redo last night. I felt like a proud
parent being involved. After all, this is what it was all about. Ok, what were your questions? I
prepared my thoughts carefully and asked, Why did he need to redo it? We had worked on the
assignment together and he understood what he was doing. When he redid the assignment he sat
for more than an hour doing what took him 15 minutes the first time. While I appreciate that
everyone learns a different way and some people will learn it this new way, why is the old way
forbidden? I thought that my question was appropriate given the struggle my son had with it and
the fact that more than half the class had to redo it. I finished my question with, Help me
understand what you are teaching him. My sons teacher looked at me with a blank emotionless
expression on her face. This is the way it is done now. This is just the way it has to be done.
Wait, I thought, how is this possible? We are talking about math. There is a definitive answer at
the end of a math problem. There can be multiple ways to solve it but if you get the answer right,
isnt that doing the math? How can there only be this one new way to teach this math process?
The questions kept racing through my head, like a freeway loaded with fast moving traffic at
rush hour. I finally established one question based on her response that seemed fitting. Why
cant the kids learn it both ways and do what is easier for them as long as they get the right

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answer? The teacher cut me off to inject her blanket statement, Because thats not how it is
done anymore. Im sorry if you dont understand it or like it but thats the way it is. Now if there
is nothing else, I need to go. I was floored. How can there be only one way to teach two digit
multiplication, and how can a teacher say they have no reason to teach it any differently when
more than half the class is redoing work she has determined is wrong? Why would she be so
dismissive of a parent being involved trying to help their kid make it through math? I went home
puzzled. I felt like I had been debating religion with someone who kept saying things are this
way because I believe them to be so. You cant argue a point by saying because over and over,
but thats exactly what she did. It was zealotry of her to believe her training had provided only
one way to do something and make people suffer as a result of it.
For the next few weeks, my wife and I closely monitored my sons homework to see if
there was anything else like this going on. It seemed there were many changes to the process of
math. My son struggled with it and my wife and I felt helpless to relieve the stress and anxiety he
was feeling, because we were right there with him. We didnt know how to process his
homework so we were useless to him as a resource. This was the time I was supposed to be a
good influence and help him like my family had helped me before. This was when I was
supposed to carry that support structure forward to my kids and be there for them. Instead, thanks
to this teacher, and her newly imposed common core standards, we were left in the dark and he
was left to fend for himself. The frustration we felt as a family poured over into several social
gatherings. People come up to each other and ask how you are doing or how are the kids doing in
school. I started telling the truth. I spoke openly of the frustration my son was having in school
and the frustration my wife and I were having over not being able to help him. We started getting
similar responses from our friends with kids. They too were frustrated. They had asked similar

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questions of teachers and gotten similar answers. We had some friends who were teachers who
couldnt explain the teachers processes and why we were having the problems we were. If they
can learn it one way or another, the end goal of a teacher is for them to learn it. Turning their
back on any process to help a child learn is wrong, one teacher told us. It was liberating to feel
like we werent alone in this struggle.
The idea of common core was good and understandable, bring everyone up to the same
standards required for college and the workplace. The application of the program took a turn
somewhere along the way creating this disconnect between parents, students, and teachers,
causing the problems our family was having with my sons school work. Learning cant be about
disconnecting from the material and creating a frustrating environment to learn in. Parents and teachers
looking at each other like they are speaking different languages to each other only adds to the frustration,
and as it turns out we were not alone in these feelings. Our friends and family members who were
experiencing the same events based on Common Core standards and the teachers who were relating the
material without explanation were getting to more than just my family.

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Richard Porter
Professor Liese
Eng 2010
Nov 30th, 2014
Common Core Standards: The Hot Button Topic in Modern Education
In todays world education comparisons run rampant through society. How the students
stack up against each other to compete for jobs on a global level is every parents worry and
every politicians speech byline. In recent years these problems have been aggravated by data
released showing America is falling behind in the global education rankings. According to the
Pearson Index of Cognitive Skills and Educational Attainment (Pearson, 2014), America has
fallen to 14th overall in rank and score. According to the Wall Street Journal article U.S. HighSchool Students Slip in Global Rankings (Banchero, 2013):
The results from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which are
being released on Tuesday, show that teenagers in the U.S. slipped from 25th to 31st in math
since 2009; from 20th to 24th in science; and from 11th to 21st in reading, according to the
National Center for Education Statistics, which gathers and analyzes the data in the U.S.
With this kind of backwards movement in the rankings being so highly publicized, people, in and
out of educational fields, have been looking for an answer to combat this very negative position
the United States has earned in the world educational placements. With all of this in mind, the
Common Core Standards program has been introduced as a way to positively affect the scores of
students around the country. With its development in 2009 and its rollout from 2010 through

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2013, the Common Core State Standards Initiative was the answer to the problem of low test
scores and global standards that were leaving American students behind. Watch this 3 minute
video from the Common Core State Standards Initiative web site and see the basic ideas behind
the program. http://vimeo.com/51933492. The consistent goal of Common Core is to provide a
standard level of education from coast to coast and make American students more competitive on
a global scale. According to the Common Core web site:

State school chiefs and governors recognized the value of consistent, real-world learning goals
and launched this effort to ensure all students, regardless of where they live, are graduating high
school prepared for college, career, and life.
The standards are informed by:

The best state standards already in existence

The experience of teachers, content experts, states, and leading thinkers

Feedback from the public

With a group of educators at the helm, and states able to select their own path to reach the
curriculum goals, the adoption of Common Core came rapidly. At the same time Common Core
was being developed, a new national program called Race to the Top was announced by the
Department of Education and the Presidential Administration. Its goals were to help push along
education reform through grants to districts and more grants would be offered if states adopted
Common Core by August 2nd, 2010. With grants at stake and diminished standing within the
global education community looming over teachers and district administrators, states were eager
to take on the new initiative. As of right now 40 of the 50 states have adopted Common Core in
their school districts. The standards break down into five language arts categories and two math
categories. The five language categories are reading, writing, speaking and listening, language,

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and media and technology. The two math categories are mathematical practice and mathematical
content. Mathematical practice is the teaching of eight principles:

1) Make Sense of Problems and Persevere in Solving them

2) Reason abstractly and Quantitatively
3) Construct Viable Arguments and Critique the Reasoning of Others
4) Model with Mathematics
5) Use Appropriate Tools Strategically
6) Attend to Precision
7) Look for and Make Use of Structure
8) Look for and Express Regularity in Repeated Reasoning

Mathematical content standards refer to the content a student will learn at each grade level and
the domains needed to be taught to reach the standards set and measured by standardized tests
throughout a students school years. Supporters of Common Core speak often about how these
new standards will polarize the American workforce coming out of the education system and
provide the economy a boost in productivity for all aspects of business.

While the pursuits of the Common Core Initiative have always been about pursuing better
education for all students nationwide, detractors of the program have been very outspoken and
the issues of Common Core have become a hot button topic among teachers, parents, politicians,
and school administrators across the nation. To understand the debate, is to understand how the
program tries to achieve their intended set of goals, but creates an environment unsuitable to
sustain this pursuit. Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers said, when
speaking at the National Education Writers Association conference, You think Obamacare

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implementation is bad? The implementation of the Common Core is far worse. (Bakeman,
2013) She also said in the same speech, Heres 500 pages. Just do it. This statement was
mocking her interpretation of what New York district superintendents are telling their teachers in
regards to how to teach the new standards. The new standards are now being tested and teachers
are being held to the results of the tests regardless of the reasons the students may be missing the
questions. It is automatically assumed the student didnt know the answer and therefore wasnt
taught the standard by the teacher. Upon closer evaluation of the tests, when made available,
teachers are finding a different reason for the students answers. When analyzing some of the
Common Core test questions, Grant Wiggins, the author of Educative Assessment and co-author
of Understanding by Design, and a high school teacher of 14 years, finds the reason in the case
of one question to be because the question is so poorly worded he could not figure out what it
was asking. He says, Not once does the report suggest an equally plausible analysis: students
were unable to figure out what the question was asking!!! The English is so convoluted, it took
me a few minutes to check and double-check whether I parsed the language properly. (Wiggins,
2014; Wiggins, 2014) He then goes on to discuss the language used to describe the standards and
instruction for the benefit of the teachers trying to interpret the data from the standardized tests.
Plausible but incorrect. The wrong answers are plausible but incorrect. Hey wait a minute:
that language sounds familiar. Thats what it says under every other item! All they are doing is
copying and pasting the SAME sentence, item after item and then substituting in the standard
being assessed!! Arent you then merely saying: We like all our distractors equally because they
are all plausible but wrong? With no effort other than copy pasting being put into explaining
to teachers what the standardized test results mean, how can a teacher be expected to fix things
that their salary increases and professional advancement are so closely tied to?

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The next complaint teachers and parents are voicing is the methods in which the
standards are being taught to the students. Simple mathematical concepts are being turned upside
down in an effort to teach a student the conceptualized version of a process instead of how to do
the actual calculation. From the Common Core Standards web site:
Multiply a whole number of up to four digits by a one-digit whole number, and multiply
two two-digit numbers, using strategies based on place value and the properties of
operations. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays,
and/or area models.

This is the explanation on the new standard to teach two-digit multiplication. Upon further
investigation, the rectangular arrays and area models they refer to involve visual
representations of a problem in an effort to get a student to see math as an art project. An
example of this is shown below:

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The problem done on the left was done using traditional methods taught to me many, many,
many, years ago. The same problem on the right was done by my son using the new rectangular
arrays and took almost five times longer to do. When his teacher was asked why he was
drawing boxes on his homework to figure out a simple problem, all she said was, This is how it
is done now. He has to redo it or his work wont be accepted. Here is an example of math being
done with number bonds:

Some districts have turned to sending home Common Core Cheat Sheets for parents to even
understand what their kids are talking about when trying to help them with simple math
homework. Addition and subtraction have been changed to increase and decrease. The word
problems of old have a negative connotation associated with them so they have been changed to
math situations. Common Core has become a world of absolutes being taught because a test
has to be passed this way or a teacher will suffer the consequences for failure to do so.

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Here is an example of such a cheat sheet:

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The last major concern to address with the opponents of Common Core standards is the
idea that the standards are not actually addressing the things that are making the students fall
behind the rest of the world. Bill Frey, a teacher and principal for 23 years in the Reno school
district, spoke with me about the causes for students to be falling behind the rest of the world.
His reasoning was simple. If the students around the world are taking four years of math and
science and we only require two years of math and science to graduate, who is going to be better
off? Common Core only addresses the way something is taught, not how much of it is taught.
Even if the standards and support were perfect and teachers had everything they ever needed to
get every student to pass a standardized test, it wouldnt be as much as students from other
countries are learning. Two years of math would consist of an algebra class and geometry. A
student can push themselves past that, but it would be voluntary in the school systems the way it
is now. Four years of math would typically be algebra, geometry, advanced algebra with
trigonometry, and calculus. Looking at those two class loads, the learning a student would be
exposed to would be significantly different with four years of math. Two years of science, which
is the typical requirement for graduation these days, would be biology and chemistry. Four years
of science would be biology, chemistry, physics, and an advanced version of one of the previous
topics. The countries who have improved the standards of their students arent teaching new
methods to make this increase happen. They are simply teaching more of it than most American
school districts. The requirements for graduation have fallen significantly over the last 40 years
as districts try and cut corners to make their attendance and graduation rates appear higher than
they actually are. The high school my mother got her diploma from in 1979 required 9 more
credits than my high school required in 1998. The two schools being compared were a part of the
same school district which is evidence of this reduction of requirement. In fact they had a

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meeting with my 8th grade class explaining to use how much easier it was to get through high
school now because one class would count for multiple requirements and the actual credits
needed to graduate had been reduced.

As the research shows, both sides have a valid argument. On the one hand wanting to
increase the productivity and level of education in America through a new curriculum is a good
thing considering how the educational level has fallen compared to the rest of the world. On the
other hand, the opponents of Common Core have some very valid concerns about how this new
system is being implemented and how it is creating an environment of frustration surrounding
the process of learning. One thing is for sure. As long as this debate remains in the public
spotlight and comparative education rates continue to fall, Common Core will continue to be the
hot button topic in modern education.

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Bibliography

"Index of Cognitive Skills and Educational Attainment." Index. Pearson, n.d. Web. 03 Dec.
2014..
Banchero, Stephanie. "U.S. High-School Students Slip in Global Rankings." The Wall Street
Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 3 Dec. 2013. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.
Unknown. "Development Process." Home. Http://www.corestandards.org/, n.d. Web. 30 Nov.
2014.
Unknown. "Common Core State Standards Initiative." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29
Nov. 2014. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.
Bakeman, Jessica. "Weingarten: Common Core Implementation 'far Worse' than Obamacare
Rollout | Capital New York." Weingarten: Common Core Implementation 'far Worse' than
Obamacare Rollout | Capital New York. Capital, 4 Nov. 2013. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.
Torres, Alec. "Alec Torres - The Ten Dumbest Common Core Problems." National Review
Online. N.p., 20 Mar. 2014. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.
CGCS Video Maker. "Three-Minute Video Explaining the Common Core State Standards."
Vimeo. Common Core State Standards, n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.
"About the Standards." Common Core State Standards Initiative About the Standards Comments.
Common Core State Standards, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2014.
Wiggins, Grant. "Failure: The 8th Grade NYS Common Core Math Test." Granted And.... N.p.,
n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.
Strauss, Valerie. "Why so Many Parents Are Freaking out about Common Core Math."
Washington Post. The Washington Post, 8 Nov. 2014. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.
Strauss, Valerie. "A Dissection of Common Core Math Test Questions Leaves Educator
appalled." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 30 Nov. 2014. Web. 01 Dec. 2014.

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Richard Porter
Professor Liese
English 2010
October 26th, 2014
Is Common Core Hurting the American Education System?
In todays world, America is lagging behind in education. Our education systems are
producing students that are behind the other developed nations of the world. According to
Business Insider students in America have fallen from 25th to 31st in math since 2009 and from
20th to 24th in science. The reading scores of American teenagers have fallen the most from 11th
to 21st in the same time span. These trends show something is wrong with the way schools are
doing business across the nation. Common Core Standards were supposed to be the answer to
this falling educational standard. Common Cores directive back during its creation in 2009 was
to bring national scores of students up to a worldwide standard and make it so students, no matter
where they were located, were learning the same things to better prepare them for a world where
they can apply these standards in a working environment. So, why are the numbers still
declining? Why is the Common Core program being removed from states as part of the
curriculum? Why is a program designed to bring up scores and the level of education among
students being turned away from as fast as it was implemented? Lets take a look at a few of the
main concerns now plaguing the Common Core program.
With the advent of new programs, comes new processes and new troubles. With
Common Core, its implementation has been marred with a disastrous rollout. The president of
the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, blasted the way the program has

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reached the schools saying, You think the Obamacare implementation is bad? The
implementation of the Common Core is far worse. Teachers are being given a new program
with little to no instruction on how to teach new processes. They draw boxes and make art
projects out of math problems. Procedures that have been around for as long as they have been
teaching math are being rebranded to fit with a new way to teach. Addition is now increase and
subtraction is decrease. Carry the one is now referred to as moving numbers by a power of ten.
Without instruction, teachers are being forced into a learning environment they themselves are
not prepared for and are unable to cope with. Imagine what learning must look like in classrooms
where an unqualified instructor is trying to shape young minds without any idea what they are
teaching.
Changing the way something is taught doesnt make it a more thorough learning
experience. It isnt going to improve test scores and abilities of students. The truth of the matter
is over the last 25 years requirements have been getting more and more lax in regards to what it
takes to graduate and progress through the education system. One educator (a high school
principal of 20+ years) told me the reason we lag so far behind when stacked up against other
countries is they are required to take 4 years of math and 4 years of science in their secondary
education programs. Other countries require language arts classes all through their education
programs. They require more credit hours and more rigorous study to reach their goals of
graduation and student testing achievement. We simply dont anymore. Common core has taken
the problem and dressed it up as a break down in how we process learning instead of how much
we process and expose our students to learning. If a child in another country is learning four
years of math they will be better at it than our students who are only required to have two years
of math to graduate at a high school level. Countries who require their students to take four years

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of science are going to be more advanced than students required to take on two years of science
at a high school level. Think about that difference. Four years of science would include biology,
chemistry and physics at least. That is a lot more exposure to science than just taking a basic
chemistry and biology class which is all most high schools require these days. Math is the same
way. Four years of math would consist of algebra, geometry, advanced algebra or trigonometry,
and then calculus. Having a requirement of two math classes is enough to get algebra and
geometry out of the way. Common core can teach you all the new ways to make algebra and
geometry stick, but it doesnt help a student apply for a higher functioning math class. The
countries around the world that are advancing past the United States havent changed the way
they teach math, or science, or language arts. The single difference is the other countries require
more time spent on it. When 22-23 credit hours are all that is required to graduate high school,
its no wonder we are lagging behind the rest of the world. Dont believe me? Go ask your
parents what the requirements to graduate were in their day. Most school systems had a 27-30
credit hour requirement. Most werent able to count certain classes as requirements for two
things. When I graduated, they had just changed it so your history classes counted as art credits
lessening the required workload of a student to meet the standards for graduation. Some form of
liberal or performing arts credit was not required for my generation, where as it was required for
my mothers graduating class. When my mother graduated (from the same school district, 20
years apart) they were required to have 28 credits to meet graduation standards. For my
graduating class it was 22 after the rebates we got by having classes count for two categories.
This whole idea is what is making our country weak on education. In order to get kids to
graduate we have to drop the requirements to almost nothing. In order to get kids to pay attention
we have to teach Common Core to get kids to see standards and practices as fun and

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entertainment because teaching and education are bad words. We cant have
expectations or goals for students to reach and Common Core standards, while shooting for
the bottom performing students to bring them up, just bores students who could be exposed to
higher learning and succeed at it. We cant expect students in our country to catch up with the
rest of the world if they are expected to be enrolled in half the experience the rest of the world is
getting. Common Core standards arent addressing the issues of why we are falling behind and
cant reasonably be expected to put our education system back on track with the rest of the
world.
All of this is important to the future of the American system of education but something
just as important to getting to that future is the morale of the people engaged in it. Students
across the nation are coming home to find their support structures unable to assist in the strange
changes the new curriculum has made. Parents across the country are finding themselves unable
to help students with their homework. Students are finding fewer places to turn to get the help
they need to compete in the subjects that are so important to the countrys competitive
educational future. These issues are not being addressed by the educators and politicians who
have implemented Common Core new teaching methods. A student comes home from school
with 2 digit multiplication problems he cant do with ease because of the new Common Core box
multiplication method. A parent shows the student how to do 2 digit multiplication the traditional
way and the student breezes through his work with no issues, like he figured out the secret to
making math easy. The student takes that homework and turns it in, and is told to go do it again
and struggle with it because he did it the wrong way and it has to be done the Common Core
box multiplication way. In this case the student went back to struggling with his homework, the
parents were unable to help him with the frustration he was experiencing having to do the

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homework over again and in a way the student didnt understand, and a positive learning
environment was destroyed. All educators have stated a positive learning environment is the key
to student understanding of the material being learned. Teachers are being forced to teach the
lessons the way of Common Core and they are being held accountable to Common Core
standardized tests. With this in mind, if you were a teacher, teaching Common Core methods and
watching a student learn something, cant be the same thing unless those two things overlap.
There cannot be understanding when absolute methods are implemented in a classroom. If we
need to catch up to the rest of the world in standards, creating an environment in which students
and their support structures are frustrated isnt the answer.
With new processes and new standards, come new tests and new accountability, and with
Common Core, everyone but the students are accountable. Teachers are finding their raises and
tenure are being effected by the scores their students get on these new standardized tests. The
questions on these tests, which were originally promised to help the teachers and students
understand where they need to work to meet the standards, fall short of telling anyone anything
about what a student understands. The tests questions are not designed to test understanding of
conceptual ideas, but only computational ability. The questions and rationales designed to give a
teacher insight into how their students are doing against the standards, are little more than catch
phrases copied and pasted from question to question. How can a district that only cares about test
scores retain or develop good teachers with no information to help the teachers get better. How
much frustration can a person take being told to do better with no help? The vendors of these
tests keep a tight lip about what the questions mean and how they measure cognition of students.
They view the whole thing as trade secrets of a huge enterprise designed to make money off

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the frustrations of people who actually got into a profession to do some good in their
communities and try and make a better world for the future.
Is Common Core hurting the American education system? Yes. Common Core fails to
address the issues at the heart of why American students are falling behind the rest of the world.
Common Core creates a learning environment of frustration and despair for teachers, students,
and parents forced to deal with this new program. Common Core refuses to accept the idea there
is more than one way to do things. Common Core methods do not counter the lack of time spent
on core subjects compared to a world that is rapidly pulling away from us in education
categories. Common Core being forced on states as a business opportunity for corporations hurts
any chance schools have to turn this around. In the end all Common Core does is create more
obstacles to climb for student and teachers and gets America no closer to returning to their
former status as an educational leader in the world.