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WASHINGTON, D.C. Ñ Feb. 26 A diverse group of teachers, scholars, superintendents, reform advocates, and union leaders expressed concern today that our schools are sacrificing too much in their quest to fulfill their commitments under No Child Left Behind. ÒThe current mania for testing and basic skills has narrowed the curriculum and caused the limiting or exclusion of such subjects as history, literature, civics, geography, science, and the arts,Ó said New York University research professor Diane Ravitch and Antonia Cortese, Executive Vice President of the American Federation of Teachers.
To combat this problem, Ravitch and Cortese have joined with others to form Common Core, a Washington-based, non-partisan research and advocacy organization devoted to promoting and enhancing liberal arts and sciences education in AmericaÕs elementary and secondary schools. Common CoreÕs basic premise is that every young American needs and deserves a comprehensive, content-rich education.
“We believe that a child who graduates from high school without a broad-based education has in fact been left behind,” said Lynne Munson, Common CoreÕs executive director. “Only a complete liberal arts and sciences education that includes the arts, history, languages, and scienceÑin addition to reading and mathÑwill enable todayÕs students to become tomorrowÕs well-prepared citizens,” said Munson. Common Core, a nonprofit organization, is dedicated to making immersion in the core academic disciplines the common experience of all schoolchildren.
“The pressures of NCLB have increasingly led to a narrow focus on basic reading and math skills in AmericaÕs classrooms. Of course children must know how to read and compute. But children must be knowledgeable in addition to being skilled,” said Munson. The time spent on “endless test-preparation activities,” according to Ravitch and Cortese, “could be better spent reading and discussing exciting historical controversies, scientific discoveries, and literary works.”
Common Core will support parents, educators, and others who are pushing for a broad liberal education for all children. And it will promote programs, policies, and initiatives at the local, state, and federal levels that provide students with challenging instruction in literature, mathematics, science, geography, civics and government, history, economics, foreign languages, and the arts.
“Our coalition of educators, scholars, writers, artists, and businesspeople represent the entire political spectrum,” said Munson. In addition to Ravitch and Cortese, Common CoreÕs board includes:
- Barbara Byrd-Bennett, Executive-in-Residence at Cleveland State University
- Pascal Forgione, Jr., Superintendent of the Austin School District in Texas
- Lorraine Griffith, 5th grade teacher at West Buncombe Elementary School in Asheville, NC
- Jason Griffiths, Headmaster of Brooklyn Latin, a public school
- Joy Hakim, Author of A History of US and The Story of Science
- Richard Kessler, Executive Director of the Center for Arts Education
- Harvey Klehr, Professor of Politics and History at Emory University
- Juan Rangel, President of UNO Charter School Network with schools in Chicago and New Orleans
“Together, weÕre working to return exciting, rich, liberal arts instruction to every classroom,” added Munson.
To inaugurate its official launch, Common Core will hold a press conference at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, on Feb. 26, 2008. The event will last from 9:30 am-11:00 am. Speakers will include Prof. Ravitch, Ms. Cortese, Ms. Munson, and Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy at the American Enterprise Institute. Breakfast and refreshments will be served beginning at 9:15 am.
The event is open to the general public. Please direct all media inquiries to Lauren Prehoda at 202-420-1761 or lprehoda@commoncore.org
To find out more about the ways you can help support broad-based, rigorous education, please visit www.commoncore.org
Contact: Lauren Prehoda
Phone: 202-420-1761
Email: lprehoda@commoncore.org
Address: Common Core, 1016 16th Street NW, 7th Floor, Washington DC 20036
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News
December 4 • EdWeek profile questions motives of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
November 10 • You can now read Diane Ravitch’s op/ed on 21st century skills in the Boston Globe, Providence Journal, Metro West Daily News, Lowell Sun, and Quincy Patriot Ledger.
November 3 • Education Week highlights Common Core's concerns about the appointment of a P21 leader to a key Dept. of Education post.
November • Lynne Munson and Richard Kessler explain why arts education is vital in the November 2009 issue of Parenting magazine.
October 10 • Diane Ravitch's recent op/ed on 21st century skills has been reprinted in the Providence Journal.
September 16 • A group of prominent scholars, teachers, education reform advocates, and union leaders issued a statement today expressing concern about the program put forth by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) and calling for its revision. Press Advisory (pdf)
September 15 • Common Core’s Diane Ravitch shows how dated the idea of “21st century skills” really is in the Boston Globe
July 13 • Common Core’s Lynne Munson raises concerns about national standards at convention of the American Federation of Teachers. (PDF document)
July 9 • In USAToday Common Core’s Lynne Munson argues that a comprehensive education is more likely than a STEM education to produce new scientists.
July 2 • A USAToday editorial cites and links to Common Core’s “Still at Risk”" study which showed how little our 17-year-olds know about history and literature.
June 2 • Common Core releases Why We’re Behind: What Top Nations Teach Their Students But We Don’t, a report showing that the nations that consistently outrank us on international comparison tests provide their students with a fulsome education in the liberal arts and sciences. Why is this news? Because the U.S. is moving further and further away from this model. Read brief excerpts from the documents featured in the report here.
