Dive Brief:
- Wisconsin teachers are voicing their disagreement with Gov. Scott Walker's call to abandon the Common Core.
- Doing so, the educators say, would waste the time and money already invested in implementing the standards, adopted by the state nearly five years ago in 2010.
- Walker has asked Wisconsin's legislature to pass a bill removing the Common Core in January and replacing it with state-created standards.
Dive Insight:
Arguments for and against the Common Core are nuanced, but it is important to listen to the voices of the actual educators responsible for making the curriculum come to life. Creating lesson plans to match standards is time-consuming, and jostling teachers around does not help anyone — especially not students. The real question comes down to why Walker wants to dump the standards. If it's because he is fearful that the standards are not doing enough for students, that is one thing. But if it's merely a federal-versus-state back-and-forth, it may be wise to look at the bigger picture: If the standards are going to be helpful, and teachers are already invested in them, does it really matter who created them?