- In case there was any doubt that you can fool some of the people all of the time: A new Fairleigh Dickinson poll reveals that a great many Americans have no earthly idea what’s actually in the Common Core State Standards—but they hate ‘em anyway. Over half the respondents believed global warming, evolution, and sexual education are included in the standards (they’re not). Almost comically, those who say they are most informed about Common Core are precisely those most likely to be wrong about what the standards actually contain. Thankfully, about four in ten have the honesty to tell pollsters they know nothing about Common Core.
- Of course, standards are just part of the solution to a big national problem: Way too many high school seniors are graduating without being fully prepared for college or career. Tennessee State Senator Todd Gardenhire has proposed a novel response: legislation that would require the state’s school districts to reimburse recent high school graduates who need remedial classes at the college level. Innovative, but terrible. It’s unrealistic to expect every graduating senior to be ready for college. Students would be better served by college entrance requirements—even for community colleges.
- What do small rural universities, big Catholic orphanages, and sylvan nature sanctuaries have in common? According to a new ProPublica report, they all somehow authorize charter schools—and not all of them do so competently. The disparate institutions charged with regulating charters are bound by varying rules in different states, and some are riven with abuses and conflicts of interest. Particularly troubled is Fordham’s home state of Ohio, deemed the “Wild West” of authorization for its lax rules. That’s why we recommended a significant rewrite of Ohio's charter school law last year. Thankfully, our call for urgency seems to be resonating.
- In other school-choice news, Education Next has posted a great debate on whether New Orleans or the District of Columbia should be seen as the model for education reform. New Orleans has gone 100 percent charter—a thrilling development for NOLA’s Neerav Kingsland. But that comes with some downsides, including pressure for charters to surrender their autonomy and act more like neighborhood schools. So argues D.C’s Scott Pearson, who makes the case for the District’s fifty-fifty approach (half charter, half district) instead.
