What common core supporters won't tell you.

What common core supporters won’t tell you is that if we factor out poverty then our scores on international tests zoom to the top. To me that says, rather than blowing up the system and replacing it with an experimental curriculum, which is what common core is, let’s put in place things that mitigate poverty.  Wrap around services, social workers and a longer school year would work wonders for many of our kids.

Will common core make a hungry child full, feel safe, make up their pre-school deficits or get parents involved? The answer to all those questions is no. The truth is we have a poverty problem not a standards problem and if you want more proof look at the third grade FCAT results. A fifth of our children live in poverty and a fifth of our third graders scored a one on the test.

Common core does a few things however. It doubles down on high stakes testing which has sucked the joy out of education for so many students and teachers alike and it siphons hundreds of millions out of classrooms and to testing companies and their affiliates.

Unless we address poverty then common core is just the latest education fad doomed to fail.