Sunday Morning did a piece on common core this morning
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-debate-over-common-core/
and despite interviewing principal Carol Burris who is against common core, the tone of the piece was far from fair and balanced.
Have you noticed that whenever somebody is for common core they start their talking points with something like, Launched by state officials, the Core was backed by the federal government, offering grant money to states signing on.
Well this Sunday morning piece was no different as that is a direct quote and yes, launched by the cash strapped states during the great recession where they traded local control for those grants.
There were two pro-common core people interviewed, the secretary ofof playing basketball with Obama, education , Arne Duncan and Tampa superintendent MaryEllen Elia but it's the questions the interviewer didn't ask that really got me.
Like how does common core address poverty? CBS gave us our middle of the pack international stats but they didn't mention how our scores zoom to near the top when we factor out poverty a pretty big oversight if you ask me.
Next I want to know if the countries we are trying to catch use common core because as far as I can tell they don't?
Finally I would have liked a mention about all the people who are going to get rich off common core and all the money being siphoned out of our classrooms to pay for it.
CBS didn't think any of above was worth a mention.
Nobody is against tough standards what the pro-common core speakers implied but for them to dismiss and for CBS to ignore legitimate questions and concerns does our children and schools a disservice.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-debate-over-common-core/
and despite interviewing principal Carol Burris who is against common core, the tone of the piece was far from fair and balanced.
Have you noticed that whenever somebody is for common core they start their talking points with something like, Launched by state officials, the Core was backed by the federal government, offering grant money to states signing on.
Well this Sunday morning piece was no different as that is a direct quote and yes, launched by the cash strapped states during the great recession where they traded local control for those grants.
There were two pro-common core people interviewed, the secretary of
Like how does common core address poverty? CBS gave us our middle of the pack international stats but they didn't mention how our scores zoom to near the top when we factor out poverty a pretty big oversight if you ask me.
Next I want to know if the countries we are trying to catch use common core because as far as I can tell they don't?
Finally I would have liked a mention about all the people who are going to get rich off common core and all the money being siphoned out of our classrooms to pay for it.
CBS didn't think any of above was worth a mention.
Nobody is against tough standards what the pro-common core speakers implied but for them to dismiss and for CBS to ignore legitimate questions and concerns does our children and schools a disservice.
These are all very valid critiques. Nonetheless, the segment was much less of a fluff piece than I anticipated. I was surprised to see Carol Burris on at all and the fact that she received more air time than Arne Duncan seemed like a victory to me. It could have been much more of a cheerleading fest for the Common Core. Even though the coverage was very superficial, I was actually pleasantly surprised that any criticism was aired.
ReplyDeleteWe all know how much time and focus we have into CCSS and other reforms the past few years. I would not expect a balanced or accurate piece from the media because that would be impossible. What I would expect from the media and quality journalism (which there is very little of these days) is at least an inquiry based review based on published pro and con lists that are all pretty much identical for either side. Those questions should require evidence/research based responses. Instead we get the same rhetoric from pro and not sufficient time to offer a full answer for the cons.
ReplyDeleteFCAT got a bad rap, so its high time for a name change. Was it $254, 000, 000 per year for FCAT? How much more millions will they suck out of Florida using the new name tag - Common Core?
ReplyDeleteGood question! How about CBS doing some of that great journalism they do to go and find out!
Delete