Thanks for this post Indigo. I read "Lowering the Bar" with my morning coffee. Common Core aims high school kids at Algebra II as their final secondary math class? And uses community college admissions standards as the trajectory for all of the required course sequences? I have heard a lot of rumblings about Common Core in the last year but mainly in the area of idiotic math worksheet questions. I haven't really paid attention because my kids go to private school and my state hasn't adopted Common Core (yet.)
Everyone should read this paper. It is chilling. Our schools are "racing to the top" of community college and almost every state is buying textbooks written to these standards. The ripple effect across education will be unavoidable.
Now David Coleman, the architect of Common Core, is rewriting the SAT to align it with Common Core. Lower level math, less abstruse vocabulary questions (too easy to prep!), more reading and construing "foundational documents." It's not clear what the SAT will test when all is said and done, but it may only show community college readiness.
Depressing. I think homeschooled kids are going to have a distinct educational advantage in the coming years.
