Common Core Abstract: Common Core was developed by the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers. Control, choices in debate State school board member Mary Scott Hunter was not on the board when the standards were adopted, but she has been a vocal proponent of Common Core. Full text: Sept. 29--MONTGOMERY -- It is called Common Core. Yet despite the name, there is little common ground between those on opposite sides of the debate about Alabama's new education standards. The national benchmarks, designed to ensure Alabama students are learning the same concepts in the same grades as students anywhere else in the country, were adopted by the state's elected Board of Education in 2010. Since that time, and with increasing frequency, board members and state Superintendent Tommy Bice have had to defend the standards from those who say anything to do with Common Core amounts to a federal takeover of schools and is not good for students. Implementation of the math standards started last year. English begins this year. Alabama Board of Education member Charles Elliott, R-Decatur, said he has heard nothing but good things from educators in his district about Common Core. "Everyone's said they were an improvement, and even in the some of the best schools, they were going to have to do a better job of teaching students," said Elliott, who does not plan to seek re-election in 2014. "I've spoken with a majority of the superintendents in the 6th District, and they've said we can't go back. They say if we were forced to generate our own standards, we would seek out these Common Core standards." But opponents, including many tea party organizations, continue to demand change. Some lawmakers are listening. Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, promises to introduce a bill next year to repeal Common Core. "It's an unproven curriculum," Beason said. "They can't point to anywhere in the world that it's been successful. You wouldn't buy an electronic device no one had tried. Why would you buy an education system that no one's tested?" He disagrees with educators who say there still is local control of curriculum. "If we're still in such control, why don't they just get out of it?" Beason said. "Why don't they just take the parts they like and get out of it?" Elliott said a lot of misinformation about Common Core continues to be circulated, and he'll continue to listen to educators. "With all due respect to the tea party, they are really good Americans, but am I going to listen to teachers and principals or am I going to listen to the tea party?" he said. Here's a look at Common Core in Alabama. Common Core history The state Board of Education, including then-Gov. Bob Riley, approved the adoption of Common Core State Standards along with selected Alabama standards in November 2010. They were not referred to as Common Core, though. Instead, they were approved under the name "Alabama College and Career Ready Initiative." In its literature,.

1. Common Core
Abstract:
Common Core was developed by the National Governors
Association and Council of Chief State School Officers.
Control, choices in debate State school board member Mary
Scott Hunter was not on the board when the standards were
adopted, but she has been a vocal proponent of Common Core.
Full text:
Sept. 29--MONTGOMERY -- It is called Common Core. Yet
despite the name, there is little common ground between those
on opposite sides of the debate about Alabama's new education
standards.
The national benchmarks, designed to ensure Alabama students
are learning the same concepts in the same grades as students
anywhere else in the country, were adopted by the state's
elected Board of Education in 2010.
Since that time, and with increasing frequency, board members
and state Superintendent Tommy Bice have had to defend the
standards from those who say anything to do with Common
Core amounts to a federal takeover of schools and is not good
for students.
Implementation of the math standards started last year. English
begins this year.
Alabama Board of Education member Charles Elliott, R-
Decatur, said he has heard nothing but good things from
educators in his district about Common Core.
"Everyone's said they were an improvement, and even in the
some of the best schools, they were going to have to do a better
job of teaching students," said Elliott, who does not plan to seek
re-election in 2014. "I've spoken with a majority of the
superintendents in the 6th District, and they've said we can't go
back. They say if we were forced to generate our own standards,
we would seek out these Common Core standards."

2. But opponents, including many tea party organizations, continue
to demand change. Some lawmakers are listening. Sen. Scott
Beason, R-Gardendale, promises to introduce a bill next year to
repeal Common Core.
"It's an unproven curriculum," Beason said. "They can't point to
anywhere in the world that it's been successful. You wouldn't
buy an electronic device no one had tried. Why would you buy
an education system that no one's tested?"
He disagrees with educators who say there still is local control
of curriculum.
"If we're still in such control, why don't they just get out of it?"
Beason said. "Why don't they just take the parts they like and
get out of it?"
Elliott said a lot of misinformation about Common Core
continues to be circulated, and he'll continue to listen to
educators.
"With all due respect to the tea party, they are really good
Americans, but am I going to listen to teachers and principals or
am I going to listen to the tea party?" he said.
Here's a look at Common Core in Alabama.
Common Core history
The state Board of Education, including then-Gov. Bob Riley,
approved the adoption of Common Core State Standards along
with selected Alabama standards in November 2010. They were
not referred to as Common Core, though. Instead, they were
approved under the name "Alabama College and Career Ready
Initiative."
In its literature, the U.S. Department of Education tries to make
clear the standards always have been a state-led effort. It states
the federal government did not play a role in the development of
the standards, and it is not playing a role in implementation. It
also is careful not to call the standards a curriculum.
Curriculum still is up to local districts.
Common Core was developed by the National Governors
Association and Council of Chief State School Officers. Some
federal grant money has been tied to it, but Alabama hasn't

3. received federal money related to the standards.
Yet, federal influence in local schools is high on opponents' list
of things they dislike about Common Core.
"I am opposed to federal control of our education system," Gov.
Robert Bentley said last week. "I'm opposed to Common Core
because of the potential for federal intrusion. We want the
absolute highest standards for Alabama, and I believe we can do
this. I believe Alabama should set our own high standards,
without intrusion from the federal government."
Bentley was governor-elect when the board voted on Common
Core, and he asked it to wait until he could have a say. Board
members chose to proceed before the new governor took office.
Control, choices in debate
State school board member Mary Scott Hunter was not on the
board when the standards were adopted, but she has been a
vocal proponent of Common Core.
"The Alabama standards define what students should know at
each grade level, and they are more rigorous and focused than
our previous standards," said Hunter, a Huntsville Republican.
"The federal government does not govern or control the
Alabama standards. Under the Alabama standards, curriculum,
textbooks and required reading are determined at the local
school district level, as they always have been."
Opponents want standards that are 100 percent made in
Alabama.
"Instead of subjecting students to this giant experiment, let's
write our own standards that are superior to Common Core,"
said Elois Zeanah, president of the Alabama Federation of
Republican Women. "You're going to hear from people who
want to force Common Core on schools and students say these
are Alabama standards, not Common Core. That is
disingenuous. Alabama did not write Common Core. It is
copyrighted by outside organizations."
The standards weren't birthed here, but they were modified here,
Bice said.
"If we go back to facts, stay with facts, which I've done all

4. along, we had a group of Alabama teachers and Alabama
administrators look at the Common Core and look at our current
standards," Bice said.
He said the group assembled the best standards from each and
brought them to the state school board.
One of the things Elliott said he hears often about Common
Core is that it takes away schools' choice in what they put in
front of their students and the message it tries to impart.
"I've had people tell me that schools are going to use "Three
Little Pigs" to teach socialism," Elliott said. "I said, 'You're
killing me.' "
Local school systems are still deciding how students will be
taught and from what materials. There are no mandated
textbooks or reading lists, but there is a list of national
"exemplars."
What has changed?
Jeremy Zelkowski is a high school math teacher turned
professor at the University of Alabama. Recently, he and two
other professors have been reviewing the new standards with
high school teachers in several west Alabama school systems.
"The difference is there is a higher level of expectation,"
Zelkowski said. "That's really what Common Core does: It
raises expectations. The old course of study only expected
student understanding at a basic skills level. The new course of
study expects students to be at a proficient skills level and have
a deeper understanding of the curriculum."
Students can't get by with just retaining information long
enough to regurgitate it on an exam, proponents said.
"In the previous way, they could know enough to pass the test
and move on, but not take any real knowledge with them,"
Zelkowski said.
That could, in part, explain why 36 percent of Alabama public
high school graduates in 2012 needed remedial math and/or
English courses when they got to college.
"They've learned little at the high school level," he said.
Zelkowski agrees education in the U.S. and Alabama has

5. improved in the past 20 years without Common Core, but "just
not at a rate that would make us internationally competitive."
Beason said that's not the fault of the state's previous
benchmarks.
"Our problem is not that we didn't have standards. The problem
is that we didn't have a focus on meeting our standards," Beason
said.
Reaction elsewhere
Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have adopted
Common Core standards. But many are having the same fight
that is playing out in Alabama. Some recent examples reported
by the Associated Press include:
--Last week, Wisconsin's Republican-controlled Legislature
responded to pressure from tea party conservatives who have
called for a "full and immediate investigation" into the
standards. Gov. Scott Walker said he supports holding hearings
and identifying more rigorous standards than those in Common
Core.
--Similarly, in Florida, Republican Gov. Rick Scott said he
wants the standards studied further, and his state will not
participate in national testing related to Common Core.
--In Louisiana last week, a Republican lawmaker urged the
governor to pull the state out of Common Core participation or
he'd have a bill next year to do so.
--Earlier this month, lawmakers in Tennessee held a hearing to
listen to concerns about the standards and hinted to legislation
changing that state's use of them in 2014.
--In Michigan on Thursday, the state House voted to move
forward with the standards, which are backed by the Republican
governor and the business community.
Common Core's cost
The state Department of Education doesn't have a total price tag
for putting the Alabama Career and College Ready Initiative in
every classroom in the state.
A 2012 chart shows the development of the standards cost less
than previous years' standards: $128,000 compared to $228,000

6. for the English standards.
The Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based think tank, said in 2012
that Common Core would cost all 45 states about $15.8 billion
during seven years. A large chunk of that came from technology
improvements and professional development.
But Sen. Dick Brewbaker, chairman of the Senate education
policy committee who opposed Common Core in the 2013
legislation session, said he hasn't seen any cost estimates he
trusts enough to repeat.
It's hard to determine whether money used for technology or
textbooks related to Common Core would be used for new
technology or textbooks under a different course of study.
Info gathering, sharing
Next month, the state board will vote on a student data privacy
policy that states, among other things, "no personally
identifiable individual student data is shared in either state or
federally required reporting."
Privacy issues have been a major point of contention in
Common Core. Earlier this year, at least seven states were
sharing student data -- including names, dates of birth and
sometimes Social Security numbers -- with third parties.
That's not happening, and won't happen, in Alabama, Bice said.
He added nothing about student data collection has changed
since 2010.
Zelkowski said data gathering, especially on students'
performances, has been going on for decades.
"We've been doing that since the '70s," he said. "That exists.
I've analyzed that information. You don't see names; you see
12-digit numbers."
Testing options
Two different groups are developing standardized tests to go
along with Common Core. The Washington Post has reported
$360 million in federal money is being spent on the tests.
While some states have signed on for the testing, Alabama did
not. It won't be doing additional testing related to the standards,
officials said. The state, however, will use new Common Core-

7. aligned tests from ACT Inc. to assess students.
Poppycock or good business?
Leaders at Redstone Arsenal have asked the state to keep the
standards, saying they ensure military families they won't have
to deal with varying standards and expectations if they move to
Alabama. They add the standards will help them attract the best
possible workforce.
Business advocates, including the Business Council of Alabama,
have said the standards make the state more attractive to
prospective employers.
Beason and other opponents quickly dismiss that argument.
"That's poppycock and they know it," Beason said. "People who
want to do business in your state care that you have an educated
workforce, and we've done very well at recruiting business the
last 20 years."