At first glance the concept of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) makes a lot of sense. Supporters of the CCSS would argue that a student in 6th grade in Vermont should be able to transfer to 6th grade in California and pick up right where they left off at their old school. Who can argue with that? Uniform standards across the United States sounds like a WIN-WIN scenario!

One of the major arguments against CCSS is about the standards not being research based. The groups that worked on CCSS argue that these standards are based on research, but Bill Gates has gone on the record as stating that it will be ten years before we have enough research to know if these standards are working.

Bill Gates also stated that “identifying common standards is just the starting point. We’ll only know if this effort has succeeded when the curriculum and tests are aligned to these standards.” All school administrators claim that these are standards and not curriculum, but if the largest private donor to this effort is telling us that we won’t know if this is successful until the tests and curriculum are aligned it seems the schools don’t have much choice but to choose a curriculum that matches with the standards and assessments. I think this is a huge gamble to take with my children’s education!

Now in Iowa you don’t hear the standards referred to as the CCSS – they are the “Iowa Core.” As the development of the Iowa Core was under way, the development of the CCSS was also going on. In the summer of 2010, the Iowa Board of Education voted to merge the Iowa Core with the CCSS in exchange for the ability to apply for federal incentive money! By approving these standards, the Iowa Board of Education agreed to fully implement them by the 2014-2015 school year.

The Iowa Core has its own faults, but at least it was passed by the Iowa General Assembly and signed into law by former Governor Chet Culver. This is not the case with the CCSS being rolled into the Iowa Core. The Iowa State Board of Education just voted to roll the standards in with the Iowa Core. If the state is agreeing to a national standard then I really think that is something that the Iowa General Assembly should decide. The fact is we have laws to prevent the federal Department of Education from “directing, supervising, or controlling elementary and secondary school curriculum, programs of instruction, and instructional materials.” Yet, this is exactly what the CCSS do!

Originally 45 states and Washington, D.C., had adopted the CCSS. Since then, Oklahoma, Indiana, and South Carolina have withdrawn from the CCSS. We have to ask our elected officials to call for a review of the CCSS in the Iowa Core. The Iowa Legislature needs to review them and decide if we want that much intrusion from the federal Department of Education.

This is about doing what is right for our children. Being a parent and learning that it will be ten years before we know if these standards and curriculum are working is too chancy for me. My oldest daughter is in 5th grade and in ten years she will be done with school. So in ten years to learn this whole thing may not have worked is NOT acceptable. The policymakers are gambling with my child’s education and that of every other child currently in the educational system! Therefore it is imperative that parents, grandparents, business owners, educators, and taxpayers call for a review of the CCSS that were enfolded into the Iowa Core! We need an educated workforce, and in ten years we don’t want to find out we have less of an educated workforce than we did today! Being college and career ready is what this is supposed to be all about!

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Public Interest Institute. They are brought to you in the interest of a better informed citizenry.

Jennifer L. Crull is IT Specialist at the Public Interest Institute in Mt. Pleasant.