Republicans who designed Common Core say public has been misled

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

Five Republican former governors who supported the Common Core from its creation during the Bush administration said Wednesday that disinformation from conservatives threatened to highjack the higher standards for what students should be able to accomplish in each grade.

“I’m a believer that facts ultimately prevail among most reasonable people,” said former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, who helped lead the development of the standards and continues to support them. “I think it’s incumbent on us to speak out and defeat rumors and innuendo and allegations with facts about how the Common Core began, what its purpose is and how we believe it can be positive for American society.”

... The federal government wasn’t involved in developing the standards. The Obama administration later gave states credit for adopting higher standards in its Race to the Top grants program.

That was a mistake, said former Michigan Gov. John Engler, now president of the Business Roundtable, an organization of CEOs who promote economic growth. But Obama had nothing to do with developing the standards, he said.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/05/21/228107/republicans-who-designed-common.html