WHEELING, W.Va. — An opponent of the Common Core national education standards says students do not benefit from a uniform system of requirements that must be met everywhere.
“Taking more power away from individuals and from communities actually hurts education because it takes away the ability of people to manage their own affairs,” said Joy Pullmann, a journalist and Research Fellow at Heartland Institute.
Pullmann was a guest on Thursday’s MetroNews “Talkline” ahead of a scheduled talk to members of the West Liberty University Economics Club in Wheeling.
Her work has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Examiner and The Wheeling Standard among other publications. She was the 2013 recipient of the Robert Novak journalism scholarship for in-depth reporting on the Common Core national standards and has spoken nationally about the issue.
Pullmann, a former middle school and high school teacher, said she has two main issues with the Common Core standards and those issues start with academics.
“Common Core is really not a world class set of education mandates. It doesn’t really push kids to be internationally competitive, although it promises to,” she said. “The second one, of course, is the way that it’s put into place really takes away my voice as a citizen, as a parent, to be in the driver’s seat over what happens with my child’s education.”
Supporters of the Common Core State Standards have defended them as clear, consistent guidelines for what every student should know and be able to do in math and English language arts from kindergarten through 12th grade. The focus is on critical thinking, problem solving and analytical skills.
West Virginia is one of 43 states to adopt the Common Core State Standards.