Congressman Collins Holds Telephone Town Hall on Common Core
Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27) talked to parents about Common Core today as part of a district-wide telephone town hall meeting. The new educational standards are currently being implemented in New York State. Common Core is widely criticized for forcing students to learn skills necessary to perform well on tests as opposed to actually learning critical material.
Thousands of NY-27 constituents participated in the town hall to learn more about Common Core and voice their concerns about how the new standards are impacting their children.
“There are few issues as important to the future of our country as the education of our children,” said Congressman Collins. “Unfortunately, in today’s world, too many of the decisions surrounding our children’s education are being made by government bureaucrats far removed from the classroom. I believe strongly that parents, teachers and local school leaders know what is best for our children. Common Core is a typical one-size-fits-all approach generated by big government bureaucrats.”
New York State adopted Common Core standards in 2010. Across the country, 45 states have begun Common Core implementation, but recently ten states, including Massachusetts, have started to rethink or delay their participation over growing concerns from parents, educators and students themselves. States were incentivized to participate in Common Core by the federal government through grant money available as part of the American Recovery and Restoration Act (federal stimulus).
During the telephone town hall, parents voiced concerns about the student testing standards, mandated curriculum, and teacher/school evaluations tied to test results as dictated by Common Core. Joining Collins for the town hall was Neal McCluskey, Associate Director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom.
“We should all want our children to be college or career ready following high school graduation and we should be willing to raise our standards to achieve that goal,” continued Collins. “But Common Core is about churning out students as test takers, not inquisitive students excited about learning.
By forcing students to spend their K-12 years arduously focused on test talking, we will never develop our next generation of leaders, educators and entrepreneurs. That is sad for our children and our country.”
Collins continued to urge parents and educators to raise awareness of Common Core and push for changes to its implementation, if not full repeal. Parents with questions about Common Core are encouraged to contact Congressman Collins’ office.