TNTP’s Tim Daly says both major teachers unions are now undermining Common Core.
“This has everything to do with politics and job protection.”
Strong stuff but he’s giving voice to what a lot of people are saying behind the scenes (and something the Whiteboard Education Insider survey is picking up), which is why this is a must-read. What’s not clear yet is whether we’re seeing a genuine pivot in how people view the teachers unions and what’s possible or a temporary setback in an ongoing relationship. Too soon too tell and Tim ascribes a posture to the administration that I’d argue is too strong – especially in an election year. But there is definitely a Lucy and the football quality to how reformers and the Common Core coalition feel about what’s happening.
One irony worth pointing out is that many teachers understandably want to see the current publishing and assessment industry disrupted. Union leaders claim to want that, too, though at the national level they’re a lot more cozy with big commercial interests in education than their rhetoric lets on. But Common Core with both its commonality and curricular flexibility offers arguably* the best chance to reshape that marketplace and allow new and smaller providers to compete. A lot of Common Core critics seem not to get that Common Core going down isn’t bad for the commercial status quo in education. On the contrary, it would bolster a lot of today’s problems and vested interests.
*School choice proponents would disagree!
