The Legal Aspects of the Common Core Standards, Race to the Top, and Conditional Waivers Despite three federal laws that prohibit the federal government from directing, supervising or controlling elementary and secondary school curricula, programs of instruction and instructional materials, the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) has placed the nation on the road to a national curriculum, according to a new Pioneer report written by Robert S. Eitel and Kent D. Talbert, two former counsels general to the USDOE. By using their adoption as a condition for states to receive grants under its Race to the Top Fund and the Race to the Top Assessment Program, the USDOEhas accelerated the implementation of so- called Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts and mathematics and the development of common assessments based on the standards. One of the two consortia of states currently developing assessments based on Common Core has even stated directly that it intends to use these federal funds to support curriculum materials and to create a “model curriculum” and instructional materials “aligned with the CCSS.” The USDOEhas used conditions attached to waivers from the accountability provisions included in the No Child Left Behind law to cement state adoption of Common Core and membership in one of the two assessment consortia. The Secretary of Education has the power to grant waivers, but not to attach to them conditions contrary to federal law. By accepting the conditions, states will be indefinitely bound to the Common Core standards and assessments. The result isa de facto national curriculum and instructional materials effectively supervised, directed, or controlled by the USDOE.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 10:59:15 +0000
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