NCLB Is ‘Voluntary,’ Too

Why the big concern about the Common Core? For many it’s about the quality of the standards, which is a topic well worth delving into. But the real problem is that -- continued protestations of supporters notwithstanding -- adopting the standards has been anything but truly voluntary, and they are very likely to lead to complete federal control of education.

First, the sham voluntarism of today. Did your state want federal Race to the Top money? It had to adopt the Common Core to be fully competitive. Did it want out of the irrational, failed, No Child Left Behind Act? It had to have signed on to the Common Core to have a decent chance. Oh, and the tests that will go with the Common Core? The consortia creating them were selected by the federal government, which is also paying the bills.

And here's something interesting: States didn't technically have to sign on to NCLB, either. They "volunteered" to take federal dough and got NCLB with it. So why don't you hear many people crowing that adopting NCLB was voluntary?

Because they know that it's almost impossible for state policymakers to turn down hundreds-of-millions of federal dollars. It looks like a whole lot of money to state citizens, and those citizens had no choice about paying the federal taxes from which the money came. So neither signing on to NCLB nor the Common Core were truly voluntary, and the only reason the nation has fallen slightly short of Common Core unanimity is that, unlike NCLB, neither Race to the Top money nor NCLB waivers were guaranteed for every state. Nonetheless, most found it impossible not to take a gamble.

That said, the biggest threat is down the line. With almost all states having adopted the Core, there's a huge chance that when Congress reauthorizes NCLB the Common Core -- and the federal tests to go with it -- will become the backbone of federal accountability, with schools rewarded or punished based on how they score on the tests. The rationale many policymakers will offer is easy to anticipate: "States have already signed on to shared standards, so it makes little sense not to base accountability on them." Classic slippery slope.

From the vantage point of Common Core supporters, that is actually the only outcome that makes sense. As Fordham Institute folks have complained on numerous occasions, the vast majority of states will not on their own raise standards and maintain strict accountability. But if states won't do it, the federal government – their boss -- must.

But even if Common Core supporters achieve that which is the logical end of national standards and testing -- federal control -- it almost certainly won't give them the educational outcomes they want.

Ultimately, the groups that have the most influence over any government policy are those most directly affected by it -- they are the most motivated to be politically involved -- and in education that's the teachers and administrators whose very livelihoods come from the system. And because they are normal human brings -- no better nor worse than the rest of us -- what they ideally want, and fight for, is as little accountability to others as possible. That’s why so few states have ever had much success with standards and testing, and why it's irrational to think that Washington will do any better. Indeed, at least to a limited extent states compete with each other for residents and businesses -- Washington doesn't face even that minimal upward pressure.

So what will the Common Core most likely get us? Red-tape driven federal control without rigorous standards and testing. It will also move us farther from the reform that actually makes sense: School choice for all, which would overcome disproportionate political power by forcing educators to respond to parents. And that's not all it would do. It would also give educators new freedom to employ different pedagogies and curricula; enable children with diverse interests and needs to link up with teachers specializing in them; and unleash crucial competition and innovation. It would, basically, stop ignoring the fundamental realities that all children are different, and no one actually knows what are the ultimate, "best" curricula.

Unfortunately, not only are we moving away from what we need, we're stuck fighting over what really isn't even a question: Adopting the Common Core hasn’t been truly voluntary at all.

C/P from the National Journal’s “Education Experts” blog.