How would you fix the education system in America? Is more testing and centralized standards the solution? Or should states have more say in setting goals for students?
At an education summit in New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidates outlined their vision to fix the elementary and secondary education system in America. A common theme among the GOP hopeful was how student achievement should be measured and how education standards should be set.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, whose support of Common Core education standards has put him at odds with his Republican competitors, said that testing standards should be driven by the states. “We have way too many standards. They’re not high. They’re not clear and transparent, and the net result is that we are un-tethered,” Bush said. “This should not be federally driven. The federal government should have nothing to say with this.”
Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina took aim at Common Core and the testing companies that influence what students are taught. “Common Core…is becoming a set of standards, not on what a kid has to learn, but instead on how a teacher has to teach and how a student should learn,” Fiorina said. “That kind of standardization is going to drive achievement down, not up.”