Friday, March 29, 2024

FLASHBACK Common Core Report Card: Where Do the GOP Candidates Stand?

Now that the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire Primary are over and several candidates have dropped out, it’s time to recap – how is Common Core doing?

Last August, American Principles Project, Cornerstone Policy Research, and ThePulse2016.com released a Common Core report card that graded each GOP candidate on their records and statements about education.

That report card can be found here.

Below are the grades for the GOP candidates still in the race, along with comments from August’s report card by Emmett McGroarty, Director of Education at American Principles Project and contributor to The Pulse 2016:

Ted Cruz: A-

  • “On the stump, Cruz has consistently called for the ‘repeal’ of the Common Core Standards and for the return of educational control to the state and to the local level.”

Donald Trump: B-

  • “Trump has struck a chord with the Republican base, something many would have thought unlikely a year ago. Citizens view him as having the courage and will to stand and fight, something that many GOP candidates have seemed to lack in years past.”

Ben Carson: B-

  • “As a non-office-holder, Carson is pretty much limited to speaking on the issues. He says the right things but has given no indication of a deep understanding of Common Core or the attendant problems.”

Marco Rubio: C

  • “Sen. Marco Rubio has spoken strongly against Common Core and wrote a letter to Secretary Duncan in 2011 questioning the legality of using federal No Child Left Behind waivers to drive policy changes, like the adoption of Common Core, in the states… It is troubling that Rubio advocates a limited role for government in the activities of the American people, yet fails to see the problem with the government tracking and collecting data on all citizens.”

Jeb Bush: F

  • “Gov. Bush is perhaps the most outspoken supporter of the Common Core Standards in the 2016 field… He has propagated the false narrative that the Common Core standards are merely learning goals and are of high quality. He has turned a blind eye to the reasons underlying opposition to Common Core and instead used straw-man arguments to dismiss opponents as relying on ‘Alice-in-Wonderland logic.’”

John Kasich: F

  • ”Kasich is an unapologetic cheerleader for the Common Core. His only response to the large and active anti-Common Core grassroots operation in Ohio is to make fun of them.”

Jon Schweppe is Deputy Director of Communications for the American Principles Project.

More From The Pulse