The Common Core State Standards have been lauded as one of the most revolutionary ways to close the achievement gaps in reading and math, make our country competitive in the world economy, and equalize the playing field for all of our students in public K-12 schools. The reality is much different from the promises. Teachers are burning out and leaving the profession, states are cutting already-too-low education budgets, and districts are closing school after school in mostly low-income neighborhoods. This is not how we achieve greatness. This is how we narrow our potential and crush dreams. The ultimate suffering goes to the children. Nielsen helps us see, through his deep understanding of how children learn, and by the childrens’ thoughts he shares, that so long as we seek the “right answers” we are hopelessly lost. The Common Core is built upon this fundamental error. He helps us back up and reconsider what it is that our children truly need. Ironically, Nielsen is doing the critical thinking that the Common Core falsely promised it would promote. But unlike the tests that come along to measure compliance with standards, this thinking leads us to question, to challenge, and ultimately to escape the limits of the standardized thinking that has entrapped our schools.
