The Common Core: Where's the OTL?

By David G. Sciarra
Executive Director,  Education Law Center

Originally posted on National Journal Online

It bears repeating that “national” or “common” content standards alone, even if adopted and implemented by the states, are insufficient to improve educational quality and performance in public schools serving the nation’s high poverty, high minority communities, no matter how well written. The NJ Supreme Court in Abbott v. Burke said it best 12 years ago when state officials offered common standards without the resources needed to deliver them: “the standards themselves do not ensure any substantive level of achievement. Real improvement still depends on the sufficiency of educational resources, successful teaching, effective supervision, efficient administration, and a variety of other academic, environmental, and societal factors needed to assure a sound education.”

It’s heartening that the nation’s leading civil rights groups have now stepped up to offer a comprehensive blueprint for reform to provide all students the opportunity to learn, as a framework for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Click here for the framework