Factional warfare such as the Common Core debate is nothing new and has been seen throughout the 1900s in the field of education. It is important to understand the factions as each tries to convince parents and legislators of the superiority of its position.

The battle over the standards is a fierce one, argued Paul Slobodian in an opinion piece for NewsObserver. And the spoils of this war? Control over the significant public money spent in education. Today’s’ “Big Education” players are fully engaged: philanthropies, teachers unions, textbook publishers, testing firms and consultants.

Slobodian outlined four main factions at war: two on the progressive side (anti-capitalists and psychologists) and two on the conservative/traditionalist side (core knowledge advocates and structuralists).

He concluded: "Educational experts will often argue that they understand things and that the public just needs to leave it to them. Given the tattered history of reform movements in American education, we need to reject these pleas and stay fully involved."

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Article by Celine Provini, EducationWorld Editor