Two veteran teachers each with over thirty years experience are arguing for their state to cut the Common Core and restore the public's trust back in education, trust that they say has been lost because of misinformation and poor practices in relation to Common Core implementation.

Jean Jaykus and AnneMarie Surfaro-Boehme are two Connecticut teachers who believe that local Boards of Education need their power back to restore the public's faith in the education system.

In Connecticut we have many outstanding educational institutions, including universities, community colleges, technical education schools, magnet public schools, and many exemplary local public schools. By spending money on increased evaluations of teachers, and database tracking of our students, is Connecticut saying: Our teachers aren’t good enough? Our colleges don’t prepare teachers well? Principals aren’t qualified to evaluate their teachers? Our districts need to hire more coaches and evaluators because educators need more training?

In their opinion, Common Core has lost the interest of education and instead become a political war that "does not serve the interests of taxpayers and public education."

Because taxpayers are disenfranchised and oftentimes misinformed about their state's Common Core standards, the educators say the public's trust in education has been severed, creating a need for control to be put back in local government's hands.

"The public and parents indeed have been misled about Common Core, with insinuation and misinformation about opting out, the districts’ scores overall, and even its impact on college admission decisions. There has been so much time wasted on test preparation and so much confusion created because of these government mandates," they write.

They want to promote creativity for teachers in the classroom and give the school day flexibility once again with appropriate standards.

"Public Education is the foundation of our republic. It prepares us to participate in our democratic society and practice our constitutional freedoms of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Read their full post here and comment below.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

06/17/2015