"The development of the Common Core was funded almost entirely by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It was a rush job..."

"... and the final product ignored the needs of children with disabilities, English-language learners and those in the early grades. It’s no surprise that there has been widespread pushback. In 2009 President Obama announced Race to the Top, a competition for $4.35 billion in federal grant money. To qualify, states had to adopt 'college and career ready standards,' a requirement that was used to pressure them into adopting national standards. Almost every state applied, even before the specifics of the Common Core were released in June 2010. The federal government, states and school districts have spent billions of dollars to phase in the standards, to prepare students to take the tests and to buy the technology needed to administer them online. There is nothing to show for it.... Standardized tests are best at measuring family income. Well-off students usually score in the top half of results; students from poor homes usually score in the bottom.... If we really cared about improving the education of all students, we would give teachers the autonomy to tailor instruction to meet the needs of the children in front of them and to write their own tests...."

Writes Diane Ravitch, the historian of education who was assistant secretary of education in the Bush I administration.