Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 292
•
Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-4758-1427-9 • Hardback • July 2015 • $114.00 • (£88.00)
978-1-4758-1428-6 • Paperback • July 2015 • $59.00 • (£45.00)
978-1-4758-1429-3 • eBook • July 2015 • $56.00 • (£43.00)
Dr. Ernie Zarra is a life-long educator, is married to his wife Suzi, and has two adult children. Ernie has authored three books, more than a dozen journal articles, and presented at numerous professional education conferences and community gatherings.
List of Tables
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Seeds of the Common Core
Chapter 2: Assessments: The Impetus for Change
Chapter 3: Preparing 21st Century College and Career Ready Students
Chapter 4: Follow the Funding: Common Core Creation to Implementation
Chapter 5: The Core of the Core
Chapter 6: The Common Core Standards
Chapter 7: Common Core Myths, Facts, and Realities
Chapter 8: Common Core Considerations, Constituencies, and Competition
About the Author
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are the latest educational reform intended to ‘save’ K-12 education in the US. Zarra examines some of the politically motivated reasons the CCSS were promulgated and how certain interested corporate groups have sought to influence K-12 education for their own benefit. The book examines the origins of Common Core; how assessments have spurred the calls for change; what is necessary to prepare 21st-century students for college or careers; the funding behind the Common Core initiative; the economic incentives given to states that adopted the CCSS; the CCSS standards themselves; CCSS myths, facts, and realities; and CCSS considerations, constituencies, and competition. Zarra is convincing in arguing for the need to understand CCSS's failure to improve children’s educational paths, especially as the US Congress is considering the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Providing a balanced and nuanced overview of the CCSS, this [is a] thoughtful, well-written study. . . .Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals; general readers.
— Choice
• Winner, Choice Outstanding Academic Title (2016)