Though the developers and supporters of the Common Core standards have repeatedly said the purpose of the controversial education initiative is to close the achievement gap between low-income black and Hispanic and white middle-class students, an online Hispanic publication doubts that may happen.
John Benson of Hispanic media site Voxxi, writes, “If some early reports on the controversial Common Core Standards are an indication, Hispanic students in the U.S. are falling behind on the very curriculum that was intended to help them achieve higher proficiency in school.”
Voxxi cites the New York State report of its recent Common Core-aligned test scores that show only 23 percent of Latinos are proficient in math, while 19 percent are proficient in English.
“Kentucky is the other state that is utilizing the Common Core Standards, but results from last year’s school year aren’t yet available,” states Voxxi. “Expectations are the achievement gap between Latinos and whites will remain high.”
However, according to Peggy McLeod, National Council of La Raza deputy vice president of Education and Workforce Development, the anticipated effects of the Common Core on closing the achievement gap are long-term and cannot be judged by current scores on Common Core-aligned tests.
“It’s not the Common Core they’re having issues with, it’s the implementation of the Common Core,” McLeod told Voxxi. “The standards are good, they’re high standards. If implemented correctly, kids will be college and career ready. It’s just a matter of providing a robust implementation and strategies specific to Latino kids who might need additional language support.”
“When you look at performance, it will all even out if districts and schools provide appropriate services and provide good high-quality instruction,” McLeod continued. “You can’t put responsibility on Latino kids or their parents.”
According to Common Core patron Bill Gates and the so-called “architect” of Common Core David Coleman, the true purpose of the nationalized standards is to correct what is viewed by liberal political, education, and corporate elitists as societal injustices largely toward Hispanic and black students.
As Breitbart News reported in June, an interview with the Washington Post summarized how Bill Gates pulled off the very “swift Common Core revolution.” The Microsoft founder stated, “The country as a whole has a huge problem that low-income kids get less good education than suburban kids get… and that is a huge challenge.”
Gates’ statement underscored the notion that the Common Core standards initiative is a social engineering project that places education standards and testing ahead of parental and family influences as the major cause of poor student performance in low-income and minority communities.
LaRaza’s McLeod’s statement, “You can’t put responsibility on Latino kids or their parents,” counters the notion of self-responsibility.
Similarly Coleman, now the College Board president, praised the collection of student data via the Common Core standards initiative at a conference in 2013, as a vehicle to reach the “low-hanging fruit,” or low-income and Latino students.
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