Putting all hyperbole and conspiracy theories aside, the concern I have about Common Core is not so much the mission as the means. Common Core, as No Child Left Behind, makes narrow assumptions established upon standard assessments that are rigid, culturally biased and limited in scope. Consequently, instead of expanding our curriculum as the rest of the world has done, Common Core encourages us to restrict the curriculum to criterion the tests can accurately measure.

It creates an opportunity for educational institutions to game the system by patterning instruction to a predictable pattern of test material. It inhibits classroom innovation and creates a cookie cutter, rote application to instruction that has already reduced our schools to a level of mediocrity.

Most critically, this preoccupation with assessment diminishes the instructional time-on-task. It diverts school resources away from upgrades in material, technology, teacher training and alternative educational strategies for struggling students and into the coffers of the burgeoning assessment industry. Once again, Common Core shares the same fatal flaw of its predecessor in that it has no mandate to impose meaningful sanctions against failing schools.

As a retired special education teacher, I can appreciate the impact that standardized testing has had to our knowledge base, planning and school reform. Yet, if it significantly subtracts from active instruction, inhibits the broadening of the curriculum, and inevitably creates a distorted understanding of our educational system, I find it to be counter-productive to our mission to improve our schools.

John M. Flagler, Alfred