For now, the Common Core applies only to public schools in the 45 states that have adopted it. Federal law, under 20 U.S.C. \u00a7 7886, prohibits any federal education mandates from applying to private schools that do not receive federal funds or homeschools.<\/p>\n
However, there is no such protection for families who have enrolled their children in programs that receive federal funds, especially those who are using virtual charter schools that are run through the local public school for their home education.<\/p>\n
Though the specific provisions of the Common Core only directly bind public schools, it is reasonably predictable that private schools that accept federal funding (through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, for example) may face a decision between foregoing federal funding and accepting the Common Core standards in the near future. Moreover, President Obama intends to condition funding from Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act on states\u2019 agreement to follow common standards \u201cdeveloped by a state-led consortium.\u201d<\/a>1<\/strong>\u00a0There is no reason to expect that private schools who receive Title I funding would not have to agree to this mandate.<\/p>\n The current impact of the Common Core on home and private education is revealed in the expanding state longitudinal databases, shifting college admissions expectations, newly updated curricula, and revised standardized tests. All these are fulfilling education historian Diane Ravitch\u2019s prediction that \u201cno one will escape [the Common Core\u2019s] reach, whether they attend public or private school.\u201d<\/a>2<\/strong><\/p>\n <p “=””>Downloaded fromhttp:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/110361334\/Data-Data-Everywhere-CCSSO-Presentation-at-National-Conference-on-Student-Assessment<\/a>\u00a0. Copyright attribution non-commercial. Posting does not imply endorsement.<\/div>\n Perhaps the most immediate threat to homeschool and private school students is the expansion of statewide longitudinal databases. The designers of the new systems fully intend for homeschool and private school students to be part of the massive data collection. At the National Conference on Student Assessment in 2011, officials from Oklahoma explained to CCSSO how the challenge of meeting the data requirements of federal and state education policies are motivating them to \u201cInclude student groups not now included (e.g., home-schooled) in the data system.\u201d<\/a>3<\/strong><\/p>\n In light of the growing revelations that the government is engaging in massive invasion of privacy in spheres other than education, it is utterly impossible to believe that these databases will not be mined and misused to serve the ulterior purposes of a centralized government intent on growing its own power.<\/p>\n Apart from the databases, we fear that the Common Core will eventually impact homeschool and private school students by affecting college admissions standards. Institutions of higher education are being pressured to adapt their standards for college readiness to the Common Core standards. The National Governors Association, instrumental in writing the Common Core, compiled a guide for states to use while implementing the Common Core. The document emphasizes that the Common Core standards for college readiness will be used by institutions of higher learning to determine whether a student is ready to enroll in a postsecondary course.<\/a>4<\/strong>\u00a0Achieve, one of the main organizations evaluating the Common Core, even exhorts institutions of higher education to revise their curricula to create \u201cseamless transitions\u201d from K\u201312 to postsecondary schools.<\/a>5<\/strong><\/p>\n The final area of concern for homeschoolers is that national and other popular standardized tests across the country are being rewritten to be aligned to the Common Core. David Coleman, the president of the College Board, was one of the primary authors of the Common Core English language arts standards. He has announced that the SAT will be redesigned to fully implement the Common Core.<\/a>6<\/strong>\u00a0Questions are being added to the ACT to reflect the Common Core\u2019s emphasis on tracing ideas through multiple texts and increased focus on statistics. The ACT will also contain optional open-ended questions to assess students\u2019 ability to explain and support their claims.<\/a>7<\/strong>\u00a0The latest version of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills is based on the Common Core.<\/a>8<\/strong>\u00a0The GED has been redesigned for the first time since 2002 to incorporate \u201cpractices and skills from the Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice.\u201d<\/a>9<\/strong>\u00a0Writers of the GED explain that they decided to revise the test now because \u201cThe shift to the Common Core standards is happening nationwide at the current time.\u201d<\/a>10<\/strong><\/p>\n The alignment of standardized tests with the Common Core may not seem alarming, because homeschool students consistently score much higher on standardized assessments than public school students. However, as information about the content of newly designed curriculum begins to surface, it is becoming clear that the Common Core\u2019s focus on informational texts makes it easy to accentuate particular schools of thought. For example, English language arts curriculum in Utah inculcates the welfare-state mentality and characterizes a parent\u2019s directions as \u201cnagging.\u201d<\/a>11<\/strong>\u00a0Students taking the SAT, ACT, or the Iowa Tests could soon encounter progressive ideologies including social engineering and alternative lifestyles.<\/p>\nFootnote 3<\/h2>\n
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<\/a>Click to enlarge<\/p>\n<\/div>\n