By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

NEW YORK – The new national learning standards in English and math – known as Common Core – are causing unease among many Americans, including American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.

In a speech on Tuesday, Weingarten called for a “moratorium” on any consequences that teachers might face if their students perform poorly on new Common Core-related standardized tests, reports New York Daily News.

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She argues that the new standards are still being taught to teachers and implemented in classrooms throughout the nation.  Weingarten believes it would be unfair to evaluate teachers based on Common Core test scores until the system is fully in place and proves to be worthwhile.

Teachers’ overall job evaluations will be linked to the new tests, which “are designed to test students for a deeper understanding of subjects and hold them to higher standards,” New York Daily News reports.

Some observers expect students’ test scores to drop by as much as a third.

City school leaders scoff at Weingarten’s request for a free pass for teachers, and say they have spent $125 million to prepare educators for the new tests.

“This is about a special interest that doesn’t want this to happen because of a fear for their jobs,” said Andrew Kirtzman, senior advisor to city Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, according to the paper.

We can understand Kirtzman’s position. Schools across the nation are trying to make teachers more accountable for their job performance. Weingarten and her union crowd undoubtedly prefer the old days, when all teachers were considered great, regardless of how little their students learned.

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Accountability has to begin somewhere.

But there is increasing concern about Common Core that goes beyond union leaders. A growing number of Americans are wondering if the national learning standards are a backdoor approach to the eventual nationalization of public education.

EAGnews will examine those concerns with a series of reports beginning next week.