MANASSAS, Va – In a Breitbart.com article yesterday, featuring The Cardinal Newman Society’s Catholic Is Our Core project to address concerns about the controversial Common Core State Standards, Newman Society President Patrick Reilly said the organization wants to give parents and educators the information they need to understand the Common Core.

Reporter Dr. Susan Berry asked why some Catholic educators have so quickly followed their states’ public schools in embracing the controversial Common Core:

“There’s a foundation of trust built among Catholic educators and the states,” Reilly said. “Many Catholic schools have, for years, accepted broad state standards and continued to excel over the public schools. This has coincided with a renewed emphasis on Catholic identity in our schools.”

“The Common Core is different,” however, Reilly stated.

“It is national and monopolistic, untested, inconsistent with the classical foundations of Catholic education, vulnerable to political pressures through federal funding, squeezes out innovation and diversity, and induces Catholic educators to emphasize workplace skills over students’ spiritual and intellectual formation.”

Asked why Catholic school parents have not been as involved in the Common Core debate, Reilly said, “From our perspective, it was Catholic parents who got us involved. We have been hearing from parents who are concerned that Catholic schools retain their distinctive identity and mission.”

“But they lack information; they feel powerless to exercise their proper authority over the education of their children, when the Common Core has come on so quickly and parents – as well as teachers, principals and even bishops – need more time to assess what the changes mean for Catholic schools.”

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Authored by CNS Staff – Cardinal Newman Society