Over the years, students have resorted to all kinds of chicanery as a means of concealing bad grades from their parents. Intercepting report cards in the mail has long been a reliable standby, along with the artful application of X-Acto knives, whiteout, and copy machines. But major publishers are soon going to have to unearth some new methods to screen their own poor performance from concerned eyes: EdReports, which tests the putative alignment of instructional materials to the Common Core standards, released a new round of textbook assessments last week, and the results are too putrid to hide. The organization found that four textbook series released by McGraw-Hill, the Center for Mathematics and Teaching, and the College Board only intermittently met its expectations for alignment with the standards. It’s hardly a surprising revelation, given the abysmal record of industry leaders when it comes to producing materials of rigor and coherence. The only question now is how soon presidential candidates will start blaming Common Core itself for the mess.
As the Republican field has narrowed, we bade a fond “Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya” to former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. You may remember him from such films as The State of the Union Response is a Thankless Nightmare and Don’t Run for President When Your Approval Rating is Below Your Mortgage APR. But reformers will always be grateful to Governor Kenneth for the Marie Antoinette-level frivolity of his anti-Common Core lawsuit. As of this month, however, the Pelican State is officially down one unwinnable court case, as new Governor John Bel Edwards and Attorney General Jeff Landry raced one another to drop Jindal’s folly. (But take comfort, trial lawyers: The executive counsel working on the lawsuit still pocketed nearly half a million dollars in taxpayer funds for his trouble.) Just one more reason to be grateful that elections have consequences.
The American people were reminded of that very same axiom this week by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the conservative court’s master visionary. His untimely departure from the national scene raises any number of political questions that will have to be resolved over the coming months by President Obama and his tormentors in the Senate’s Republican majority—or perhaps by his successor (and theirs). In the meantime, the 4-4 liberal/conservative split occasioned by Scalia’s demise will produce a raft of tie votes on issues ranging from the environment to abortion to congressional representation. The most noteworthy effect for education observers will likely be on Friedrichs v. California Teachers’ Association, a case that had the potential to prohibit “agency fees” and effectively cripple public employee unions. In the absence of a ruling from the Roberts court (which had looked ready to decide in favor of the plaintiffs during oral arguments), an earlier pro-union ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will stand. Barring an extremely surprising development, that means we should probably get comfortable with the status quo, at least for a while.
In case you’re curious about what America would look like if a certain real estate mogul qua jester tyrant were to win the 2016 presidential election, give some attention to Maine Governor Paul LePage, who has drawn nationwide jeers as a sort of mini-Trump (Trumplet?). The race-baitin’, refugee-hatin’, impeachment-facin’ LePage would make for great television if his bumbling weren’t impacting the lives of actual people (two-thirds of whom never even voted for him). Now the governor is applying his great talents to education, proposing to name himself Maine’s next education commissioner rather than allow Democrats in the state legislature to torpedo the candidate he’d already nominated for the role. This isn’t the first time LePage has meddled in Vacationland schools; in 2015, he threatened to cut state funding from a charter school if it didn’t rescind an employment offer to one of his political opponents. If he makes good on his latest threat, the nation’s worst governor will also become its worst chief state school officer overnight.
