Heritage Education Review: Informational Texts Replacing Classic Literature

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IN THIS EDITION

What to Watch An Indiana legislator wants to end the state's participation in the Common Core standards. Number of the Week Education Savings Accounts are making school choice possible in Arizona. Quote of the Week The morality of school choice. Don't Miss Common Core standards are challenging the liberal arts in schools.

Why All the Cool Kids Are Reading Executive Order 13423 By Lindsey Burke A war of words is brewing. But this one doesn’t involve slinging insults. It’s a battle over what forms of writing – novels, poems, and non-fiction – will define English instruction for millions of American schoolchildren in the years to come. Sparking this war is the Common Core standards push – an effort to nationalize the standards and assessments upon which every public school in America would base its curriculum. The Obama administration has poured billions of dollars into the effort via federal “Race to the Top” grants. As always when it comes to federal largesse, there are strings attached. And in this case, it’s pulling the rug out from under classic literature. Literacy experts point out that The Common Core denigrates the value of teaching literature in the classroom. Instead, English teachers are being told that 50 percent of their course material must be derived from “informational texts.” DISCOVER WHAT IS INCLUDED ON THE COMMON CORE READING LIST. >> What To Watch Indiana Lawmaker Seeks to Pull Out of Common Core Initiative Sen. Scott Schneider of Indianapolis calls for ending Indiana's participation in the national Common Core Standards.

Number of the Week 200,000 Arizona school children will be eligible for school choice through Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) this fall, thanks to a law passed earlier to expand the program to students in underperforming public schools.   ESAs are an innovative approach to school choice that provides the maximum level of flexibility for educational opportunity.   See "Expansion of State's School Voucher System Takes Effect Today" The Arizona Republic   Quote of the Week “It is immoral to say to any parent or student you must go to a poor-performing school because that is the school in your ZIP code. That is not acceptable.” – Dan Patrick, Chairman of the Texas Senate Education Committee

Don’t Miss Common Core “A Rotten Apple for Education” “The Common Core's clear preference for workforce-oriented reading matter is stirring the ire of academics across the political spectrum who perceive all this as an assault on the liberal arts,” writes Heartland Institute’s Robert Holland in the Orange County Register. National School Choice Week is planning “the first-ever nationwide, whistle-stop train tour in support of school choice.” Check it out here!

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