Common Core Standards

My doctorate studies have reconnected me with my progressive roots.  I am more skeptical than ever of standards based reform and high-stakes assessment data.  I knew this in the late 1990s.  When I founded my charter school in 2000 I remember our teachers asking me about the standards.  I dismissed them.  I wanted them to design curricula relevant to the students and aimed at challenging students to think critically.  I was confident this would lead to high test scores.  It didn't.  Our test results stunk.  So we revised our curriculum to align with state standards.  We even designed a benchmark assessment system to more tightly align our curriculum to the standards.  Our test results rose dramatically and remained high.  We were deemed a success by the elites.  If not for our greater mission of educating the whole child and not screening students, I can't help but believe the "success" would have rung hollow.  I have had the privilege to know and work with a few amazing (master) teachers over the past decade.  I recently asked them about the Common Core.  Did they like them? Did they think they would be harmful to their curriculum? Would this be the final straw that drove them from the profession?  I was surprised by their response.  Despite my ideological issue with the idea of National Standards and belief they would effectively limit curricula, my idols unanimously loved them.  The best, most passionate and energetic teachers I have known and worked with, love Common Core.  They told me stories how it helped their planning and provided them with much needed clarity in many areas.  I find my self forced to take a bit of my own medicine.  I must pause and reflect about Common Core.  Maybe there is value here? Maybe the devil is in the high-stakes consequences associated with them?