Monday, March 2 was “Read Across America Day,” a national event designed to promote reading among kids in elementary schools. And what better way better to celebrate a day dedicated to the excitement of reading than to force America’s little kids to submit to several grueling hours of Common Core standardized tests?
Many school districts across the country had to cancel or reschedule “Read Across America Day” on Monday because it was the first day of standardized tests created by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), according to The Washington Post.
PARCC is a consortium of 11 states and the District of Columbia which have banded together to offer a battery of tests all adhering to Common Core.
For the last 18 years, schools have celebrated “Read Across America Day” on March 2 because it is the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, the writer and cartoonist better known and much beloved as Dr. Seuss.
The National Education Association sponsors “Read Across America Day.” (RELATED: Nation’s Largest Teachers Union Massively Funds Wisconsin COP-HATING PROTESTS)
The celebration is a big deal at some schools, with adults dressing up in “The Cat in the Hat” costumes and much else. The NEA calls the event “the nation’s largest reading observance,” according to the Post.
The reading theme this year was “Oh the Places You’ll Go!” — the last book published in Dr. Seuss’s lifetime.
Some schools, such as North Elementary School in small-town Sycamore, Ill. organized a “Cat in the Hat” event last week.
At some schools in New Mexico, school teachers promised kids a Dr. Seuss reading after the standardized testing process ends. (RELATED: Hundreds Of New Mexico Students Walk Out Of Common Core Tests)
PARCC, the Dr. Seuss-preempting consortium, is hurting. It once boasted 23 states as members. However, it has dwindled dramatically as state-level politicians have responded to foes of Common Core. PARCC has also drawn fire for taking funding from the Obama administration and for trying to have most students take the tests on computers, an effort that has been fraught with technical glitches.
A second group of states uses the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. It is faring slightly better. About 20 states are slated to use it, and its tests are scheduled for a rollout in mid-March. (RELATED: Missouri Judge Rules Common Core Testing Consortium Fees UNCONSTITUTIONAL)
Most states have adopted Common Core, a complex set of K-12 math and language arts curriculum benchmarks, as well as the related high-stakes standardized tests that come with the national curriculum regime.
However, Common Core and particularly the standardized tests have created a considerable backlash, making strange political bedfellows of many groups on the left and the right. (RELATED: ABANDON SHIP! Common Core Is Rapidly Sinking Across The Country)
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