Pennsylvania adopted new “Pennsylvania Core” standards last year–revisions to their previous standards that reflected Common Core while rejecting some common aspects of implementation, including the Common Core-aligned standardized tests developed by two national groups and adopted by other states. State Representative Gordon Denlinger is now calling this move “rebranding a bad product in an effort to convince customers the serious problems we knew existed had been fixed.”
The standards were pushed on the states by Federal Race to the Top funding with little to no review by local authorities. Many teachers and parents now view the standards as an unwelcome and unnecessary imposition on their schools, and object variously to their content, implementation and development.