Thirteen states have passed Third Grade retention laws. Children who fail to learn to read well enough to do fourth grade work will repeat the third grade.

The existence of parent trigger laws are seen by many as a positive alternative for parents who feel that promised school reform takes too long. A closer look makes one wonder just whom these laws are intended to benefit.

It’s no accident that the greatest percentage of illiteracy is to be found in the poorest segments of our population. The cause is related to a method of beginning reading instruction that penalizes the children of the poor.

Subjecting the Common Core mission statement to the kind of close reading recommended by the Standards reveals a goal that is lacking in the human element. Job skills are not enough to get a person through the disappointments, tragedies and humiliations of 60-80 years of living.

As the number of school children diagnosed with special needs soars, many schools face bankruptcy in their attempts to meet federal mandates to serve this demographic. Like other areas of public education, special education is in serious need of reform.

Cut scores are selected points on the scoring scale of a test. Like the tests they are created for, cut scores are arbitrary. As the new Common Core Standards bring a new set of federal priorities to American education, it's more important than ever for parents to take charge.

The new Common Core Standards promise much, but as long as teacher training and school structure remain the same, they’re simply new wine in old bottles.

The new Common Core Standards are--like all the reforms since the 1920s-- riddled with Edu-speak. Parents need to insist that their questions about their children’s school progress are answered in plain English.

Parents of young children do not have the luxury of waiting for professional educators to agree on what to do about reading failure. They need to use the time from birth to age five to prepare their children for reading success.

The present system of placing everything from curriculum to lunchroom management under one supervisor is outdated and inefficient. The job of “principal” is too big for one person.