The Common Core Curriculum

Jay Mathews an educational writer and a blogger for the Washington Post (washingtonpost.com/class-struggle), will help us understand the trends in education over the past 40 yrs, and how we arrived at the Common Core Curriculum, an attempt to standardize school curriculums from Kindergarten to Grade 12 nation-wide.

Jay Mathews is the author of eight books, including four about high schools and a New York Times bestseller, “Work Hard. Be Nice,” about the birth and growth of the KIPP charter school network. His popular college admission guide is “Harvard Schmarvard.” His latest book, “The War Against Dummy Math” is published by the American Institutes for Research.
    He is the creator of the annual Challenge Index rankings of high schools (formerly at Newsweek, now at the Washington Post) which have drawn as much as 21 million page views in a week. His columns appear in the Post’s Metro and Local Living sections, and on his Class Struggle page at washingtonpost.com/class-struggle. He was one of the school experts featured in the documentary film “Waiting for “Superman.’” He has won several awards for education writing and was given the Upton Sinclair award as “a beacon of light in the realm of education.” He has the Eugene Meyer award for distinguished service to the Washington Post.  He is married to journalist Linda Mathews. They have three children and three grandsons.