For education reform advocates, the release of the Common Core test scores could not come at a worse time. The primary election is a month away, and the majority of candidates have been critical of Mayor Bloomberg's education policies.
The sharp drop in test scores on the Common Core are giving NYC's mayoral candidates new ways to criticize the efforts that Mayor Bloomberg has made to reform the City's schools. According to The New York Times, such criticism is misguided for several reasons:
The new scores were bound to be controversial in New York City thanks to the mayoral race. Some candidates are trying to curry favor with the teachers' union, which is taking a scorched-earth approach to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's educational policies.
Some candidates are looking for ways to blame Mr. Bloomberg for the drop in scores, even though the tests are overseen and managed by the state, and even though the city experienced less of a decline in scores than the state as a whole.
