Politico (2/20, Simon) reports that the NEA, the nation’s largest teachers union, is “pulling back on its once-enthusiastic support of the Common Core academic standards, labeling their rollout ‘completely botched.’” NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said that he still believes that the standards have value, but he argued that they will fail without a significant “course correction,” such as “rewriting some of the standards and revising the related tests with teacher input.” The statement “echoed a resolution passed last month by the board of the New York state teachers union, which withdrew support for Common Core as currently implemented.”

The Washington Post (2/20, Layton) reports that Van Roekel said that “after talking to about 10,000 teachers in listening sessions and focus groups over several months, he is convinced that implementation of the new standards in most of the country is chaotic.” He said, “My greatest fear for the students of America is that we may lose the promise of the Common Core standards because we screwed up the implementation.”