An editorial in the Los Angeles Times (3/14) describes the perception that New York “botched” its implementation of the Common Core Standards and hails California’s “opposite approach,” noting that though it met resistance from the Obama Administration, “California was right.” The piece says that New York “jumped feet first into the new standards, administering tests based on them,” adding that Education Secretary Arne Duncan “only worsened matters by dismissing the outcry as coming from ‘white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were.’” The Times says that California has not experienced the level of backlash that New York has because “Gov. Jerry Brown set aside $1 billion for implementation, including teacher training, and plans to invest at least as much again next year.” Moreover, “schools and teachers will not be held accountable for results on the new standardized tests this year and possibly next.”

California Paper Hails Common Core Testing Waiver. A San Jose (CA) Mercury News (3/14) editorial praises California legislators for voting to “suspend our outdated standardized tests a year earlier than planned” in favor of Common Core-aligned assessments, also praising them for standing up to “threats from US Education Secretary Arne Duncan to withhold billions in federal funds for poor kids because the state had violated federal accountability law – even though Duncan had issued waivers to dozens of other states.”