A growing number of college professors at elite universities are reporting the same phenomenon: incoming college freshmen have never read an entire book. The Common Core framework of emphasizing news articles and passages from books has left many highly sought-after college freshmen completely stunned when a professor asks them to read a book.
Multiple articles have been written in mainstream publications on this reality that discuss a plethora of causes. But in all of the talk, not once in Common Core mentioned. You need to watch this:
I'm not going to argue about how poor Common Core was but as a retired teacher who taught through that period of time (prior to and after) and had thousands of students who went on to college and were very successful (Ga Tech, UGA, Penn, MIT, Vanderbilt, etc.) the problem wasn't Common Core, it was teachers teaching down to the bottom of Common Core. I taught "real math", all levels, so I taught well above the requirements of Common Core. That also meant my students consistently scored at the top on the standardized tests. I knew teachers who only taught to the requirements of Common Core because "that is what my students are required to know". I taught well above that, and I've already shared the results. The same is true in English. The teachers who had high expectations had students who continued to do well. Those who taught down to the minimum had students who only met the minimum. So, as has always been the case, it's the teachers and their level of expectation that really mattered.
But they can vote.