As public school students in New York state sit at their desks today taking the Common Core based English Language Arts tests, a nationally known opponent to the core is in Syracuse. Education Historian Dr. Diane Ravitch spent the day Tuesday at Syracuse University.

Ravitch, who has written about the issues and is the author of a very popular anti-Common Core blog, doesn’t have anything good to say about the new, more rigorous curriculum that’s taken over New York state classrooms. First there’s the way it was conceived.

"The process was extremely secretive, it was done behind closed doors," Ravitch explained. "There were few, if any teachers. I don’t think there were any teachers on the writing team.”

Then there’s the way it was funded through the Gates Foundation.

"It’s been estimated by people who study the Gates website that they spent $2.3 billion to create the Common Core,” Ravitch said.

And because the experts weren’t at the table, the curriculum is flawed.

“I’m talking about people with knowledge of disabilities. I’m talking about people with experience with early childhood education, so many of the standards are completely developmentally inappropriate,” Ravitch said.

So what are the results of the Common Core? She says there's an over reliance on testing.

“They don’t have time to play, they don’t have time to socialize, it’s just all academics all the time," Ravitch explained. "It’s totally inappropriate. Other countries just don’t do this.”...