Carney dodges on Duncan comments

The White House on Monday sidestepped a brewing controversy over whether Education Secretary Arne Duncan had erred when he said last week that “white suburban moms” were opposing new education standards.

Press secretary Jay Carney said he had not seen Duncan’s “full comments” and had not spoken to President Obama about the remark.

But he also defended the apparent spirit of Duncan’s comments, in which the secretary said it was “fascinating” that opposition to the Common Core standards was coming from “white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were.”

“If his point was that we need to be honest with kids and parents about whether we’re providing the skills they need to succeed, I think we can all agree on that,” Carney said. “So, again, I haven’t had a discussion with the president about that, but I think the broader point that we need to be honest about whether we’re providing the skills these — our children need to succeed, I think we can agree on that.”

Asked if it was “appropriate” for Duncan to single out white mothers for their opposition to the standards, Carney again declined to respond.

“I can just tell you that the secretary of Education and everybody on the president’s team dedicated to this effort is focused on making sure that we do everything we can, working with states and others, to ensure that our kids are getting the education they need for the 21st century,” he said.

Duncan’s remarks about the Common Core standards were reported by The Washington Post.

The controversial federal initiative is designed to standardize a single set of education criteria for English and Math studies from kindergarten through 12th grade. All but five states have adopted the standards, which are supported by a $4.35 billion stimulus grant.

The administration has said the new, tougher standards are designed to better prepare students for their careers, while giving parents a better sense for the quality of their children’s schools. They’ve acknowledged that test scores are expected to drop dramatically across the board but say the new measures would provide more meaningful insight into school and student performance.

But opponents, including some teachers unions, have criticized the program as placing more emphasis on teaching to a test. They’ve also accused the administration of botching the rollout of the standards.

“You think the Obamacare implementation is bad? The implementation of the Common Core is far worse,” said American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, according to Capital New York.