Date of Graduation
Fall 2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Transformative Education and Social Change
Committee Chairperson
John Elmore, PhD
Committee Member
Jason Wozniak, PhD
Committee Member
Dana Morrison, PhD
Abstract
This thesis examines the effects of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) on students, teachers and public schools over the past fifteen years. It argues that by denying students and teachers agency, the CCSS has weakened the democratic purposes of public education. Using a lens of critical pedagogy and social movement theory, it traces the history and harm of standardization and pays particular attention to how standardized methods of teaching and learning disproportionately harm students from marginalized communities. The author draws on her lived experience within the public school system to develop a public-pedagogy oriented social movement to build collective knowledge about the history of neoliberalism and how it led to the CCSS. Grounded in the use of street data, this thesis positions public education as a vital democratic institution and argues that collective action should be taken to reclaim it for the common good.
Final Version Confirmation
1
Recommended Citation
McGurk, Maureen B., "From Common Core to Critical Consciousness: Public Pedagogy and the Struggle Over Democratic Education" (2025). West Chester University Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Final Projects. 14.
https://digitalcommons.wcupa.edu/all_capstones/14