Dive Brief:

• Common Core supporters are beginning to distance themselves from President Barack Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and other federal officials in an attempt to keep from fueling more opposition to the education standards.
• Many states were early to embrace the benchmarks, which were designed to better align states' curriculums, but a growing number — Massachusetts and Louisiana being the latest — are pulling back from or delaying tests and assessments, and even the standards at large.
• The increasing skepticism from parents and activist groups is leading some analysts and backers of the rollout to ask that the Obama administration silence its Common Core cheerleading

Dive Insight:

The Obama administration's ties to the Common Core State Standards go as far as making Race to the Top funds dependent upon their adoption. Combine that with wariness of a "big government takeover" of education by those on the far right, and it's understandable that supporters of the initiative would want to separate themselves. Of course, it also doesn't help that Education Secretary Arne Duncan insulted suburban moms a few weeks ago when speaking about opposition to the initiative. We'd be trying to get away, too.