Chicago teachers vote to oppose Common Core

The Chicago Teachers Union has voted to oppose a set of educational benchmarks implemented by law in Illinois and many other states.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports the union's House of Delegates voted Wednesday to urge the city's teachers to join the "growing national opposition" to the Common Core State Standards.

Common Core standards lay out specific skills in reading and math that students should master by the end of each grade level. How the teacher pursues the goal is up to each school's curriculum.

Union officials say the assessments disrupt student learning and "consume tremendous amounts of time and resources for test preparation and administration."

State Board of Education spokeswoman Mary Fergus said the Common Core standards better prepare students. The standards were adopted by Illinois in 2010.