Washington Post: How Twitter -- and Michelle Malkin -- are changing the Common Core debate

It’s no secret that Michelle Malkin is a fierce opponent of Common Core curriculum standards, but is her relentless social-media advocacy against the program changing any minds?

Well, according to today’s Washington Post and a group of scientists, that answer is “YES”!

Check it out:

How Twitter is changing the national Common Core debate

Is Twitter affecting the national debate on the Common Core State Standards initiative? Three researchers working on a digital reporting project say “yes” — and they call this the first national policy conversation played out in social media.

The university researchers looked at hundreds of thousands of tweets at #commoncore over a six-month period and analyzed them not only for content but also by author. One key finding: Twitter is “making the invisible visible,” giving people who usually have no voice in national discussions power to express their opinions and affect discourse. The researchers also noted that the debate over the Core isn’t only about the Core standards themselves, but, rather, about issues such as the federal involvement in local education issues, student privacy, standardized testing, the role poverty plays in student achievement and how for-profit companies are affecting education.

The researchers undertaking the project are Jonathan Supovitz, professor of education policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education and co-director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education; Alan J. Daly, chair of the Department of Education Studies at the University of California, San Diego; and Miguel del Fresno, a communications professor at the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia in Spain.

Additionally, and distinct from a transmitter’s volume of tweets, there are some actors who are particularly central and well connected within their factions (like @leoniehaimson (blue), @educationweek (green), and @michellemalkin (yellow)). These actors have both high out-degree (by the fact of their presence in this elite community) and are well connected to those within their faction (by their many ties connecting them to others within their faction). This makes these actors not only potentially influential over the larger #commoncore network, but also key opinion leaders within their own communities. In a sense, the ideas and opinions of these actors drive the core content of what is shared within their communities.

But Twitchy readers and Michelle Malkin fans already knew that. 🙂

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#gag Jeb Bush pretends to care about testing overload, while raking in $ from testing overlords at Pearson. http://t.co/5a4z9kveZa

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) February 11, 2015

Swell. Obama wants #FreeCommunityCollege so Common Core-impaired American kids can have 2 more yrs of brainwashing. https://t.co/zeauckdm6V

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) January 9, 2015

Throwback Tuesday – Standing up against Jeb Bush & Common Core racket in Florida https://t.co/AaJSstCl9g #stopjebbush #stopcommoncore

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) December 16, 2014

Of course @jebbush finds debate over Common Core "troubling." Big Govt control freaks are always troubled by dissent. http://t.co/P6xmTVKsbc

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) November 20, 2014