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The superintendent of our school district was gracious enough to meet with a small group of parents over coffee yesterday afternoon to address questions and concerns about Common Core, which is being rolled out in our district and is expected to be fully implemented this upcoming 2014/15 school year. There was one mom there who is also a college professor and she had nothing but praise to offer for Common Core (which hasn’t even been fully implemented yet), so I’m really not even sure why she was there.
The concerns I raised were as follows:
- Everything I’ve read about Common Core emphasizes that the standards were not written by educators, anyone with a background in education, nor anyone even knowledgeable about child development.
- Probably because of that, one of the main criticisms of the Common Core standards is that they are developmentally inappropriate and will set many children up for failure.
- How will it impact students on IEPs?
- The one-size-fits-all learning model will also set many kids up for failure. Kids learn differently and at different rates. Demanding that every kid master the same standards in the same exact timeline is completely unrealistic.
- Standardized testing will now start in kindergarten – how is that appropriate?
- The fact that Common Core is brand new means that we have no idea if it will be good or bad for schools and students, so to insist that it’s this great thing is inappropriate. Our kids are the guinea pigs.
- It’s also going to radically change the curriculum mid-stream for any kid who is already a few years into their school career.
Well, our superintendent is a very nice man, but he’s also, to some extent, a politician. He has to be. This means that he gives the carefully worded responses. His district is implementing Common Core; therefore, he must talk up Common Core. He can’t very well sit there and say, “Yeah, it might be a really bad thing. What happened in New York? Could happen here.”
For the most part, each of the concerns raised was met with something along the lines of, “That’s not true,” or “That’s not the case.” He insists that educators were involved in drafting the standards (when I asked who these educators were, he couldn’t give me any names, but just said, “A lot of educators, including college professors, helped draft the standards.”). He said that our district will be using the same text books it’s used for the last several years, and “eighty percent of the curriculum will be the same as it has been.” Huh. This is so different from everything I’ve been reading about Common Core. He also said that the concern about the standards being developmentally inappropriate is unfounded, and that Common Core will actually allow for more individualized learning. Again, huh. Very, very different from what I’ve been reading. He further said that it is simply not true that standardized testing will begin in kindergarten with Common Core, but rather, that it won’t begin until third grade as opposed to second grade as it’s been for the last several years. He said that what happened in New York was unfortunate, but that it was the result of the standardized testing not being “calibrated” properly. Again, huh.
So, as a parent of (currently) five grade school children and one high-schooler, I am left scratching my head. If Common Core is so great, what is the basis for all the criticism? Is Diane Ravitch delusional? What about Kris Nielsen? Or Tom Hobson? Is it all just propaganda? How is a concerned parent to know?
Hometown Homework Chronicles 
Your superintendent is so blindly misinformed if he thinks the disaster of the Common Core in my home state of NY was simply because of a badly calibrated test. You have very realistic concerns. And don’t let anyone downplay them with top-down rhetoric, or by using myths of failing schools and the whole “college and career readiness” propaganda. Our children are over-tested and overburdened with developmentally inappropriate curricula. Record numbers of kids hate school, teacher morale is at an all time low, and contrary to the college professor mom at your meeting, the college professors and workforce professionals that I know are preparing for a Common Core future where students and young adults lack innovation and creative problem solving skills. We’re already seeing creativity devalued, while children are trained and NOT educated. This is cookie-cutter education with no room for teacher autonomy. You are very right to be concerned!
I’m finding where you go to get information about the Common Core can have a HUGE impact on what type of information you get. I’ve read sites that say no teacher, EVER had any input on the standards while I’ve also read other sites that say that many teachers were included in the process by reading drafts and offering suggestions. I think how your state has dealt with standards and testing in previous years will also influence of much of a difference Common core will make. In Ohio, our kids have been taking a standardized test based on standards for years. And yes, our schools pretty much teach to that test. Art, music, recess, library, gym are just some of the victims that have all been lowered on the priority list so that schools can spend more time getting kids to the “proficient” level on that one test. I don’t expect much will change with CC, except the test will have a new name and will be given online. Schools and teachers will have a new test to worry about and more time and energy will be directed to getting enough students to pass this new test. I’m not sure why Common Core has become such the symbol of how bad common standards are. Where was the outrage when NCLB said that every child should be reading AT GRADE LEVEL. Talk about an impossible standard to meet. Some kids just aren’t ready to read at the time and age these standards say they should and some will just never read “at grade level”. I always found it crazy that from age 0-5 my Pediatrician would say things like “don’t worry, kids achieve milestones in a wide range of times”, yet when we got to Kindergarten it was suddenly, “you can’t hold a scissors and cut paper in this exact way then something is developmentally wrong with you”. We won’t have true education reform until we radically change HOW we do school. Like grouping kids not my age but by ability in a fluid environment that lets you go where your needs take you. Extra help for reading but extra challenge for Math. Great, that’s what you get. I find it stunning that we basically still do school the same way we did it 50 years ago. All this technology hasn’t fundamentally changed HOW we do school, we do school the same way with techy tools instead of chalk.
Wendy, your state sounds very much like our state – same thing, standardized tests have been around for years (and they cause a lot of stress for at least some of my kids) with other programs being cut. I agree with you, too, that how we do school needs to radically change.
Unfortunately, now that these standardized tests are now also going to be tied to teacher evaluations the stress levels will only go up as the pressure on teachers and schools goes up. I’m not sure how many pep rallies, test-week/spirit weeks kids can take. Even my kid, who gets to the “proficient” mark with ease is stressed by the time the actual test rolls around.
Lisa,
You ask very good questions and have already made a difference in my readings, books and articles. My husband said tonight that it is important to keep talking and asking about these things. Perhaps as the quantitiy of parent concerns and examples mounts up then action can be taken. The process feels slow. We are at the beginning of this new cycle of education and it is yet to play out or even have a full first year run.
My eighth grade son just took his first round of SBAC tests using an HP Google Chromebook which Redondo Beach is investing in for all of our students. He had a little trouble because he was unfamiliar with this device verses his home computer, but figured it out after awhile. He didn’t finish the test as he is a slow and thorough reader trying to get things right. He said the 27 questions seemed ok so far and not as weird as the ones we saw in news stories. He still has math and 1 more Language Arts test to go, so we shall see. I really feel for the elementary school age kids.
I think the stories and the New York schools have a great deal of merit, but as they know the Common Core is here to stay so adjustments will be made. I’d even like to know who pays for the next set of Chromebooks and so when the next generation comes along or they get damaged etc. I’m even hardwired at our house and will have to figure out something for wi-fi.
The homework issues and the teachers creating this stuff is still there no matter what. Kris Nielsen sounds right on the money and must be a really interesting teacher. I haven’t seen his type at any of our schools except maybe a young chemistry teacher in the high school with really cool science experiments. They have a strict rule there where you cannot switch from a ‘bad’ to ‘good’ teacher, you only get what they give you no exceptions.
Thank you for all you do and enlightening us.
Kim
Lisa,
Just a follow up…My son took the 8th grade SBAC math test today (1st half) with 17 questions. He said there was one confusing word problem of the type we’ve been seeing and the answers were multiple choice. He felt he didn’t have enough knowledge for the Algebra problems being asked and now realizes his school has not provided the math they should have. He figures many other students in his grade will have the same problem. At least he will be taking a complete Algebra 1 class next year in 9th grade. His journey and hating quantities of homework have put him 2 grade levels behind in his math compared to his sister who was in G.A.T.E. and took Geometry in her 8th grade year. Each child is different. I think he will now apply himself more next year, now that he has learned the system better.
Kim
I would listen to a parent or teacher any day over a principal or superintendent. Teachers and parents know better than those in administrative positions. They are not doing homework and dealing with the emotions from school. My son is pretty far ahead of his peers, and while he is not bored persay, I am finding he is pretty irritated after school and then has to do homework which is meaningless. I asked a kindergarten teacher (my daughter will be going in next year) about the curriculum, and she said it is web-based and that there is no access for a parent to view the curriculum. Really? If what is being said about Common Core is true (more rigorous, developed by educators, more critical thinking, blah blah blah) why all the generalities? I am all for technology, but it is coming in our schools at dangerous levels. Throwing more money at the schools is NOT the answer. I am actually curious where all the money to implement this is coming from. We need a change on HOW we are educating our kids. On the horizon, there is an increase in stress, anxiety, and depression among our teenagers. We are testing kids WAY too much and these standards come with testing that is going to stress the kids even more.