Editorial:

The 45th Annual PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public Attitudes Toward the Public Schools was released this week and it took a close look at the new Common Core Standards being implemented across the country. What they found was that 62% of the folks never heard of the Common Core and those that have heard of it either didn’t understand it, or didn’t endorse it. Yet, these Standards are being described as “one of the most ambitious initiatives in our lifetime.”

45 States have adopted the Common Core Standards. These standards follow the No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, and are being implemented in schools this year. So what are the Common Core Standards?

The Standards are: a state-led effort that established a single set of clear educational standards for kindergarten through 12th grade in English language arts and mathematics that states voluntarily adopt. The standards are designed to ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to enter credit bearing entry courses in two or four year college programs or enter the workforce. The standards are clear and concise to ensure that parents, teachers, and students have a clear understanding of the expectations in reading, writing, speaking and listening, language and mathematics in school. The Standards are (1) research and evidence based, (2) aligned with college and work expectations, (3) rigorous, and (4) internationally bench-marked.

In simpler terms, things have gotten much harder for the students. In English fiction will be slowly reduced with the emphasize on nonfiction so that by 12th grade students will be reading mostly “informational text” instead of fictional literature. There will be a lot more analytical studying and writing. These standards apply to history, math, biology, etcetera.

In talking with local teachers, they are in support of the Standards and the new rigor, their only issue is that there is no curriculum to follow and that they are now in the position of having to write the curriculum as they go. There has been only the most basic training on the Common Core Standards and there are no new books to support the new initiative. They are having to adopt old books to fit the new curriculum.

Not only are the teachers left with the job of interpreting the Standards and creating the curriculum, they have very little material from which to draw upon. Teachers are primarily using a curriculum developed by the New York school district, and using a web driven discussion site for teachers to bounce ideas around, and receive feedback.

Then there is the question of a proliferation of test and test scores as a tool to evaluate teachers, which has led to a call for a moratorium on teacher consequences. Coincidently in the PDK/Gallup Poll there has been a shift in public attitude toward teachers being evaluated, based on test results, now 58% oppose requiring that teacher evaluations include student scores on standardized tests.

Common Core Standards are off to a rough start. In the beginning almost everyone was in support of the new Standards, now, as implementation is occurring, there is a growing resistance primarily from Tea Party folks and political conservatives.

The success or failure of the Common Core though will depend on the parents of school age children understanding the program. No matter how much education changes it will always boil down to the parents understanding and helping at home. Success ends and begins at home

For more information and resources on Common Core please use these links:

Engage New York: www.engageny.org/common-core-curriculum-assessments Common Core Curriculum and Assessment.
ELA Feedback: http://elafeedback.com/ a teacher’s forum for public viewing.
Common Core State Standards Initiative: http://www.corestandards.org/ A web site created by National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers which authored the Common Core Standards.
PDK/Gallup Poll: http://pdkintl.org/noindex/GP2013_PDKGallupPoll-EMB.pdf