Tuesday, August 27, 2013

3. The Common Core's fundamental trouble


Summary:          

Written by the editors of Rethinking Schools is an organization that publishes a magazine that balances classroom practice and educational theory and also addressing key policy issues.  Writers include teachers, parents, and researchers.  This organization states that the Common Core, already hailed as the next big thing, is being rushed into every school district in the country.  There are many positive claims made about the common core. For example, it represents a tighter set of smarter standards focused on developing critical learning skills instead of mastering fragmented bits of knowledge, or it requires more progressive, student-centered teaching with strong elements of collaborative and reflective learning.  You may also know that many creative, heroic teachers are seeking ways to use this latest reform to serve their students well.

 You would like to believe these claims and efforts can trump the more political uses of the Common Core project. But the organization seems to say you cannot. For starters, the misnamed “Common Core State Standards” are not state standards. They are national standards, created by Gates-funded consultants for the National Governors Association (NGA).  States were coerced into adopting the Common Core by requirements attached to the federal race to the top grants, later, the No Child Left Behind waivers. This is one of the reason many conservative groups opposed to any federal role in education policy oppose the Common Core. 

                The Common Core standards have never been fully implemented and tested in real schools anywhere.  Of the 135 members on the official Common Core review panels, few were classroom teachers or current administrators. Parents were entirely missing.  Teachers were brought in after the fact to tweak the standards. The standards are tied to assessments that are still in development and that must be given on computers. The new Common Core tests will be considerably harder than current state assessments, leading to sharp drops in scores and proficiency rates. 

                NCLB’s test scores, being a failure over the last decade, reflected the inequality that exists all around our schools.  NCLB used gaps to label schools as failures without providing the resources or support needed to eliminate them. The tests showed that millions of students were not meeting existing standards. Yet the Common Core draws the conclusion the solution was to have more challenging test. In the organizations belief, this is wrong.  The engine for this potential disaster will be the tests, in this case the “next generation” Common Core tests being developed by two federal funded, mulit-state consortia at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. If, as proposed, the Common Core’s “college and career ready” performances level becomes the standard for high school graduation, it will push more kids out of high school than it prepare for college. Reports from the first wave of testing from the Common Core tests are already confirming these fears in New York schools. Students reported feeling overstressed and underprepared.

                The organization feels unless we dismantle and defeat this larger effort, Common Core implementation will become another stage in the demise of public education. There has been too little conversation and too little democracy in the development of the Common Core.  We see consultants and corporate entrepreneurs where there should be parents and teachers, and more high-stakes testing where there should be none. Until that changes, it will be hard to distinguish the next big thing.


Opinion:

                The editors of Rethinking Schools makes a brilliant point in my opinion.  The fact that teachers and administrators have little say so over the Common Core alerts a big red flag to mind.   That alone needs to change, after all teachers are the one that are hands on with the students every day. How can the state standards not need more of their opinion rather than a government official? It’s kind of crazy if you ask me. 

                Also how can the Common Core possible think that college ready tests are better for students with a high percentage of drop rates already? Not every person is alike, especially if there are already results of fears from the test in New York schools. The percentage of drop rates will only increase.  People have their own paths they choose to take, and not everyone’s path may lead them to college. My boyfriend for instance works on the tow boats. He started out right after high school.  He makes $60,000 a year now. As he continues he will making over $100,000 a year by the time I graduate college to become a teacher where I will be making between $30,000 to $40,000. He got his job with only a high school diploma. This proves college is not for everyone. 

The Common Core needs to take in these considerations. This is the future of not only the children’s sake, but the country’s as well.
-Brittneii Flynt

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