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Health & Fitness

Thoughts on the Common Core State Standards Initiative

I am not an expert on curricula. That is my brother. (What else do you do with an undergrad degree in philosophy?)

Sonja Szubski asked me to explore Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Not an expert on those either, but I have done some reading. Without going into all of the aspects of the implementation of CCSS, my opinion is… they are pretty good. I am particularly impressed with the middle school English Language Arts (ELA) standards I have read.

Really.

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Read through some of the standards found here and find something to disagree with. I would love to have that discussion.

That said, there are some valid concerns being raised about CCSS. Have they been rushed to implementation? “The current Common Core State Standards initiative was launched by the National Governors Association (NGA) and Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) in 2008. In December 2008, Education Week reported that NGA, CCSSO and Achieve released a report urging for Common Core Standards.” “The draft K-12 standards were released for public comment in March 2010. The final standards were released in June 2010.” Less than two years from conception to final standards, that seems rushed to me.

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However, you must to put it into context. The CCSS codified what research had already shown to be “best practices” in education. The standards are not reinventing the wheel or going off in a new direction. They just put into one list the teaching methods which had already been shown to be effective.

There is a misconception that CCSS is a federal program.  It isn’t.  (see above)

However, in 2011 the federal government “all but required adoption of the Common Core or similar standards approved by state higher education officials if states want to receive federal waivers from the 2002 No Child Left Behind law.”

It was after that the conservative think tanks and groups got upset which I find hypocritical. The No Child Left Behind Act was a federally mandated set of standards.  With CCSS you have an option which Virginia has exercised.

I am not ready to discuss the issues surrounding testing.  That is where there is the most potential for real trouble. 

My conclusion is CCSS, by themselves, are good. They encourage more thinking and less memorization. Tying CCSS to federal waivers and creating a standardized test for them creates issues that detract from them.

That said the solution to the decline of learning in classrooms will not be found with the implementation of CCSS. Parents and school systems have equal, if not more important, roles to play. Students need to enter the classrooms ready to learn and teachers must be supported to meet the needs of those students.

If you put a highly effective, compassionate, enthusiastic 5th grade teacher in classroom with 33 students, some who were on social media until 1:00 am, some who didn't eat breakfast, have no room to move, share old textbooks, and only have two slow computers to use, those students will struggle to be 21st century learners.

If you want to see that classroom, I can ask my friend if she has time to give tours. 

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