Why the Common Core Standards WILL/WON'T Fix Education: Take Your Pick
Why it WON'T Work
We have a history of school reforms that haven't made
much difference in educational outcomes: Sputnik, Nation at Risk, NCLB. How can
the expectations of a narrow curriculum that assesses only literacy
and numeracy lead to the kind of transformation that is predicted?
We have learned from the research on cognition and
development that education is much more complex than one set of standards
All learners bring different backgrounds,
experiences, and abilities to the classroom but differentiation is not evident
in the rigorously sequenced and lock-stepped standards
Creativity, collaborative problem solving, digital
literacy, global understanding, and other 21st century skills are weak links in
the standards
If we want to model fairness and equity in
education, let's start with a comprehensive and balanced teacher evaluation
system and a fair and balanced assessment model
In the past, higher standards have started out
being popular until the scales adjust and the consequences kicked in
Why it WILL Work
The new Common Core State standards provide coherent
sequential guidelines specifying the knowledge and skills students will learn
as they progress through the grades.
The Common Core curriculum and tests are grounded in evidence from research and practice
Their consistency will ensure that teaching and learning is constant across states, neighborhoods, and schools
The standards provide curricular guidance and support that will enable all students to achieve at the highest levels of literacy and numeracy
As students build world class literacy and numeracy skills, the result will be a long term improvement in standardized test scores
This will make our students better prepared for college
and career, 21st century skills, and be more competitive globally
posted by Assessment Network @ 8:02 AM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
In theory, the Common Core seems to be a great idea. Having the same standards for all students adds a fairness component that seems to be missing in education presently. Also, competing in the global market effectively is hard to look at negatively. And, setting high standards gives students something great to strive for. However, given the current ways that the standards are to be assessed and implemented, the Common Core will not work as well as some people may think.
Currently, thanks to No Child Left Behind, students cannot reach the already set standards. The Common Core will raise those standards even higher, rendering them almost impossible to reach- at least by most schools. Even if the standards were feasibly attainable, assessing if the standards were achieved or not is a huge issue. Standardized testing has taken over education in a negative way. The Common Core has become the parent of The SmarterBalance test that requires schools to have computers available for students for testing- which is not possible. As it is, schools are cutting back on available classes and faculty due to budget cuts- technology is not something that can be easily attained. In addition, the schools that are already struggling will continue to. The poor scores of the Common Core assessments will lead to poor teacher and district evaluations, even though the power is essentially out of their hands.
I am okay with tailoring the educational standards to fit with an ever-changing world that encourages media literacy and interdisciplinary skills. The Common Core, however, was created too quickly and with too little considerations made in terms of how and when it should be implemented. These large school reforms are being hastily put into place, only to be quickly replaced by another. Education is not something to toy with and the changes made need to be clear, concise, and done with careful planning in order to ensure success.
I do agree that the new Common Core State Standards will guarantee what is being taught in schools is constant across the entire United States. However, what I am not convinced of is whether or not school curriculum's should be standardized. Standardization places an immense amount of pressure on teachers to teach to the test in order to keep up with other school district scores. This creates a concept that Gerri Tirozzi, former Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education, describes as education becoming "a mile wide and an inch deep." Tirozzi has seen that the depth of what is studied in education is minimal in comparison to the amount of topics that are covered due to stricter state standards.
Teachers are merely skimming the surface of what they could potentially be teaching. Because educators are required to teach an unreasonable amount of information simply to meet standards and to “teach to the test,” they have minimal flexibility within their curriculums to be creative, original, and innovative. As a result, meaningful learning is sabotaged.
Standardized testing pressures school districts to focus on a vast array of educational concepts, but the extent to which each topic is covered is minimal. As a result, expository teaching practices and rote learning have become a staples in public school education because they allow educators to cover a large amount of information in a short amount of time. Expository teaching is useful in situations where students are being given instructions or directions, but not when they are learning about complex topics. Complex concepts such as creativity, collaborative problem solving, digital literacy, global understanding, and 21st century skills, which the CC insists it emphasizes, need to be examined by students, prodded, questioned, and dug into. However, with such strict standards, teachers are unable to give their students the opportunities to explore these concepts themselves.
According to John Medina, author of Brain Rules (2008), “information is remembered best when it is elaborate, meaningful, and contextual” (pp. 112). Well, I would like to see some evidence that proves the CC will be able to provide the students of the United States with a meaningful learning experience, and one that will keep them engaged, enthusiastic, and excited about learning.
To reiterate what Lauren has stated, the Common Core State Standards are, in theory, an excellent idea to combat the disastrous reforms that have previously hindered the educational system and the students and teachers within it. Despite this, the Common Core State Standards are still just theory; yet another “band-aid” to fix the problems created by policies like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. On the educational platform, we are weak. Our students are at risk and have, in fact, been left behind despite the fact that these policies were supposed to empower students and close the achievement gap that has so viciously plagued the American classroom. The Common Core State Standards will only widen and strengthen the achievement gap, as standards and expectations are set higher and higher and students are becoming increasingly discouraged by the outcome of their own efforts. I stated in my previous reflection that the CCSS is similar to a plane being built in the air. This is a plane in which the passengers are children (Buris). It is truly unfortunate that, though the majority of schools have implemented the CCSS into their curriculum, there is little information known about how these standards and how the Smarter Balanced assessments will affect students in a positive way. What we have is an ideal belief that it will help us globally.
My question is, how can this happen when the standards do not differentiate to address the diversity of needs, learning styles, readiness abilities, cultures, and interests of our students? How can this happen when students become so discouraged that they refuse to take risks in the classroom? Kids will not compete well in the global market, as desired by policy makers, because they haven’t been provided with the motivation or the support to do so. The Common Core State Standards simply stifle any chance of high student achievement. I believe that we need to stop with the reform and start to revolutionize. This is of the utmost importance if we are to start over and build from ground up. Anything less is not doing our kids justice.
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