Good Evening,
I hope this post finds you
well (regardless of position =] ).
When I began reading on the
topic for today’s post, I found myself constantly needing to reference more and
more readings/opinions to begin to even grapple with my own perspective. They
each offered a different outlook on what seemed to be the same end goal. As
with any developmental plan, one can see the pros/cons, strides/drawbacks.
Just to provide an overview,
corestandards.org defines the standards as:
- Research and evidence based
- Clear, understandable, and consistent
- Aligned with college and career expectations
- Based on rigorous content and the application of knowledge through higher-order thinking skills
- Built upon the strengths and lessons of current state standards
- Informed by other top-performing countries to prepare all students for success in our global economy and society
The site positions that the
standards clearly demonstrate what students are expected to learn at each grade
level, so that every parent and teacher can understand and support their
learning.
It opens with telling
parents that today’s students are preparing to enter a world in which colleges
and businesses are demanding more than ever before. To ensure all students are
ready for success after high school, the Common Core State Standards establish
clear, consistent guidelines for what every student should know and be able to
do in math and English language arts from kindergarten through 12th grade.
It makes mention that while
the standards set grade-specific goals; they do not define how the standards
should be taught or which materials should be used to support students. It is
recognized that there will need to be a range of supports in place to ensure
that all students can master the standards. It is up to the states/districts to
define the full range of supports appropriate for these students.
“When I look at the
standard, I don’t see a document that tells me what to teach or gives me a curriculum;
rather, I see an underlying organization that gives us collective purpose.”
–Sarah Brown Wessling 2010 National Teacher of
the Year and English teacher, Johnston High School
As a future teacher, what do
you see when you look at the Common Core State Standard?
Below is a link, if interested,
of statements of support by various people and organizations. It is where I
found my second reading.
In the summer of 2010, Bob
Wise, President of the Alliance for Excellent Education, released a statement
supporting the Common Core. His concerns were that, “ under the current
education system, there is wide variation between states and even school
districts on what students are expected to know and do—a situation that is
unfair to all students, and one that is especially harmful to low-income
students and students of color.” He claimed, “With common standards and
assessments, students, parents, and teachers will have a clear, consistent
understanding of the skills necessary for students to succeed after high school
and compete with peers across the state line and across the ocean.”
Aside from Bob Wise’s
concerns with the achieve gap in education, another primary focus of his was cost
efficiency. “During a time when many states face large budget deficits, there
are significant financial benefits for moving toward common standards and
assessments” assured Mr. Wise. He provided statistics of the money that goes
into developing, administering, scoring, and reporting tests, along with the
cost of college remedial supports. With commonalities in assessments, and
schools that are pro CCSS, he didn’t see reason for funds allocated for
education to not decrease drastically.
Lastly, he was sure to note,
“Although common standards cannot single‐handedly
improve the quality of the nation’s education system, they are an important
first step toward setting a common goal for educators to ensure they are
preparing students for success in college and careers.”
“Zip codes might be great
for sorting mail, but they should not determine the quality of a child’s
education.”
-Bob Wise, president of the
Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia
As the video and Mr. Wise both
make reference to, do you believe that the CCSS helps bridge the gap/disconnect
in education?
Readings:
Hi Jasmine! Thanks for a powerful pro CC argument.,. it will dovetail perfectly with my blogpost which focuses on the arguments against it. (disclaimer - personally I am undecided)
ReplyDeleteHey Jasmine, as I stated in a previous blog, in the beginning I was very pro common core, but after reading my two articles, I'm definitely conflicted. One of the interesting things you mention in your post is that "colleges and businesses are demanding more than ever." This is true. But an interesting tidbit from the article I read was that,
ReplyDelete"Beyond entry-level training and on-the-job training, 70% of United States jobs do not require more than a high school education, 20% require a college education, and only 10% require technical training." While one cannot deny that more and more jobs are requiring more and more education, it seems to me that the end result has less to do with global competition and more to do with making universities and companies that deal with educational software and prep tests, richer. I mean tuition is ridiculous these days. So while I do still like the common core as a guideline on how to teach my lessons and make them more specific, I'm disheartened that the goal seems to be another way for institutions to make a buck.
Jasmine,
ReplyDeleteI read the article “Common Core State Standards, Nonfiction, and the Need for Common Sense” which talks about the frustration that teachers experience since the standards haven’t been tested and whether or not those standards will be helpful for all students. There has been a lot of confusion since there is not one way to teach a specific standard and what a nonfiction text really means and consists of: What is the criteria that nonfiction text fits according to CCSS? There is not one specifically. Also, the fact that many standards are in need for more complex reading, “the Common Core State Standards Initiative even quotes a study stating that science books are more complex than literature books”, which makes me wonder of what really is a complex book. I could read science books in my own classroom, but I don’t think I would have a choice to what exactly I could choose from the literature books out there. Every book is complex in its own way, and the fact that the percent of reading more nonfiction by junior year should increase . Ed Spicer, a teacher and trading specialist from Michigan, is concerned with what happens and the the tools and knowledge students should acquire. Even though there is so much debate about the CCSS, he will “continue to chant that smart people read things again, both when they love them and when they don’t understand them, knowing full well that learning that complex task of understanding is key to learn to love ourselves as life-long readers.” There will always be standards, and who knows how long the CCSS will last, but we have to try our best and use our own judgement to what exactly works in our classrooms.
Hey Lorena,
DeleteI also read the Spicer article and I agree that teachers should be given more agency/opportunity to use their own judgement. Generally, I think the CCSS are ok as guidelines and allow for judgement... the problem for me is that high stakes attached to CCSS transform them from helpful, instructive guidelines to draconian mandates that place fetters on teacher judgement. If teachers and others rallied to slow down the high stakes testing than some less productive CCSS standards, such as the "70% nonfiction for juniors and seniors," could be mediated by teacher judgement.
Jasmine, I enjoyed reading your post and watching the video! There sure is a lot of talk about the CCSS leveling the playing field by letting schools and others know what is expected of their students' academic progress, however, people talk about this as though it is novel information. Have we not known for quite some time what our students will be expected to know and be able to do at certain grade levels? If this were the case, how would we have so many different national tests developed to let us know if our students are performing at grade level? I don't think the CCSS are giving us much new information, and when we think about them leveling the playing field, I wonder why we think this is the case. Will it not be the case that some schools will strive to meet the minimum requirements (and be unsuccessful), while other schools will continue successfully providing their students with a curriculum that is well above national benchmarks? Will our schools not continue to have great equity disparities? How does the CCSS address any of this? One of the articles I read, "Teacher Review: This is How Common Core Works in My Classroom" from Diane Ravitch's blog, makes a similar case about implementing the CCSS. The author discusses how her students have made great progress during their time in her class, but they are still not preforming as highly as CCSS wants on their standardized tests. She explains how the students have demonstrated mastery of the skills through portfolios and other assessments, yet, because of this one test they are considered to not have mastery. Basically, there is no one size fits all form of assessment, and yet will continue to act like there is.
ReplyDeleteJasmine,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the common core are a set of skills needed to students be successful in the classroom no matter where they are. In my history methods class, we talked about unpacking the common core, and seeing what each standard is asking and what you need to make sure your students understand. By doing this I could see the value in these standards, and why they were developed to make successful students.
Hi Jasmine,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up strong arguments for Common Core, as well as numbered points that correlate directly to student learning. All of those points are meant to make education more meaningful for students and this is also shown through the organization of the Common Core. Still, I see myself conflicted (just as I see many people posting). I think it's because there is no perfect solution for all teachers to unite under. Much of what we do is conditional and dependent upon our schools, administration, and students that makes it so diffuclt to assign one way of doing things. I think this might illustrate the Common Core's biggest argument against it: how can it measure everyone equally when every space and student needs something different? Sure, common goals are good (which is a positive aspect of the Common Core), but this quotation from one of my article has be suaded in more of a negative sense:
"But in Common Core they see a rigid, one-size-fits-all approach, drafted in private, that ignores how teachers teach and how children learn."
This statement is hard to argue with. There is truth in not having qualified professionals who are educators make educational decisions for all. There is negativity in uniformity. There is a consequence when not giving teachers the choice or their freedom to stray away from the Common Core in teachable moments. But again, I'm not sure which argument I buy into more.
Nice post!
Andrea
I agree with your point that there is no perfect solution for all teachers regarding the implementation of common standards. The article that I read “The “Common Core” Standards Initiative: An Effective Reform Tool?” refers to the Obama Blueprint document, which asserts that common standards are “important in achieving the equality goal of having all children, regardless of circumstance, achieve at high levels.” Though they are asserting that standards are an essential step toward ensuring equality and high-quality learning for all children, I do not think these standards will solve the problem and achieve the equality. Even with these standards in place, I think the question is how all schools and teachers are expected to achieve these standards with their current resources. The article states that it is believed that with these common core standards in place, students will be able to move from school to school across the nation and basically not have the continuity of their studies interrupted. I do not think this is plausible because the standards are so broad. The standards are not a set curriculum, so there are many different lessons and materials that can be used to implement these standards. These major differences in implementation do not allow for the continuity of their studies to be uninterrupted.
DeleteI see the Common Core standards an easy way out to the underlying problem that are faced by education. No one would disagree with high standards that promote a high quality of education. However, the way and reason as to why the common core is implemented has no rational what so ever. The common core again lies in a spectrum where it would like to produce college ready kids. What does College Ready imply? Critical thinkers of their own lives or good productive students? The common core does nothing to hold accountable people that actually need to be held accountable for kids lives and education. The article I read talked about some different alternatives to the common core. The link is giving me troubles so I will be sure to have a copy for anyone interested.
ReplyDeleteJasmine,
ReplyDeleteI agree with many of the comments that our fellow classmates have stated, the common core definitely can provide our future generation students with the necessary skills to work collaborately, be competitive in the global economy, and much more. The only issue is that it cannot alone fix the issue that's at large in the nation. I just believe that the common core tries to make students all accountable for their education and try to make them all try to compete with one another. Sounds like something you would find in a Suzanne Collins novel.
Hi Jasmine,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I appreciate the video you provided as it paints an interesting picture of the use of these standards for students and how they can prepare students for their future. As I mentioned in my other post, I don't know where I stand with the Common Core, but I can say I have understood the standards as a guideline for teachers in framing their curriculum. One of the articles I read for this week from U.S News seemed to completely bash the Common Core as it was argued that promises that were made in the implementation of the Common Core have not been fulfilled, as achievement gaps in testing have been observed in New York. However, in another article I read titled "What does Common Core look like in the classroom?" the author explains how she sees the Common Core as an opportunity to give students more control over their learning as she sees space for collaboration and more student responsibility in her vision of Common Core implementation. I found this interesting the read because the perspective piece I read quoted and argument from the president of the Chicago Teachers Union that the Common Core impedes collaboration and limits creativity. These conflicting attitudes towards the Common Core have confused me even more in my position regarding the effectiveness and potential of the Common Core standards as I can see the validity in each argument, but I guess that goes to show the complexity of this whole debate. I'll see how I feel after this week's class discussion.
I agree, common core can provide students and teachers a solid road map that can help us learn/teach. However we should not solely rely on common core to teach our students. We still should have the power to choose a lot of the material/way to teach our students with these standards. There is no "perfect" way/style/standard to teach with. I still believe it relies mostly on the teachers and students themselves to help our students be "college ready". In the end we are all seen as accountable for ourselves and our students.
ReplyDeleteThe point brought up about the standards not having a specifc lesson is so important. Teachers can always stretch parts of their lesson to meet the common core but this can pose a problem. While some standards have endless possibilites of effective lessons some can be adpated or modified but may not hit all the requirements of a standard.
ReplyDeleteCool whiteboard animation, Jasmine. I wonder how many teachers actually align their curriculum with the standards, and how many just choose one that closely resembles their goals and objectives post planning. It doesn’t help that the language is difficult to parse sometimes, and discerning one standard from another is tricky, too. I may be oversimplifying the issue, but I feel like the common core is just a way for bureaucrats to cover their backs when the nation isn’t doing so well academically. It’s like passing the blame and diverting our attention from the real factors, i.e., school funding, teacher quality, student-family dynamics, etc.
ReplyDeleteOne thing the worries me about common core is the words play. On the surface it seems like a very good idea to have a "common standard" for students everywhere, but how is this going to be assessed, and what are the stakes for schools that do not do well? In the article I read the author argues, "The plunging scores will be used as an excuse to close more public schools and open more privatized charters and voucher schools, especially in poor communities of color." If the standards were going to used as a guide for teachers, I would be fine with it. However we will know the next step is going to be assessments, and with assessments come benchmarks. We also can be sure those benchmarks will be high stakes. I supposed the next question to ask ourselves is... High stakes for who? Link to the article. http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/27_04/edit274.shtml
ReplyDeleteHi Jasmine,
ReplyDeleteJust as the others have mentioned, great post and video which you have provided. Along with the others, I too agree that as long as the common core will be utilized as a guiding tool for teachers then the common core is something which I'd happily reach out to and utilize. If however, it is utilized for in an entirely different manner then there's a serious problem. For me national standards of general knowledge is something which I'm prefectly fine with. One reason is out of praticality, if a student moves from one zip code to another or from one state to another, shouldn't it makes sense that, for the most part, the skills which the students has learned are adequate enough for them to jump in and to do decently well in a different school district that is located within the same country? I read an article in the Chicago Tribune titled "New comon core standards will raise the benchmark bar", which is highly favorable of the common core. I understand the politicians want for students to be as competative and competent as possible to attract jobs in an ever increasingly global economy, but for me there continues to be a lack of a specific and coherent plan on how to do that. Plus somethings are being omitted, for example comparing our school system to other countries, most other countires have a more homogenous population which eases the ability for their educational systems to do expectionally well so the comparison between the two cannot be accurate.
In short, I'm just as much conflicted with the common core as the rest of the class and hope that it will be used as a guideline towards improving students' knowledge rather than for other reasons which tend to hurt our schools the most.
Hey Jasmine,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I, like many others evidently, am conflicted about Common Core. My thoughts on it echo that old adage, "In theory it's good, but in practice..." The article I read by an author for the Washington Post tried to dissect some of the political viewpoints on Common Core, and revealed just how deeply nuanced it all is. I wasn't even really aware of all the reasons why various groups supported or didn't support CCSS until reading this article. Convincing our nation that implementation of Common Core is the right choice is difficult for multiple reasons. Conservatives see it too much of a "big government/federal takeover". Republican governors like Scott Walker "asked the state legislature to abandon Common Core." My conclusion is that Common Core is just so controversial and contentious because it asks SO much of schools, teachers, administrators, and parents on every level and is a dramatic change for everyone. I think that's what has most come to light for me, that's it's not as simple as I thought it would be, no matter which of the multidimensional sides you could be on regarding it.
Article cited: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/07/23/common-core-might-be-the-most-important-issue-in-the-2016-republican-presidential-race-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-it/
Article cited: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/07/23/common-core-might-be-the-most-important-issue-in-the-2016-republican-presidential-race-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-it/