This morning, while laying in bed watching the snow come down, really wishing I could just sleep in, I got a text from a teacher friend of mine. It said, "Take time to read," and included an image entitled "The 8 Most Important Things You Need to Know About Your Child's Teacher and Common Core."
First, let me say that I'm sure this friend is a good teacher, though I've never seen her in action. (We went to college together.) Let me also add that I think there are legitimate concerns with the Common Core, student learning standards in English language and mathematics that have been adopted by most states. (I would encourage you to read what Diane Ravitch has to say on the subject, though I would disagree with many of her assertions as well.) Yet I also think there is a great deal of disinformation being given to parents and teachers, too. In my previous work, I learned a lot about the Common Core and even had to occasionally present on the topic.
Since part of the Common Core is evaluating claims with evidence, I thought I'd take a few minutes to address each of these "eight important things." I'm no expert, but I may have a little bit of insight.
1. "Your child's teacher did not create the Common Core standards, politicians did." Well, this is kind of true, depending on what exactly you mean by the word "create." The Common Core was created by a joint initiative of the National Governor's Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers -- "politicians." Used this way, you may also say that politicians "create" public schools, road systems, and the space program. But the standards themselves were written (i.e., "created") by teachers of English and math. I personally believe that higher education was over-represented in this process, but it is a mistake to believe that Congress may have debated whether i would still go before e, except after c.
2. "Common Core aligned instructional materials (books) are not provided to your child's teacher. Teachers are creating their own curriculum. Daily." This is also kind of true. Most textbook companies have struggled to keep up with the Common Core and states have been wary of adopting materials that claim to be aligned and are not. But my main response to this complaint is, "So what?" As a teacher of music, I actually never had a book that was aligned enough to my standards to simply teach from the book. I taught multiple subjects from year to year, including band, chorus, music appreciation, AP music theory, piano, and guitar and I wrote my own curriculum for every single one of these. You want to know a secret? This is what all good teachers do. Because teachers who just open up the book, read from it, and then assign the questions at the end are not really effective. I would also note that #1 above complained of lack of teacher input and #2 complains that teachers are given more autonomy.
3. "Teachers are being pulled out of their classrooms to learn about the common core [sic]. Teacher absences directly affect student performance. Negatively." This may be true in some areas, but it has nothing to do with the Common Core. If school districts reduce instructional time for teacher professional development, that is a local decision. The alternatives are to schedule professional development during non-instructional time (which is what most school districts in the nation do, contrary to this claim), not offer professional development when new standards or pedagogy are introduced in the classroom, or never do anything new.
4. "Math is new again. In order for your child's teacher to say your child as [sic] a successful math student, your child must explain - in writing - their [sic] thinking. Even if your child has a communication disorder like Autism [sic]." This one is just wrong. Math is not new, though the Common Core does expand approaches to the teaching of math. This is a good thing and allows more students, including those with learning disorders like autism, to succeed. Sometimes they may be asked to communicate their understanding in writing, sometimes they may do it verbally. I fail to understand why this is a bad thing. When a student has the opportunity to explain his or her process, the teacher is better able to understand student thinking.
5. "Your child is supposed to 'dig deep' into the standards, even though the foundation has yet to be laid." Firstly, the child is never meant to dig into the standards themselves; that is the work of the teacher. Secondly, the standards certainly do not ask teachers to dig deeply into their subject without foundational teaching. Actually, the standards are not prescriptive as to pedagogy at all. This one is just nonsense.
6. "Your child will be tested on the new standards before the teachers are trained, before instructional materials have been purchased (if they're ever purchased), and before adequate technology is available to facilitate test administration." Wait, I thought you just complained that teachers were being trained in the new standards (see #3). The two assessments that are being used for the Common Core, from the Smarter Balance Consortium and PARC, have not yet been administered, though the Common Core was released in 2010. That means that there will have been five years from release of the standards till the administration of the first assessment. There may be bumps along the way, including technology issues. This is just how change works, in any area. The alternative is to never change.
7. "Your child's teacher is becoming an alcoholic." Let me buy you a drink.
8. "Your child's teacher is looking for another job." There are numerous problems in public education right now, including an undue emphasis on standardized high-stakes assessment, the narrowing of the curriculum in some districts, the continued politicization of our schools, the charter school movement and the inequitable comparisons made between schools, school voucher systems that favor private schools, teacher quality due to filling positions with untrained "professionals," and much, much more. Anyone leaving the field now may be perfectly justified in doing so. But the Common Core is not one of these problems.
To hear what one talented teacher has to say about the Common Core, read here.
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