Last week the Tennessee House of Representatives voted to delay implementing the Common Core Standards and the associated PARCC exam. Using a combination of procedural posturing and late amendments Common Core opponents in the state legislature have sent a bill to the State Senate that would postpone the new standards and next generation exam until 2016.
This delay is wrong for students in Tennessee who are currently languishing under ill-conceived standards that lack the rigor to ensure that all students are college and career ready. Young people in this state are capable of much more and deserve the highest quality education possible, an education that they can be confident will equip them to compete with students from across the nation for both college acceptances and eventually career opportunities.
However, it is not simply students who will suffer if the legislature approves this last minute postponement of the Common Core. Across the state of Tennessee teachers have been working tirelessly to create materials and shift to the new, more rigorous standards established by the Common Core. This delay threatens to undermine all of that work, forcing teachers to shelve the innovative materials they have created this year and with limited turn around adapt to a new curriculum. This delay threatens our teachers’ ability to plan ahead and make strategic curriculum decisions.
The uncertainty created by this possible delay injects additional confusion around how a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom will be measured moving forward. Currently TCAP is set to be phased out in favor of PARCC next year and it is unclear how the upheaval introduced by the threat of this delay will impact how teachers value-added score (TVAAS) score will be calculated, or what it will be based upon.
Finally the potential of this delay also represents a waste of millions of dollars in Common Core aligned textbooks, the training of core coaches across the state, the investment in computer technology, and professional development for faculty.
Ultimately all change, especially major change, is hard. Without question implementing something as far-reaching and ambitious as the Common Core standards will create issues and as a state it is highly unlikely that we will ever be as ready as we want to be for this shift. The fact is that our students cannot wait. They are eminently capable and will rise to the standards that we as educators set for them. In addition to cheating our young people of the education that they rightfully deserve, the potential chaotic delay instigated by the Tennessee House of Representatives will hinder teachers from planning purposefully for the coming school year. This proposed delay represents another example of cheap point scoring by the legislature attempting to pander to the anti-reform crowd at the expense of our students and teachers.
To ensure that our students receive the education they deserve and our teachers ability to plan is protected contact your State Senators today and tell them to reject this last ditch effort to attack the Common Core State Standards.
By Ryan Winn
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I disagree. These standards are developmentally inappropriate. They will cause a generation of children to hate school. Tell your senators to DELAY and ROLL BACK he Common Core!
How?
Mr. Winn,
I must respectfully disagree with your assessment of Common Core in Tennessee (and John Alfuth’s and Casie Jones’s, for that matter).
Let me first begin by saying that I am generally a proponent of Common Core. I believe the theory behind the standards is sound. A unified set of standards will provide a strong educational backbone for our nation as a whole (or the 45 states that have adopted, at least). It will allow for an easy transition for students between states. Furthermore, it will allow teachers to share resources through such tools as Mastery Connect in a way that has never been done before. However, there are some very strong troubling issues with the roll out of the standards and their corresponding tesst that does indeed warrant pause.
For one, there is already uncertainty with the transition to Common Core. NPR’s Claudio Sanchez recently reported that “It turns out that seven out of 10 teachers say the transition to a curriculum tied to the Common Core isn’t working right now. Teachers also say that they need time to make sure that they understand the standards and are able to, more importantly, talk to parents about them, because parents right now are pretty clueless about all of this” (Q&A: A Crash Course… http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=291166780). When 7 out of 10 teachers do not feel confident concerning a major educational initiative, this is most certainly reason to stop, reflect on the source of the problem, and work to correct it.
Additionally, these standards and their associated tests were also used in New York State for the 2012-2013 year. There was a precipitous drop in achievement that academic year to 31% proficient or advanced across the state. It’s even scarier when considering children of color (16-19%) and devastating when looking at ELLS (3%) and those with disabilities (5%) (http://dianeravitch.net/2014/03/19/randi-warns-state-chiefs-common-core-is-in-deep-trouble-they-dont-listen/). This give cause to question the standards as developmentally appropriate, but the tests even more so.
I don’t believe that the waste of money presents a valid reason to continue on what could very well be a foolhardy mission. For years I have heard the reform movement parody the mentality of traditional public teachers, as “This is the way we’ve always done it, so why change now?” When I hear the current argument of most Common Core proponents I hear “This is the way we’ve been going, so why change now?” It’s as equally satirical, but no less accurate.
But it does bring up the very real issue of the money behind Common Core. Bill Gates, recently renamed richest man in the world with 76 Billion because of his investments in MicroSoft (http://www.forbes.com/profile/bill-gates/), has spent a relative pittance of 2.3 billion on Common Core at this point (http://northdenvernews.com/stunning-revelation-bill-gates-has-spent-2-3-billion-on-common-core/). And for good reason, Microsoft and Pearson have recently decided to team up to create curriculum for Common Core (http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1748922). Meaning not only did Gates have a direct financial investment the roll out of Common Core, MicroSoft double-downed on his wager. I believe there is something more tangible at stack than altruism for a lot of people speaking in favor of Common Core. I think it means to follow the money.
Let me end with a challenge to other proponents of the current course (again, I am a proponent of Common Core, just not its execution). I just provided several facts and references for the questionable way in which Common Core has been rolled out in not only Tennessee but also the country. I’ve heard nothing but blanket talking points, platitudes and conjecture. Knowing that the course is questioned, I think it is incumbent upon your camp to provide research-based reasons for continuing as is. I haven’t heard such arguments yet, rather, just empty rhetoric.
Again, I have hopes for Common Core. I think it is generally a good idea. Much like democracy and capitalism. However, it is because I am so hopeful that I and many other teachers are critical. It appear there are serious flaws in not only the standards and associated tests, but also in the their execution as well. For that reason, I agree that there should be pause and reflection in order to get this thing right the first time. We shouldn’t have to wait a decade to know if this “education stuff” will work (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/09/27/bill-gates-it-would-be-great-if-our-education-stuff-worked-but/). I think waiting two years is for full implementation will be a strong suit for The Core. It will give Teachers time to know the Standards well, to inform the parents. Furthermore, it will give time to better field test the standards and their tests (which Tennessee will be doing for the first time in the next few weeks), and iron out the kinks before full implementation.
My father whenever taking on a major project around the house would often say “Do it twice, do it right.” To which I often replied “Get it right, get it right, get it tight.” While all in jest, I think the same can be applied to our current educational honey-do project.
It’s actually “Get it ripe, Get it right, Get it tight.” But you get my point.
Well, here’s one article that I think lays it out for you: http://truthabouteducation.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/the-disturbing-transformation-of-kindergarten/
Basically, it causes children to feel like failures starting in kindergarten by expecting them to do tasks they are not developmentally ready to do.