Review: The Common Core's Fundamental Trouble - 4

Hello Everyone.

I know. Back so soon. Just think of this post as an addition to my 3rd post reviewing Diane Ravitch's article.

I'll try to keep this review on Valerie Strauss's article (Washington Post) short and sweet.

In Strauss's article "The Common Core's Fundamental Trouble" she conveys her fears that the Common Core State Standards will fall doom just as the 2001, No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) did. She says that the resources needed to assess these standards of the CCSS are not available to many schools (i.e. computers and such). And like Diane Ravitch (refer to previous post), Strauss says there is not enough evidence or research to prove that the CCSS is as successful as they are claiming.

She writes:

"... the new Common Core tests will be considerably harder than current state assessments, leading to sharp drops in scores and proficiency. We have seen this show before. The entire country just finished a decade-long experiment in standards-based, test-driven school reform called No Child Left Behind..."

Strauss said that after nearly a decade with NCLB, it proved to be a "dismal failure" since more than half of the schools in the US were considered "failing schools." Strauss's biggest concern was that we are basically repeating history. Instead of seeing where we failed with NCLB, we just end up making an even more difficult system. Instead of CCSS preparing children to be "college and career ready" - it may just drive them right out of school, thus increasing the dropout rates.

MY RESPONSE: I can definitely see Strauss's (as well as many teachers, parents, and other school administrators) concerns for the CCSS. Some of it concerns me too. I do not believe that we should be drilling the idea of successful test scores and "pass this, pass that" into our children. Yes, I want my children to pass and be successful on their assessments and understand the material and content, as well as grasp the deeper meanings of their writing and reading and such. But not to the point that it makes children want to give up because it's too hard.

As much negativity as I have been hearing about Common Core in my classes, I was interested to see what elementary and secondary teachers (that I know personally) had to say about the CCSS. I posted a status on my Facebook page and received many positive comments about the program. These are teachers who are already working with the new standards, and they really seem to like it.

Here's one of the comments I received:

"I am on year 3 of implementing CCSS, and I love it. It does require a different mindset because it requires each grade level to focus on less objectives, but to go deeper in each skill. Instead of just touching the surface of addition, for example, we teach addition concepts from basic to very advanced. CCSS also requires instruction to occur across the curriculum, which is great for building reading fluency and comprehension while reading non-fiction Science text. I could go on and on.... I like CCSS, and I think it will help improve MS education."

Just by my posting and reading the comments, my mind is starting to be a little more open to the idea of Common Core. I am not completely sold just yet, but I will definitely continue to do my research and be more open-minded to it.

Until next time,

Emily