Breath and the Common Core

The Common Core is back in the news today. The state senate was grilling the education commissioner, John King about the roll out of the standards. The legislators are responding to pressure from parents and educators who believe the state has moved too quickly in implementing the standards and connecting test results to teacher evaluations. The critics are also combining their protest of the standards with the state's relationship with inBloom, a data warehousing company, concerned about the security of their children's information. One senator claimed their was "... overwhelming evidence that we are moving at too fast a pace and not giving our students proper training in these new principles". 

In my career of 32 years in public education, I cannot remember ever hearing such a ruckus about standards. We have always had them, always taught to them, and always assessed them whether formally, informally, formatively, or summatively. My feeling is that some people, teachers in particular, are fed up with testing and now they have an ally in the parents. This is a dangerous combination. Teachers fearing accountability and parents worrying that their children will be stressed. 

The governor is getting involved as well, stating that "The way Common Core has been managed by the Board of Regents is flawed. There is too much uncertainty, confusion and anxiety." It's hard to argue with the second half of that statement, but he provides no evidence other than people are anxious and confused. Typically, in a show of decisive leadership, he is going to form a committee and they will remedy the situation.

In my opinion, this will all subside with time. In education, the common strategy for dealing with change is to ignore it or resist it. I hope this change isn't going away. The Common Core is more rigorous at the bottom end and perhaps, not rigorous enough at the top. But according to my friend, Heidi Bromley, who is a math consultant for Questar BOCES and involved in training teachers to implement the new standards in math throughout the state of New York, the standards are solid and well within the capabilities of students to handle K-12.

So my advice is to breathe, relax, the turmoil will settle. I have faith in the resilience of children and those who teach them. I do not have the same faith in politicians when they try to inject themselves into the education milieu.