The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in mathematics and English language arts are set to be implemented in many states across the country next year.  The CCSS will be the content basis for national computerized tests being developed by two consortia, The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and Smarter Balanced Assessments.  On the heels of these standards and assessment movements is the roll out of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) next year.

The Common Core State Standards appears to be more of a lightning rod for dissent than it is a reform initiative for public education.

The CCSS, PARCC, Smarter, and NGSS have created an atmosphere in the U.S. that is playing out in state legislatures, departments of education, corporations, school districts, and blogs.  Opinions on these “reforms” span the political spectrum from the right-wing to to the left-wing.  The blogosphere is full of stories and articles about the Common Core and national assessments.  I’ve sampled a few here to show how opinions range from the extreme right to the far left.

Naïve Conceptions

On Valerie Strauss’s blog, principal Carol Burris, an author of a book about how to help schools meet the goals of the Common Core, admits now that she was naïve.   She now realizes that standardized tests control teaching and learning.  Burris, who thought the common core would be student-centered, now believes that common core in the end will punish students and teachers, and not be a tool for school improvement.  Using student tests to evaluate schools, and teachers does not promote the kind of student-centered learning that she thinks should be the center of school reform.  She includes several anecdotes of teachers who work in a “data-driven” environment and spend enormous time simply doing “test-prep.”

She talks about Michael Fullan, a well known international school reform advocate.  She writes that Fullan believes that present reform is led by the “wrong drivers of change,” individual accountability of teachers, which are linked to test scores.  Fullan suggests that standards and assessment needs to be replaced with the emphasis on curriculum and instruction.

I am not sure this will happen.

Teacher Education

Arizona’s House HB 2563, a general education bill about Arizona’s public education system, requires that teacher education programs be based on the common core, and other content standards.  But the real issue is this one.  The nation is being set up to use common standards to develop common national tests (PARCC and Smarter).  Every state that adopts the common standards will likely adopt either of the common assessment tests.  Student test scores will be used as an indicator of teacher effectiveness, and as a result many states have insisted that part of a teacher’s evaluation be based on the progress of students on standardized tests.  All Race to the Top winners had to include that stipulation in their proposal to be eligible for funding.  Now, there is a move to hold teacher preparation institutions accountable in the same manner.   Graduates of teacher preparation institutions will be followed into teaching, and their K-12 student test scores will be used to evaluate their college teacher preparation.

This is a dangerous idea.  In fact, most of the thinking around using test scores to measure student learning, or to rate teachers are dangerous ideas.  They are based on a crude understanding of behavioral psychology.  Most educational researchers have rocketed past this form of psychology, and indeed, have invented a new science, “the learning sciences.”  The learning sciences is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to understand human learning.  It includes fields such as cognitive science, computer science, educational psychology, anthropology, and applied linguistics.

Teacher education is a complex field of study, and using simple techniques as content tests given to school age students to look back and evaluate the preparation programs of teachers disregards the progress that has been made in how humans learn.

Progressive and Student-Centered Learning?

There are many educators who believe that the Common Core movement, along with the Next Generation Science Standards are moving schools further away from progressive and a more personalized approach to education.  On the Innovative Education Blog, Lisa Nielsen writes that the Common Core is a back-to-basics approach, and advances the idea that all kids of the same age should learn the same content.  Examine the Common Core Standards in Mathematics and English/Language Arts, or the Next Generation Science Standards, and you will find standards related to age.

Standards are like brick walls, and tend to impede communication between teachers and students, and deny the kind of creative thinking that teachers wish to bring to the classroom.  Unfortunately, research reported on this blog suggests that standards have not been effective in promoting learning, and present barriers to teaching and learning.

Withdrawal Legislation

According to newspaper accounts, tea party groups like Americans for Prosperity, Conservatives in Action and the Georgia Republican Assembly are supporting Georgia’s SB 167.  It is an education bill that declares certain actions void ab initio (to be treated as invalid from the outset) relating to the Common Core, student records and testing.  This is an amazing bill.  Three years ago, Georgia picked up nearly $500 million from the Race to the Top program which required the state to participate in the Common Core.  Now, the Georgia legislature wants to pass a law that would not allow the Georgia Department of Education to adopt the Common Core standards and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC.  Here, in brief, are some parts of the law:

to prohibit state education agencies from entering into any commitments relating to the federal Race to the Top program; to require hearings and public input prior to adoption of state-wide competencies and content standards; to limit the compilation and sharing of personal student and teacher data; to prohibit the expenditure of funds for a state-wide longitudinal data system except for administrative needs and federal grant compliance; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

In essence, the Georgia legislature will require the Department of Education to renege on its commitments to the Race to the Top Program.  It also will not allow the state to adopt national standards of any content area including science, social studies, health education, and national sexuality standards.  If the bill gets through, these new regulations will be effective July 1, 2013.

In Alabama, House Bil 190, which passed and now waits for action by the Senate, seeks to overturn the state board’s 2010 adoption of the common core standards.  It will also require legislative approval for all future statewide standards passed by the board of education, and limits the sharing of students and teacher data outside the state.

Conspiracy Theories

Claims of socialist take over of education, and of communist philosophy appear to have found their way on to an Alabama blog (Education without Representation),  On this blog, the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, is seen as the pawn who is pushing an educational agenda that is straight out of the constitution of the Communist Party USA!  These bloggers want to reclaim “educational liberty,” On their site they have a chart entitled United State Against the Common Core State Standards.  The chart is a valuable tool for those who wish explore other conspiracy theories related to the common core.

Red Herring

Tim Furman, an educational blogger from Chicago, suggests that the common core is a red herring.  I would agree.  As he points out, how will new standards really have any impact on helping children in poverty, considering that so many “reformers” think poverty has nothing to do with literacy or learning.

Roadmap and Articles

There is a lot of activity around the country in the wake of the development of Common Core State Standards, and the forthcoming implementation in thousands of schools around the country.  Education Week has published articles on the common core that you can access here.

What do you think about the Common Core?  Should U.S. schools adopt the Common Core?