Common Core

January 10, 2020

Junior Megan Rodgers practices for the ACT in her 3B ACT Prep class Dec. 20. The ACT Prep class is taught by Mrs. Jacquin, and is meant for students hoping to prepare for/ improve their scores on the ACT. The class lasts one semester, but is available both first and second semester.

Definition & Purpose

The Common Core is an allotment of academic guidelines in math and English.The standards first set by state education chiefs and governors from 48 different states, that establishes what a student should have knowledge of by the end of each grade from kindergarten through senior year.

The intention was to ensure that all students across the U.S. had the skills necessary to graduate from high school and excel later in life, no matter where they live. This is achieved by making sure every school has guidelines that hold them accountable to teaching their students the right way according to the official site of common core.

Another purpose for Common Core is to catch up to the caliber of other countries’ education. In the most recent Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which tested math literacy in 2015, U.S. students ranked 40th in the world.

According to the official Common Core website, the criterion of the curriculum are:

“Research and evidence based.”
“Clear, understandable and consistent.”
“Aligned with college and career expectations.”
“Based on rigorous content and application of knowledge through higher-order thinking skills.”
“Built upon the strengths and lessons of current state standards.”
“Informed by other top performing countries in order to prepare all students for success in our global economy and society.”

A Brief History

Education requirements have been determined by state governments since the early 1990s.
“No Child Left Behind” was a national law passed by Congress in 2002. In order to receive more federal aid, the states were forced to measure progress of schools and punish those that were not meeting the goals as evaluated by standardized state tests in math and language arts. This act was criticized for imposing teachers to “teach the test,” in order to get more students to perform well on standardized exams, in the process limiting a teacher’s ability to be creative and hindering a student’s learning.
By the early 2000s, every state had formulated its own set of specifications of what students from grades three through eight and high school should learn. Each state had its own interpretation of how educated a student should be at the end of each grade level. The absence of a consensus is the main reason why states decided to pursue Common Core in 2009.
During the growth of Common Core standards were separated into two different categories: college and career readiness standards, and K-12 standards. Teachers played a vital role in the drafting process of Common Core. They even were “members of teams states convened to provide regular feedback on drafts of the standards.”

The Controversy

For the Common Core

College readiness because of increased difficulty and efficiency.
Questions on tests require different aptitudes, in the process improving higher thinking skills.
States’ performance can be compared accurately because of test scores.
Teacher collaboration (Since teachers are teaching the same curriculum they are able to collaborate and share their experiences with curriculum).

Against the Common Core

Too vague as the standards are not clear-cut and give teachers a lot of freedom.
Lack of modifications for students with special needs as there is not an equivalency test for special needs kids.
Focuses on standardized testing because states’ funding depends on good test scores.
There were material costs because it caused textbooks to be useless as they didn’t follow common core. In addition, schools had to buy new technology to allow their students to take the common core tests online.

People against Common Core argue that there are better alternatives out there that prepare students for college and career readiness. “Massachusetts once had standards that looked nothing like Common Core, were judged to be among the best in the country, and have an empirical record of contributing to academic gains for all Bay State students, as judged by National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests in grades 4 and 8, in reading and math, from 2005 on, and by The International Mathematics and Science Surveys (TIMSS) in 2007 and 2013.” Sandra Stotsky, a retired professor of higher education reform at the University of Arkansas, said.

Is Common Core working?

Supporters of Common Core argue that its system better prepares students for college, and students have a better understanding of what is expected of them. Opposers believe that it causes teachers to choose other professions due to the weight of making sure students perform well and focuses too much on standardized testing instead of centering on students’ understanding of the topic and what they learn.

Recent Events

Republican Gov. of Florida Ron DeSantis issued an executive order eliminating the Common Core early in 2019. DeSantis authorized the order because of the known criticism of the Common Core among parents in the state.