Louisiana politics rant:
Here is an explanation of what the common core standards are, what they are not, and why changing student learning standards when it is politically advantageous is a terrible, terrible thing for students and their teachers.
First of all the common core standards are not a bad thing. They're not magic either. They are simply a big list of what students should learn in each grade. They are NOT a national curriculum. In fact, part of the problem for teachers in implementing the standards so quickly is that we had to basically create a curriculum for the standards. Let me be absolutely clear. STANDARDS ARE IMPORTANT! Without standards every single teacher would teach something different to students in each class. This would cause problems when students moved from grade to grade. If teacher A ensures her third graders master multiplication but teacher B focuses more on fractions when these students move to fourth grade they will be at vastly different levels.
The idea is that by standardizing what students should know at each grade it ensures students are being taught grade appropriate skills, rigorous material, and keeps them on pace to tackle advanced classes in high school and beyond. Having standards also makes it easy to compare students. They are tested using standardized tests and compared across the state and nationally. For years this standardized test has be the LEAP test. I remember taking the LEAP test when I was in 4th grade - so it's been around a while. Let me, again, be clear - standardization is NOT a new concept. In the past, though, each state made up their own standards; common core is a national version of that but states can add to the standards.
One argument I have heard against common core is that the math is too "hard" for elementary school kids. I say they should be challenged. The issue for many adults is that the homework they are seeing looks "different" than what they remember. Multiplying two digit numbers, for example is taught is a variety of ways, whereas most adults were taught one way in school, practiced that one way, and never realized that there are multiple ways to solve a problem or that by learning a variety of ways to solve a problem you are learning the concept behind the procedure. Students should know what it MEANS to multiply. I was asked the question by a student when I taught 7th grade math, "Why when you multiply 1/2 by 1/4 do you get 1/8? Multiplication is supposed to make things bigger not smaller, right?" Because I understand the concept of multiplication, I was able to show him with an illustration why 1/8 is the answer.
This is not to say the process is not important. Fluency - the ability to quickly do math is also a big part of the Common Core Standards. If this is not addressed in the classroom then the standards are being misinterpreted.
Today Governor Jindal announced the state of Louisiana will be pulling out of PARCC (PARCC is the test that was supposed to assess Common Core Standards for Elementary and Middle School students). He has asked the BESE board to make up new standards for each grade level and send them to the legislature so they can vote on them in their next session - next year.
As a reminder, we go back to school in mid-August. With today's announcement and the subsequent announcement from the state superintendent of education, teachers are unsure of what they will teach in 2 months. Most people don't realize how much work teachers do in the summer to get their classrooms ready for the fall. Right now none of that work can happen with the standards up-in-the-air.
So, Louisiana politicians take note: changing the standards what seems like every few years is a terrible idea. And as a reminder to everyone else, teachers are not only told to teach new things they are also evaluated on how well they do so and how their students perform on standardized tests. Tests that, if today's announcement is an indication, currently have no standards.
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