Editorial: Common Core myths -- true or false?
8-year-old Michael Crisci holds a lanyard which students brought to schools stating they opted out of Common Core tests on April 1, 2014. Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara
THE NEWSDAY EDITORIAL BOARD
For many parents, students and educators, frustration has been the dominant emotion associated with Common Core. That frustration is likely to increase as parents receive individual scores for annual standardized tests students took last spring. These were the second set based on Common Core standards. And we already know there will be some unhappiness, because the statewide and district results were pretty poor: On Long Island, 43.4 percent of students in the third through eighth grades scored proficient or better in math. In English, 36.8 percent scored proficient or better.
Candidates in upcoming State Assembly and Senate races know that, and many are pandering and attacking Common Core as if it's academic Ebola.
But the solutions most are offering up make no sense and have no merit. Worse, they play into the worst misconceptions of many parents. So here's a little true-false test that will help clear things up:
1. Teachers and educational organizations oppose Common Core standards and curricula.
False. The United Federation of Teachers, New York State United Teachers and the majority of local superintendents and teachers across New York support the new standards, both in theory and in practice.
2. New York State can put a moratorium on Common Core and go back to the old lessons while we create new standards, as many politicians are suggesting.
False. That would mean entirely changing the state's method of teaching students, in the third year of these standards, with the intention of changing those methods yet again if the state comes up with another system everyone can agree on. It would be a cruel trick to play on students and teachers who are finally becoming comfortable with Common Core, and a step backward.
3. Classroom teachers were not involved in setting national Common Core standards or creating state or district curricula.
False. This is one of the most commonly and confidently asserted talking points of the anti-Common Core crowd. In fact, experienced classroom teachers were involved in every step of creating both the standards nationally and the lesson plans and curricula at the state and local levels.
4. These standards have no research to back up their appropriateness and no larger connection to educational progress.
False. The ideas behind the Common Core are partly informed by research around and results of the ACT college admissions tests. In addition, the ideas behind the Common Core are the driving force behind the redesign of the SAT, which will take effect next year. So students who don't succeed with Common Core likely won't succeed on their college entrance exams.
5. Common Core forces teaching to the test.
False. The new emphasis is on reading deeply for context and problem-solving, not cramming and memorizing.
6. Testing has multiplied, thanks to federal and state requirements and Common Core.
False. The state demands only year-end tests in math and English in third through eighth grades, year-end science tests in fourth and eighth grades, and five Regents exams in high school. Other end-of-year tests and all beginning-of-year tests are ordered by districts.
7. The implementation of Common Core across New York was handled poorly by the state in 2012.
True. New York did an atrocious job of providing helpful and promised lesson plans that legally were the responsibility of each district to develop. That's a shame, but the lesson plans have now been available for more than a year in most cases. Teachers and students are more in tune with Common Core. Federal and state money has been set aside to help districts eliminate excess testing and improve local assessment and lesson plans.
It would be highly difficult and unwise to go back. It's time for politicians, union leaders, educators and, yes, parents and students, to embrace the change.
