What's so bad about Common Core?

Great Debates
1

I’m on my phone so the usual helpful links to the issue and the various sides taken are lacking. Sorry.

The fascinating thing about Common Core is that what sounds like a perfectly reasonable thing - to ensure that all American students have a similar curriculum - had detractors not only on the right but also on the left.

Does anyone Like Common Core? Why does it seem like everyone hates it and does either side make a good point?

I tried to search the forum but nothing came up. Possibly it’s too, um, common of a word…

2

The big reason that people don’t like Common Core is because their kids are failing the standardized tests, specifically, in a lot of cases, their kids are failing the standardized tests. The opponents, which include some parents groups and some teachers groups, say that its because the common core standards are too rigorous and that it’s holding both kids and teachers to too high a standard. They’re also worried that schools that collectively don’t do well on the tests will wind up being punished.

Supporters say that, yes, it does hold kids and teachers to a high standard, but that’s the point…you need some way to evaluate what kids are learning and a standard of what kids should learn, and that these are the appropriate standards, and that if students and schools don’t do well at first, then that’s not something to be alarmed by, but it just shows the schools where they have to improve.

3

When so much depends on the results of Common Core tests scores, subjects that Common Core doesn’t focus on get left at the curb. Here are the basics about Common Core. Notice any school subjects missing?

4

It’s arbitrary. In a nutshell, CC says, “smart, successful kids learn [this] and can do [this] at [this level]; so… let’s make all kids at [that level] do all of that. Instant success!”

5

There are some criticisms of it on strictly educational grounds; the tests are poorly designed, they test the wrong things, etc. Also, even though the rhetoric is that these are just “learning goals” not “curriculum,” the reality is that they’re detailed enough that they are going to make a huge impact on what teachers do in the classroom.

Some conservatives oppose it because they see it as Washington inserting itself into things that have traditionally been state & local decisions.

Some Liberals oppose it because they see it as Washington inserting itself into things that have traditionally been state & local decisions.

Some teachers oppose it because it carries with it the specter of accountability; there is a long history of people saying they aren’t opposed to standardized testing in theory and not opposed to accountability metrics per se, just the ones currently under discussion … but then they say that about every standardized testing or accountability metrics system proposed.

I’m not a fan because I’m a libertarian and not a fan of large, nationwide, one-size-fits-all initiatives. If you’re philosophically more amenable to the idea of a nationwide curriculum … and you really should think that through all the way … IMO they’re not bad. Not perfect, but nothing will be.

6

We’ve had the tests long before Common Core. I’ve never understood why anti-high-stakes standardized testing equals anti- common core.

A lot of the arguments against Common Core are based on misinformation about what the Commen Core State Standards really are.

7

I’ve been exposed ton some of the coursework at the 1st grade level through kids. Only regarding math - most of it is fine. I think about 5% of the worksheets and homework I look at I find are so poorly designed that I can’t determine what the question is let alone the right answer. If I can’t determine what is being asked there is a problem with the worksheet.

I’ve seen examples of indoctrination type problems on the English side but I think that’s just par for the course. I expect that’s been happening since long before CC.

8

Much of the opposition I’ve seen starts with ‘the federal government should mind it’s own business!’ and then reaches for reasons to not like it.

9

Does Common Core teach economics, government, or the arts?

10

History? Social Studies?

11

Your link in post #3 includes a section for English Language Arts (reading, writing, speaking & listening, language, media & technology), and a section for Mathematics Standards (mathematical practice, mathematical content), but I didn’t see any mention of the social sciences or the arts. Are they indeed included in Common Core curriculum?

12

The Common Core curriculum is only about the core subjects of language arts and math. It doesn’t address science, history, etc., etc. Those things are left to state and local standards, as they always have been.

My understanding is that the Common Core concept was coming along nicely as a state-driven initiative to improve educational standards. Then Barack Obama endorsed the idea, and all of a sudden it became EEEEEvil.

13

Well, I guess you didn’t search very well.

Here’s a very recent thread where a lot of the issues which came up directly relate to your OP here. Much of the ignorance and many of the misconceptions that have ***already come up here in this thread ***were addressed in that thread.

14
  1. The Common Core is NOT a curriculum; it is a set of standards. Anyone telling you otherwise is ignorant or fibbing.
    [ul]
    [li]A curriculum is lesson plans – “we will read this, and then do that, and then do the other thing.” [/li][li]A set of standards simply says “by the end of time period X, we expect students to know/do Y.”[/li][/ul]

The latter definitely will impact the former, especially a set of standards as detailed as the Common Core; but they are not the same thing. It’s legitimate to suspect national standards today leads to national curriculum tomorrow … I share that suspicion. But what is being advanced today is not that.

  1. The fact that Common Core does not include things other than Math and Language standards does not in any way mean those things are not going to be taught. It focuses on those for three reasons

a) They are the foundation for everything else.

b) There is already some degree of agreement on what specific math and language skills students should have by third grade, seventh grade, etc. By comparison, there is *wild *disagreement among various state & local boards about what art and social studies and the rest look like at various grade levels. As in, essentially no agreement at all. Any standards you set down would necessarily blow up entire K-12 subject progressions antionwide

c) Related to the above, the political reality is that setting nationwide standards for anything is damned difficult without trying to simultaneously give standards for everything. Insisting that CC include Art and all the rest kills it politically.
It’s reasonable, IMO, to argue that when some part of a school’s funding is tied to meeting CC standards, they’ll focus on those to the detriment of everything else. That’s part of why I oppose them. But there are reasonable arguments the other way.

15

There is a HUGE amount of pure shit out there passing as “common core” worksheets, drills etc.

Mrs. B. brought one home (she works with several schools), boiling mad at the absolute jaw-dropping shittiness of it. It took me about five minutes to trace the website - which sounded Very Authentic - to a junk purveyor of encapsulated lesson plans and drill books, five minutes more to trace all the subsidiaries. It’s one of those companies run out of a garage by five people without enough educational credentials between them to teach a dog obedience class. And, true to Bill Gates’ old joke, they have made their crappy curriculum materials “common core”… by stamping “Common Core” on the cover.

It’s a field day for these predatory fakers. And what little value CC might have is being undermined by their essentially counterfeit teaching materials.

Website URL available on PM request.

16

I agree that generally speaking this is a clear possibility when such standards are not implemented well. But you have to keep something in mind . .

. . . the standards that get listed under “English Language Arts” are all standards which undergird success in these above subjects.

Common Core doesn’t “teach economics, government,…” etc., or anything else. It’ NOT a curriculum. Until a person grasps this concept he or she can’t really discuss this subject fruitfully.

(ETA: In the intervening time for me to write my post furt addressed my point above.)

17

The history of opposition to the Common Core is pretty absurd.

It began as a common sense bipartisan effort spearheaded by the state governor’s association. Every state has standards of some kind. Some of them are really good, and some of them are a little weak. So right now, it’s very hard to share resources (lesson plans, text books, best practices) across states, leading to a lot of duplication of effort. An amazing second grade teacher in Maryland may come up with some great materials, but they won’t be any good for teachers in DC or Virginia who are required to teach to slightly different standards. There are all kinds of great online lesson banks and the like, but it’s hard to make them really work with 50 different standards.

Another issue is that it’s hard to compare education across states, making it difficult to learn much about what works and what doesn’t. Every state can be compared against it’s own standards, but you can’t easily compare performance of education systems across states. It’s hard to get a national picture of which states are working and which ones aren’t.

So the basic idea was that states wanted to collaborate to create a set of shared standards, based on best practices from states with well-crafted standards. It’s worth remember that standards are about what a student should be able to do at a certain point, but are not about what to teach or how to teach it. So, the standards may say that a seventh grader should be able to write a basic essay, but it’s up to the school/district/state exactly how to go about teaching that and what types of assignments to give. At the moment, the only “Common Core” standards are English Language Arts and mathematics, although various organizations are trying to build support for other standards. There are two competing assessment consortia developing assessments for them (which are voluntary for states.

Anyway, all was buzzing along, and then two things happened.

One is that low-achieving southern states started to get cold feet about being compared to other states. The assessments are not absurdly difficult, but in some cases they are a lot more rigorous than what people are used to. They definitely won’t let high schoolers who can’t read and the like slip by.

But more importantly, a pretty small group of bloggers and local politicians decided to try to make this a thing. They started posting pretty absurd things- stuff like claiming PETA manuals were now mandated instructional material. Since few people knew much about the Common Core at that time, these urban legends started spreading pretty well. Eventually, more mainstream politicians took note at the “grassroots” opposition and decided it would be a good wedge issue, tied it to Obama/federal overreach, and the rest is history.

18

Does Common Core directly impact adults in any way? Is there any sign that states will require people with older high school diplomas to “go back” and fulfill Common Core criteria, or is this only directly relevant to kids (and indirectly relevant to parents of kids who have to deal with it) and teachers?

19

I think you’re greatly underestimating its unpopularity on the left. Lots of progressives see it as Corporate-America-opposed. Diane Ravitch opposes. The NEA and AFT have been pretty split internally, and they end up saying things like “we support the idea of it, just not the actuality.” I am currently taking a graduate ed class in a state school, and pretty much all of the students oppose it; all are politically liberal, AFAICT.

As a matter of politics, the opposition is coming from both wings against the middle.

20

Seriously? How could a state require anyone to go back to high school?

The OVAE is coordinating ways for states to implement parallel standards into adult education programs, but that’s going to take a while.