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A Letter to Parents About Common Core

7/17/2014

5 Comments

 
Dear parents,

As we begin a new school year, you have probably heard much about the new Common Core State Standards. Some of what I’m hearing is true, and some is not, so I’d like to dispel some myths about the standards and address concerns you might have.

First of all, some fear that these national standards are an attempt by federal politicians to take over education. Actually in the past political appointees wrote our state education standards. These new Standards on the other hand were written by educational researchers who know students and how they best learn.

Secondly, each state is given the opportunity to opt in to the Common Core Standards. They can also opt out at any time and write their own standards as in the past. They can even adopt the Common Core Standards and modify them if they wish.

In the past when every state wrote their own standards, it was difficult to compare the progress of students in California to those in Ohio or Texas as both the standards and the tests used to measure them varied dramatically. For the first time we have a level playing field for all students. Given that we live in a mobile society where it is not uncommon for students to move across country, it is time for a more consistent curriculum.

Some of the concern I hear is aimed at how the Standards are being taught. However, the Standards are simply that: a set of benchmarks by which student progress can be measured. The Standards do not dictate how schools should teach to reach these benchmarks. That is still up to individual states and school districts.

By far the majority of the concern I hear is regarding the materials being used to teach the Standards, but this too is not mandated by the Standards themselves. States purchase instructional materials from private publishing companies. These companies in turn write their curriculum according to guidelines set up by state education departments. If any of the materials being used to teach the Standards are deserving of a watchful eye, this should be attributed to the publishers and the appointees as the state education departments.

As a math teacher who has spent over three decades in the classroom, I care deeply about who I teach and what I teach. I am encouraged that for the first time the focus is on how students learn instead of on politics. In the past California had very rigorous standards, but they did not reflect the skills that today’s modern industry valued. The Common Core State Standards are not only based on valid research but on the skills students will need to enter todays technological society.

Sincerely,

Brad Fulton

Enterprise Elementary School District

[email protected]

5 Comments
Breann Sanders
7/26/2014 05:59:42 am

I think the new standard are great. I also believe there have been and will continue to be helping pains. One of the aspects that I find interesting about the new standards, at least in the primary grades is that we are returning to more center and small group teaching rather than whole group with short small group remedial instruction.

Reply
Jered
7/29/2014 06:30:22 am

Thank you, thank you, thank you. You said it so well.

Our nation is near the bottom of just about every ranking of developed countries in core subjects. We finally get the gumption as an education community to do more than just a couple of minor tweaks and conspiracy theorists are rampant. Chief among them Glenn Beck, whose words are blindly followed as gospel by millions. He has no idea what went into the development of the standards and their true implication in the classroom. But he sure does have a lot of people freaking out, and you hit these misconceptions very well in this article.

Reply
Jessica Jimenez
7/29/2014 08:24:21 am

What about school districts that are not adopting/purchasing a new common core curriculum. We are still using the old books which do not match the new standards. Now, the district has deemed us to be professionals and come up with our curriculum.

Reply
Brad Fulton link
8/19/2014 01:37:47 pm

That's a common problem, Jessica. We must remember though that the Common Core is not a curriculum. A "Common Core aligned text" simply means that the content matches the standards. Most texts already do that. How we choose to teach those standards is the curriculum. If your district is not providing training in that you can often find many free resources. Check out my website to start. I also provide site-level training if your district is interested.

Reply
Michelle Townsley link
9/4/2015 10:31:12 am

Well stated.

Reply



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    Brad Fulton is an award winning teacher and nationally recognized provider of professional development with over three decades of experience in education.

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