COMMON CORE: BACKTOSCHOOL
Will it Water Down
Education?? Education by doug page
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hose pushing Common Core see the country’s schools in a desperate situation, needing to be fixed immediately if the nation’s youth aren’t to be condemned to future economic failure. Even Massachusetts schools require further improvement because too many Bay State public high school graduates are taking remedial classes in math and English in college or if they go directly into the work force, lack the reading and math skills required for the job, according to the Commonwealth’s top education officer. But those against Common Core see it as a nefarious attempt to reduce the state’s exacting standards for K – 12 education, making them more compatible to the whims of the man putting financial muscle behind the effort – Out-of-State Billionaire and Microsoft Founder Bill Gates – and not in the best interests of the kids. One detractor even says it’s like something out of Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World,” an effort to tailor the country’s workforce to the needs of Microsoft. Given these two very opposing views, what’s a parent to believe?
RIPE FOR CHANGE American public schools remain vulnerable to reform because standardized test scores, like the one administered two years ago by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), showed only 32 percent of U.S. eighth graders proficient in math. “Until the test scores improve, 42 AUGUST2013
schools will be seen as needing to be reformed,” says Paul Peterson, director of the program on education policy and governance at Harvard University. In Massachusetts, however, students are bucking the trends. About 50 percent of all Massachusetts fourth and eighth graders who took the National Assessment and Educational Progress (NAEP) exam two years ago were considered proficient in math and English. In another standardized test, also taken about two years ago, called Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which measured math and science abilities of Massachusetts eighth graders against their peers in 63 countries and nine U.S. states, Bay State students scored near the top in math, just behind children from South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. In the science portion of the TIMSS exam, Bay State eighth graders also scored near the top, falling only behind kids from Singapore. But Massachusetts Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester sees it differently. “Massachusetts citizens should be justifiably proud (of the schools), but having said that, our biggest disadvantage is complacency,” he says. “And so we point out that 50 percent of our students are proficient, but 50 percent are not.” “As well as we have done and as toprated as our public school system is, 40 percent of our public high school graduates who matriculate to public universities or community colleges in Massachusetts take at least one remedial, non-credit class because they don’t have the math and English skills
needed for college,” Chester says. “Too many of our students can’t read complex texts, technical information and non-fiction information, which is what they have to tackle in college courses,” he says. “They can write a personal essay, but when it comes to critiquing material they’ve just read, they don’t have the skills.” “Too many students are also without the math skills that let them tackle more advanced classes. They also struggle to apply math to real-life situations. These are the criticisms I’ve heard from many employers. They’re not one-offs,” Chester adds.
WHAT ABOUT MCAS? The standardized test kids have been taking since 1998 in the state, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Study (MCAS), will likely be replaced by a new, standardized test that’s given in 22 other states. The new test, called Partnership for Assessment Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), of which Massachusetts Education Commissioner Chester is the governing chairman, will test kids in grades 3 to 11, says J.C. Considine, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. PARCC tests for what Common Core is all about – career and college readiness. Chester says many high school graduates taking a remedial math or English class in college did well on the 10th grade MCAS test and that’s the reason for the new PARCC test. “We’ll know (with the PARCC test) whether someone in the eighth grade is
ready for the ninth grade and whether someone in the 10th grade or 11th grade is performing on track to finish high school and do well in college or in their career.” The first PARCC test is expected during the 2014 – 2015 academic year. “This is no science PARCC test, so the MCAS Science (test) will continue for now,” Considine says.
COMMON CORE DEFINED Common Core has two main components, mathematics and English. The math portion focuses instruction on fewer topics and goes into greater depth. This means first grade math not only introduces addition and subtraction but also makes kids understand the reason behind the answer. In the fifth grade, according to Common Core, children are adding and subtracting fractions and graphing data. There’s also a push, from the people developing Common Core, to move Algebra 1 from eighth to ninth grade, but Commissioner Chester says that doesn’t apply to Massachusetts. “School districts can continue to teach Algebra 1 in the eighth grade,” he says.
WATERING DOWN EDUCATION There’s much skepticism about Common Core because leading scholars on education policy take issue with the English and math portions of