Common Core vs. State Standards
By: Amber Hublar — November 2014
Imagine being a teacher scrambling to recreate your lesson plans that you have so diligently prepared and implemented over the past years. All of the chaos was created when your state introduced the nationwide held curriculum for standards known as the Common Core State Standards. Proponents of this plan believe that these standards will create a level playing field for students across the country and will benefit them in the long hall by helping them to be better prepared for college. Others believe that the standards that they have been working towards are just fine and are creating successful students and future employees. This is a serious and an ongoing battle between educators and state government leaders as to what is the best means for educating the future of our country.
History
According to Griffith’s research (2014) “the Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-based effort to anchor U.S education in a shared set of high academic standards.” These standards reformed previous English Language Arts and Mathematic standards and were introduced in 2010. The Common Core standards have been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia in the United States (p. 3). The standards were created to help level the educational playing field throughout the country. Creators of these standards believe the standards will help to create an educational equity and equality to all students regardless of nationality, race, or where in the country one lives.
Along with evening the playing field of education, proponents of these standards also believe that the standards will help to create more college and career ready students. According to McLaughlin’s book, The Common Core Teaching: k-5 students to meet the reading standards written in 2012 this college and career ready knowledge is “the acquisition of the knowledge and skills a student needs to enroll and succeed in credit-bearing, first-year courses at a postsecondary institution, not needing to take remedial courses in college”(p. 2). These standards are said to align with college and work expectations, are clear and consistent, rigorous in content and application of knowledge, build upon previous state standards, are evidence based and are informed by other top preforming countries.
According to the Common Core State Standards Initiative organization (2014) there were six major shifts that the developers and creators of the Common Core State Standards called for. In the English Language Arts section they said that students needed “regular practice with complex texts and their academic language”. This meant including texts like Shakespeare, historical documents and classical myths into the curriculum. By including these texts, students would be able to increase their vocabularies of words that appeared in these texts and across the different content areas. The second reform requires students’ “reading, writing and speaking be grounded in evidence from texts, both literary and informational”. The main focus of this shift was for students to be able to answer questions both verbally and written and answer these questions using the information they gained from reading texts, not just their prior knowledge. The third shift called for students to “build knowledge through content-rich information”. This means that students will need to have a 50–50 balance between the fiction and non-fiction texts that they read.
There were also shifts that were called for in the Mathematics section of the standards. The first shift called for a “greater focus on fewer topics”. The creators implemented a few key concepts for teachers grades K-2nd, 3rd-5th, 6th, 7th and 8th to follow for their specific grade levels. This was meant to increase students’ understanding, skills and ability to apply the information to life outside the classroom. The second shift was for “coherence: linking topics and thinking across grades”. This was meant to help students remember topics by continually reviewing topics and adding more information to these existing foundations. The third shit was for “rigor: pursue conceptual understanding, procedural skills and fluency, and application with equal intensity”. This requires students to have a deep understanding of these mathematics topics and to be able to apply this knowledge and skills to the classroom as well as examples outside of the classroom. All of these changes were to help students be more college ready and equal to the top international students.
Many people were involved in the creation and publication of the Common Core State Standards. The developers of these standards came from three private organizations known as the National Governors Association (NGA), the Council for Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and Achieve, Inc. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation founded the standards. The head writers for the ELA standards, David Coleman and Susan Pimentel, have never taught reading or English in K-12 or have had any experience with the English curriculum. The head writers of the math standards, Jason Zimba and William McCallum, had some experience teaching mathematics but had zero experience in K-12. These people were chosen by the organizations that developed the standards.
Opinions
Political leaders, educators and parents all have their own opinions on these newly released Common Core State Standards. In 2010 the state of Indiana adopted these new standards. According to then Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Bennett (2010),
“In, Indiana our goals for students are on target with those of the Common Core. Adopting the Common Core State Standards gives clearer and higher standards than ever before”.
With the support of other government officials, the state officially adopted these new state standards. It was planned that these standards would begin being implemented in schools during the 2011–2012 school year and would be fully implemented by the 2014–2015 school year (30). However many people were skeptical of these new standards and their effectiveness. Some like Indiana’s state senator, Dennis Kruse, believed the Common Core standards would create a “cookie-cutter education system”. This meaning that the standards did not allow for a variation in learning, all of the standards would only have one level and no exceptions. Parents and educators also expressed concern for the education and assessment of their children under the Common Core standards.
In 2014, with new government leaders in place, opponents’ opinions on the Common Core State Standards in Indiana began to get louder. Ultimately, Governor Mike Pence along with State Superintendent, Glenda Ritz, decided to put a pause on the Common Core standards in Indiana. In March of 2014 governor Mike Pence signed the piece of legislation known as, Senate Bill 91, to end the use of Common Core in Indiana schools. During the summer of 2014 educators, government officials and educational experts frantically worked to create a new set of state standards for Indiana schools. This abrupt change in course caused even more chaos for teachers and parents in Indiana schools. According to a WDRB news report in 2014, many Indiana parents were in an uproar with this decision and the outcome of these new standards. One father claimed,
“You’ve lost my respect, you’ve lost my support and I’m not the only one”.
This parent in particular was very upset that the government was once again changing the academic standards for his child’s school. Many parents like this one were displeased with the new reforms. Although these reformers of the Common Core standards believe these new standards will better serve the educational system in Indiana, many are not pleased. According to Joe Gramespachcer, a veteran teacher,
“I don’t think this current slapdash effort to create new standards serves anyone, especially kids, very well.” (Wall Street Journal)
With so many uncertainties and unanswered questions many teachers and parents have divided opinions of this hot topic in education.
Remake
After this committee of government leaders and educators finished revising and working to create standards that are “by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers” Indiana had released their new standards in April 2014. Many believe that these new standards are not really new at all. Instead these standards are simply the board’s own spin on the Common Core standards.
According to Ze’ev Wurman, a mathematics standards expert found that “The majority of the standards [in Indiana’s new state standards] have been imported, some word for word, from the Common Core.” (TruthinAmericanEducation)
Instead of making the standards more efficient some would say that these new standards are even harder to mange than the Common Core. After reviewing many statements like this, it is only logical to compare to see how these “new” Indiana standards can compare to the Common Core.
Comparison
In both the Common Core State Standards and the newly drafted Indiana State Standards there are standards mapped out for students in English Language Arts and Mathematics for grades K-12. Although these critically acclaimed “new” standards are supposed to be improvements from the Common Core standards, many standards are very similar and sometimes worded in an identical way to the Common Core standards.
For example, the Indiana State Standard for Kindergarten geometry (K.G.3) states, “compare two-and three-dimensional shapes in different sizes and orientations, using formal language to describe their similarities, differences, parts (e.g., number of sides and vertices/”corners”) and other attributes (e.g., having sides of equal length).
The Common Core standard K.G.B.4 states, “Analyze and compare two- and three-dimensional shapes, in different sizes and orientations, using formal language to describe their similarities, differences, parts (e.g., number of sides and vertices/”corner”) and other attributes (e.g., having sides of equal length).
The two standards are almost identical to one another and so are several others of the standards. If the majority of the standards are so similar in wording, then what was the point of rewriting these new standards? It seems that this remake has caused more chaos than benefits. Teachers are now being forced to abide by and learn a new set of standards that they must implement in order for their students to pass yet another new state standardized test that will be given in the spring of 2015.
Conclusion
Imagine yourself as a teacher in Indiana. After abiding and implementing lessons that followed the state standards, you were forced to learn a set of standards known as the Common Core. You finally have what you think to be solid understanding of these new standards and now the state has once again decided to change the standards for which you are to implement in your classroom. Teachers in Indiana are now in the process of implementing these acclaimed “new” state standards and trying to prepare their students for yet a new standardized testing system to test students on these standards. It seems that Indiana is not the only state to ditch the Common Core Standards. Several other states including Oklahoma, South Carolina and Florida to name a few are revising or considering dropping the Common Core Standards. With so many governors recalling these standards, could this be a way to win approval of voters or are the changes solely being made to aid students?
Genre Piece #1 : Food Label
These food labels were created to present the different elements found in both the Common Core State Standards and the newly revised Indiana State Stanards.
Genre Piece #2- School Flyer
These flyers could be handed out on either registration day or the first day of school to inform of the parents of what standards the school will be following.
References
· Auld, L. (2010, August 3). Indiana Adopts Common Core Standards. Retrieved November 4, 2014, from http://www.edweek.org/media/commoncoreadoption.pdf
· Banchero, S. (2014, August 20). Indiana Drops Common Core. Gov. Mike Pence Signs Legislation Withdrawing State From Math and Reading Standards. Retrieved November 4, 2014, from http://online.wsj.com/articles/indiana-drops-common-core-1395700559
· Carden, D. (2014, March 13). Indiana set to dump Common Core education standards. Times, The (Munster, IN). p1.
· Corsey, G. (2014, May 14). Decision to drop Common Core causes fallout in Indiana. Retrieved November 4, 2014, from http://www.wdrb.com/story/25515931/no-more-common-core-causes-fallout-in-indiana
· Griffith, K. Kornhaber, M.L & Tyler, A. (2014). It’s not education by zip code anymore- but what is it? Conceptions of equity under the common core. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 22 (4). 4–10.
· Indiana Department of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2014, from http://www.doe.in.gov
· McLaughlin, M. & Overturf, B. (2012). The common core: teaching k-5 students to meet the reading standards. Newark, DE: International Reading Associations.
· Preparing America’s students for success. (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2014, from http://www.corestandards.org
· Tuttle, E. (2014, March 8). Comparing Indiana’s “New” K-12 Math Standards with Common Core. Retrieved November 4, 2014, from http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-state-standards/comparing-indianas-new-k-12-math-standards-with-common-core/
· Ujifusa, A. (2014, March 24). Indiana Gov. Pence Voids 2010 Adoption of Common Core State Standards. Retrieved November 4, 2014, from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/state_edwatch/2014/03/indiana_gov_pence_voids_2010_adoption_of_common_core_state_standards.html
