[lg policy] Problems with the Common Core National Standards

[Harold Schiffman]

Problems with the Common Core National Standards

Ze'ev Wurman and I wrote an op-ed that we published Dec. 11 as a guest
column on Jay P. Greene's Blog. The post was entitled: "Alternative
Needed to Common Core: An Additional Consortium for ‎Common
Standards."

We noted that some critics have pointed to the federalism problem. For
example, the Texas chief state school officer describes the Common
Core national standards as


an effort “by the U. S. Department of Education” to impose “a national
curriculum and testing system” and “a step toward a federal takeover”
of public schools across the nation.

But Ze'ev Wurman and I focused on the the problems of process and content.

In terms of process, we pointed to the longtime secrecy about who was
doing what and the secrecy about the drafts of the standards
themselves. We pointed to the tight timeline and asked whether it
allowed enough time for public comment.

We argued that although the process had been flawed, the situation is,
unfortunately, even more troubling on the content side.


The proposed English-Language Arts “college and career readiness”
standards (which we are told are not high school graduation standards)
are largely a list of content-free generic skills. Rather than
focusing on what English teachers are trained to teach (quality
literature), the drafters seem to expect English teachers to teach
reading strategies presumed to help students to cope with biology or
economics textbooks.

In mathematics, the standards are perhaps even worse. While
essentially all four-year state colleges require at least three years
of high school mathematics, including Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and
Geometry or above, CCSSI’s standards require only Algebra 1 and few
bits and pieces from Algebra 2 and Geometry. In other words, students
who graduate from high school having taken only math coursework
addressing those standards (and presumably having passed a test based
on them) will be inadmissible to any four-year college around the
country.

The remedy we proposed was an alternative consortium of states.


That consortium would be composed of states whose standards have been
highly rated by academic experts– like California or Massachusetts —
together with states like Texas and Alaska whose reluctance to jump on
the Common Core bandwagon has been clearly vindicated.

http://ed-policy.blogspot.com/2009/12/problems-with-common-core-national.html

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