Common Core: Good Idea, Bad Execution

Common Core has been getting a lot of press coverage as of late due to its widespread implication and many people qualms with it. The new standard for Math and English classes has thus become a subject of debate: whether it does what it is supposed to do, whether its implication is practical, whether it is really better than the old system, are but a few of the major debates currently going on. The firestorm that people have been waging across the internet is in full swing and shows no sign of subsiding. All we can do now is try to make sense of this mess. Perhaps the obvious question is the least talked about subject in this debate: Why did we even feel the need to make common core in the first place? You dont just make new curriculum for Kindergarten through 12th graders on a whim. So obviously someone felt that the current curriculum wasnt too effective. The mission statement of common core presented on their website is as follows: The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy. What I take away from that statement is three things: First they want a standard so all schools across the nation are teaching the same things. Second they want that standard to be high enough to prepare them for college. Third they want these standards to be on a competitive level

with the rest of the world. OK so if those are the things highlighted clearly those are the problems they are claiming common core is fixing. The first thing they claim is that their standards will be national standards. This has been a problem in the past after all. Transfer students have always been at a disadvantage in schools due to in their education, since different systems covered different things in a different order. I also see the advantage of all high school diplomas being approximately equal. It is simply fact that some schools are easier than others and produce subpar graduates. On the other hand common core only address Math and English, which nowhere near the entirety of the core curriculum. So claiming equality of all schools using common core may still a bit of a stretch. The second claim is that common core will prepare students for college level course work. This suggests that this wasnt always the case with high school. Some digging online shows this isnt a baseless concern considering a study by The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education shows that as much as 60 percent of college freshmen required some form of remedial education in math or English. The third claim is that that common core will bring us up to snuff with other countries curriculum. Now I cannot claim to be an expert in such things however Dr. William H. Schmidt can. He says that indeed our curriculum has lagged behind other countries in the past and furthermore asserts that Common Core in fact does deliver on that promise. Well then whats the problem? Well even if this new system was perfect it still needs to be implemented. Like any system Common Core is made to assume that you are moving through the system starting at the beginning and finishing at the end. However problems crop up when you are thrown in halfway through. The government is pushing for quick integration of Common

Core it has pressured school states to implement it at all grade levels quickly. Many problems with common core seem to stem from this rushed application. The first problem with this we mentioned three paragraphs ago. Remember how I mentioned that transfer students had it rough because they had to switch between curriculums? Well most of the United States high school students just became that student. But we have to have that problem some time right? Well not if you started by implementing it at kindergarten and moved it up every year. Of course this solution raises the problem of it taking 13 years to fully implement. That is time the government doesnt feel we have. Even then the government intends for students to start being tested by common core standards by 2015. Many opponents of the curriculum say there is no way the students will be ready. The second problem lies with the teachers. Teachers have oddly enough been thrown for the same loop as students. They suddenly are teaching slightly different sections of their subjects than they were before. You know this is a problem if you have ever had a teacher who was teaching a class for the first time. They have to write many of their lectures anew instead of just slightly adjusting last years lectures. This means more stressed more rushed teachers and while we have all had a few of them the idea of every teacher being like that is a nightmare. Many argue with another year or two leeway the teachers would have time to prepare for it and not have to do so in such a manic fashion. The third problem is that the current textbooks are written for the old curriculum. This may at first seem relatively unproblematic since they still contain the same basic material. However this leads to students approaching textbooks completely out of order. And while it may be less important to read a textbook in order than a literature book there is still the general

assumption that you have done the earlier chapters. The weight of carefully checking what the students do or dont know and figuring out what order the chapters now go in falls again on the teachers. This mistake will surely be remedied in a few years but teachers are in for a rough stint in the meantime. So is Common Core worth it? I think it is. Yes it was rushed into our schools and yes unfortunately the next two years are going to be annoyingly complex but I at least feel what will be gained from it will be worthwhile. A stronger basis of education will make our nation stronger. Hopefully it will result in higher pass rates for college and reduced remedial enrollment but only time can tell us on that one. If you think otherwise continue to rally and debate.(it is your constitutional right after all) However my final word on it is: Good Idea, Bad Execution.

Bibliography
1 . Common Core State Standards intiative. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct 2013. <http://www.corestandards.org/>. 2. Schmidt, William. "Dr. Schmidt's PowerPoint Presentation." Achieve. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct 2013. <http://www.achieve.org/CCSS-schmidt-research>. 3. Bell, Julie. "Beyond the Rhetoric." HigherEducation.org. SREB, n.d. Web. 16 Oct 2013. <http://www.highereducation.org/reports/college_readiness/CollegeReadiness.pdf>.