COMMON CORE: ANALYZING SETBACKS

Common Core: Analyzing Setbacks and

The International Competitiveness in Education
Natasha D. Torres
January 20, 2014
Liberty High School
Senior Inquiry

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School is a part of 54.8 million American students lives from

prekindergarten through twelfth grade (National Center for Education
Statistics, 2014). All across the nation, students are learning subjects such as
reading, math, and science. Unfortunately, educational standards have not
been consistent throughout the states. Even within districts there is an often
inconsistencies of what is being taught at each grade level. This means that
first graders in one state could be learning the same material as third
graders in another part of the country, or even in a different school within
the same district. Overtime each state created its own collection of
benchmarks that made it very difficult to compare the level of education
between states, as well as complicating international comparisons. This
broad inconsistency brought forth a new system: common core. This system
prepares students to graduate high school and be successful in college.
Many states, in their own way tried doing so, but they could not accomplish
this with uniformity due to the variations of benchmarks. Having uniformity
within the nations educational standards can be helpful and a good tool for
many, especially those who move a lot. The way common core has been
constructed shifts standards to focus on increased competition and high
stakes testing rather than academic growth.
Common core is a set of nationwide standards outlining what kids
should know at the end of each grade level. The National Governors
Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)
worked with other educational organizations, such as the American

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Federation of Teachers (AFT) and National Education Association (NEA), to

create these standards. Along with other professionals in education, this
team analyzed two sets of information before creating these standards: first
determining what colleges expect students to know before they graduate
high school, and second incorporating those standards into k-12 education.
Across the Nation forty-three states, the District of Columbia, four
territories, and the Department of Defense Activity, have voluntarily adopted
and are moving forward with common core(NGA and CCSSO 2010).
Although, most states already accepted this system, not all have
incorporated it yet. Oregon, for example, adopted Common Core standards in
2010 but did not implement them until the 2014-2015 school year. Kentucky
on the other hand adopted the program in 2010 and implemented it the next
school year. This means most of the country will now have uniformity in
learning goals, forcing teachers and students to adapt to them as best as
possible.
The common core standards were to be challenging for students but
not too challenging. For example, by the end of kindergarten children are
supposed to understand basic math: addition, subtraction, decompose larger
numbers into bases of tens and ones, and compare measureable attributes.
By understanding these concepts, it creates a good foundation for kids to
eventually be able to do arithmetic with polynomials and rational
expressions, trigonometric functions, and vector and matrix quantities by the
time they graduate high school (NGA and CCSSO, 2013). These benchmarks

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were created by analyzing all of the different states standards and taking
the concepts of English and math to accommodate the vast majority of
expectations. Each step of the way was planned to lead to the next level to
eventually meet the expectations of colleges.
Fortunately, standards in reading and math will be constant throughout
most of the country, allowing teachers to share related information and help
one another as well as students. These two subjects as the base of education
are expected to develop skills that can help while studying other content.
One skill that is very necessary and heavily focused on in common core
curricula is argumentation. Since the whole set of standards is based on
college readiness, becoming proficient in argumentation and interpreting
arguments is crucial (Llewellyn, 2013). In the journal Science Teacher there is
an article on how common core standards, although primarily centered on
English and mathematics, influence science learning as well. By
understanding the arguments being made in scientific hypothesis or in
history books, it facilitates the learning process for other subjects.
Common Core state Standards and A Framework for K-12 Science
Education together become the 21st centurys torch bearer for curricula
reform in science and other subject areas. A supposition runs through
both documents: that for the United States to become scientifically
literate, high school students must become proficient in (a)
investigating phenomena, (b) collecting and analyzing data, (c) making

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claims from the findings, and (d) supporting such claims and
explanations with evidence to justify and defend their assertions.
(Llewellyn, 2013, p.34)
By developing interpretation and comprehension skills in English class, a
student begins to understand how to interpret claims and create their own
arguments based on evidence from reading in a science setting.
Argumentation is heavily mentioned in the Next Generation Science
Standards (NGSS) as well, The words argument, or argumentation appear
97 times in the 325-page framework (Llewellyn, 2013). Having this skill sets
children in a good position for high school, and college.
On the contrary, there are only standards for those two areas of study.
Even if the skills gained through mathematics and reading can apply to other
subjects, it is still an incomplete system. Not having standards for social
studies, science, and other technical subjects brings the situation back to the
initial dilemma. All subjects, with the exception of reading and mathematics,
will be inconsistent and each state will have their own benchmarks instead of
uniform set requirements for students to meet. It was said in common core
publishing that teachers were involved in the creation, however, there was
no mention of 25 individuals in the work groups charged with drafting the
standards, six were associated with the test makers from the College Board,
five with the test publishers at ACT, and four with Achieve. Zero teachers
were in the work groups (Karp, 2014). Standards seem to be more inclined

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to preparing kids for testing rather than life skills; which explains the central
subjects being English and mathematics.
Since this system is heavily involved with testing, it makes it even
more challenging for students with disadvantages and barriers in their
learning to meet requirements. Common core has not set up an alternate
option for English language learners nor has modified curricula for children
with disabilities. The standards for them arent standards at all the
standards include information on application for these groups of students
(NGA and CCSSO 2010). All they receive is information rather than
instruction. This makes it unfair and doesnt grant these children an equal
opportunity at an education like the rest of the country.
Even students who do not have a language barrier or a disability have
difficulty with the transition. The process of implementing common core
shifted many things for student who grew up with their state standards.
Being at a certain level of difficulty and changing it in the middle of a childs
education can be a setback rather than stimulating for a childs learning.
Teachers in the state of New York were filing complaints about the
Implementation of common core being filled with large amounts of
unnecessary testing Unnecessarily long testing sessionstwo weeks of
three consecutive days of 90-minute periodsthat require more stamina for
a 10-year-old special education student than of a high school student taking
an SAT exam. (Corona, 2013). These long and frequent periods of testing

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are something most students are not accustomed to. After a lesson, students
are required to take an assessment to test what they have learned.
Kentucky was the first state to incorporate common core and
discovered some frustrations after implementation a little ways into the year.
The state discontinued scoring in all four CCSS-aligned high school end of
course exams (Corona, 2013). This was primarily removed because the
assessments asked questions in a confusing manner and did not relate to the
curricula. If these standardized tests are confusing for the instructor there
should be revisions made to ensure questions fall within the requirements for
that grade level and are clear.

This culture of continuous testing is not about education, it is about

measurements, statistics and competition. The United States being one the
most powerful countries in the world longs to be at the same level of
education as other peer countries.
Because Common Core testing is done on a computer, scores and
results from the tests are recorded and made simpler to make international
comparisons, statistically speaking. United States wanted to measure up with
international competitors For years, the academic progress of our nations
students has been stagnant, and we have lost ground to our international
peers. Particularly in subjects such as math, college remediation rates have
been high (NGA and CCSSO, 2013). In the year 2014 the United States was

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ranked eighteen out of twenty leading countries in education. (Educate Every

Child on the Planet, 2014). Moving down in rank reflects poorly on one of the
worlds most powerful countries.
America views attending college with a lot of prestige and common
core claims to be able to prepare students to be at those college level
expectations. However, this system is geared towards having a lot of testing,
which does not benefit the student nor does it prepare them for college.
There are many factors that contribute to the way a student performs in
school and testing too much could negatively affect their performance.
Having consistent standards throughout the nation could help teachers pass
ideas to one another, but adjustments need to be made to the common core
curricula in order for it to show promise to the future of this nation: the
students.

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Resources:
Brittany Corona. (June 12, 2013). Common Core Implementation Proves
Problematic. The Daily Signal. Retrieved from
http://dailysignal.com/2013/06/12/common-core-implementationproves-problematic/
Educate every child on the planet. (2014). World Top 20 Education Systems.
World Top 20. Retrieved from http://worldtop20.org/
Institute of Education Sciences. (2013). Back to School Statistics. National
Center for Education Statisctics. Retrieved from
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372
Karp, S. (2014). The Problems with the Common core. Rethinking Schools, 28
(2). http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/28_02/28_02_karp.shtml
Llewellyn, D. (2013). Making and Defending Scientific Arguments. Science
Teacher, 80(5), 34-38
http://stats.lib.pdx.edu.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/proxy.php?
url=http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=ehh&AN=88164179&site=ehost-live
NGA. CCSSO. (2010). Common Core State Standards Initiative. Retrieved
from http://www.corestandards.org/