It can’t be a coincidence.
Whenever the education establishment is in the midst of significant, systemic change, they give it a mind-numbingly boring title. Think Washington Assessment of Student Learning and Essential Learning Requirements.
And now, Common Core Standards. Boring name; meaningful change. Pay attention.
Common Core Standards, tentatively approved by state schools chief Randy Dorn last week, are a detailed delineation of what school kids should learn and know in both math and language arts in each grade – from kindergarten to senior year in high school. From these standards will flow new instructional directions for teachers, new textbooks and other materials for their classrooms and new tests for their students.
Because they are common – that is, arrived at and accepted by a majority of the states – learning will not vary from state to state. Third grade in Takoma Park, Md., will look and feel a lot like third grade in Tacoma, Wash.
And state-by-state comparisons of test scores and graduation rates will have more meaning because a state with high standards will no longer suffer in comparison to one with low standards.
The standards came out of a process led by the National Governor’s Association and the association of state school superintendents. This sponsorship was intended to head off claims that the effort was driven by the federal government and amounted to a further takeover of public education by the White House and Congress.
The line got a bit fuzzy when criteria for the federal Race To The Top grant competition gave extra points to states that adopt the standards. That cash incentive has helped fuel the drive by many states to adopt the standards quickly, before the second round of grants are announced in September.
But adoption is voluntary, as is the use of any of the common curriculum and tests that are being developed by groups of states involved in the standards process.
Only two states – Texas and Alaska – refused to take part. The quickly growing list of adopters reached 27 by the end of last week. The most important may have been Massachusetts, which led the education standards movement in 1993 and overcame criticism that the core standards were weaker.
That doesn’t appear to be the case. A state-by-state comparison showed that most states – including Massachusetts – will have clearer and more rigorous standards if they adopt common core.
The Fordham Institute, a think tank that supports rigorous national standards, gave Washington’s existing Language Arts standards a C, versus a B-plus for the new standards. The state was graded down for both clarity and rigor.
The core standards, “are superior to what the Evergreen State has in place today,” Fordham concluded.
Fordham gave high marks to Washington’s new math standards that will replace the discredited math standards that forced a delay in the math graduation requirement. Washington’s new math standards received an A and the core standards received an A- minus.
“With some minor differences, Common Core and Washington state both cover the essential content for a rigorous, K-12 mathematics program,” Fordham wrote.
Dorn adopted the standards provisionally last week. But the qualified acceptance doesn’t mean he doesn’t support them. Instead, he is responding to legislative reluctance to authorize adoption of something lawmakers had not yet seen. Under Senate Bill 6696, Dorn must prepare a comparison of the new standards and the existing standards and report to the Legislature in January.
That process was pushed by House Education Committee member Rep. Bruce Dammeier, R-Puyallup.
“It absolutely could be an improvement. It could be a positive thing,” Dammeier said of the standards process. “But we need to make sure we control our standards.
“I am very concerned that we may be subtly abdicating our control and authority to some multi-state or national authority,” the former Puyallup school board member said.
Dorn said if the Legislature does not object to the standards, they will reach teachers by the 2012-13 school year and be incorporated into state testing for 2014-15.
Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657 peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/politics
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