MANSFIELD, Ohio – When asked what the downside to Common Core was, Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center Director of Education Cheryl Cronbaugh replied, “The miscommunication is the biggest downside – people confusing the Common Core with the PARCC assessments. They are not the same thing.”
Standards
The Common Core State Standards, according to CoreStandards.org, were launched in 2009 by state leaders, including governors and state commissioners of education from 48 states, two territories and the District of Columbia, through their membership in the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).
Although participating states held their own educational standards, Common Core would replace them for math and English language arts (ELA).
“It came out of trying to have a commonality, a set of standards nationally,” said Shelby City Schools Assistant Administrator and Curriculum Director Paul Walker.
“Common Core standards are a series of guidelines of what should be covered at a grade level,” explained Cronbaugh. “The advantage of that is when a student moves from district to district in our much more mobile society, you can pretty much count on a student getting the same education.
“The fact that the Common Core is across states would even mean as they move out of state we would hope that they would still be getting the same education anywhere in the United States.”
According to the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) students will study only the most important and useful concepts within each subject, each year. They will drill much deeper into each area, learning to apply more knowledge and skills in the subject than ever before.
Common Core standards were designed to align with college and work expectations, so that all students are prepared for success upon graduating from high school. The standards as a whole, according to CoreStandards.org, must be essential, rigorous, clear and specific, coherent, and internationally benchmarked.
Common Core has, Cronbaugh noted, made teachers more aware of what they cover in their grade level, as well as what was covered in the previous grade level and what will be addressed in the next grade level.
“Before, you might get the same thing taught four years in a row to you,” she added. “The Common Core has said, ‘Really teach it well at this grade level. You may review it briefly, but you are not re-teaching it every year.’”
Adopted by Ohio in 2010, Common Core falls under Ohio’s New Learning Standards, which also include Ohio’s state-specific standards for science and social studies.
Strategies
Standards and strategies are not the same thing, noted Walker. “The standard will tell the teacher what a student has to learn and master by the end of a grading period. Then it’s up to the teacher and the school district to pick the best strategies to help the student master those content standards.”
“Basically, you have your learning standards, then you try to build a curriculum that is going to teach those learning standards,” said Walker, “and inside that curriculum there are strategies to teach those standards.”
ODE Associate Director of Communications John Charlton said that the curriculum is up to each individual district’s discretion. “Each school district should adopt a curriculum that aligns with those standards,” he said, noting that curriculum may be purchased or designed by the district.
Walker added that many parents find issue with the strategies currently used to teach math.
“Math is just going to be hard for parents because it wasn’t the way they were taught,” said Cronbaugh. “No matter if it was Common Core or the standards before we had the Common Core, it’s been the same complaint. What they do is they teach math in multiple ways where, when many of us grew up, we only learned one way to solve a math problem. Now it’s recognizing that there are multiple ways to do things.”
Cronbaugh noted a recent example in which she and a colleague were discussing the price of something, and each approached the math in a different manner. “That’s the freedom the Common Core brings in, is recognizing that we all learn differently and process things differently,” she said.
“It’s not necessarily the learning standards requiring this,” said Walker. “These are some research-based educational best practices that teachers are finding out work better for kids.”
“We have to give it a chance,” Walker said of Common Core and the strategies involved. “There’ll be changes, I’m sure. It’s good that people are talking about it and can try to make the right change. We’re under reform in public education for the better. We don’t want to take steps backward, we want to increase the rigor for our kids so they can compete in this global economy.”
Coming tomorrow – Getting to the heart of Common Core: PARCC testing
“Basically, you have your learning standards, then you try to build a curriculum that is going to teach those learning standards,” said Shelby City Schools Assistant Administrator and Director of Curriculum Paul Walker, “and inside that curriculum there are strategies to teach those standards.”
