Common Standards

As an elective teacher in the Skilled and Technical Sciences field, I don’t have any previous interactions with the Common Core standards. This article (https://www.usnews.com/news/special-reports/articles/2014/02/27/the-history-of-common-core-state-standards) by Allie Bidwell does a great job of outlining how the Common Core standards came to be. The intent of the standards is to create national standards for core classes that are stringent enough to provide an accurate description of how a student is performing and also to help students prepare for the workforce or post-secondary education. Bidwell mentions the original hesitation that many had due to states losing some autonomy for creating their own curriculum, but says that 45 states had adopted the common core standards at the time of the article.

Another article (http://www.teachhub.com/what-happens-if-we-abandon-common-core), on Teach Hub written by Jordan Catapano, dives into the topic of states turning their backs on the Common Core. Catapano says that Indiana was the first state to return to their own state standards, but that several other followed and more still were considering the move. The reasons for this stated in the article were largely for local autonomy but also mentioned “developmentally inappropriate” standards at the lower level.

Researching this topic has shed light on why the Common Core Standards were written and why some states have decided to turn away from them, but as I am so inexperienced with the standards it is hard for me to have much of an opinion on if they achieve the goal they set out for. A Washington Post article that features writing from John T. Spencer(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2012/12/04/common-core-reading-pros-and-cons/?utm_term=.ce5a32971498) does a good job of describing a few pros and cons of the standards written for the reading curriculum. Even though the list was created with the reading standards in mind, there are a few crucial take-aways that I picked up on that seem universal across curriculum’s. From Spencer’s pros, I appreciate that the standards make it easier for students that move to adapt educationally, and that the standards focus on a shift toward more critical thinking. The negative that stood out to me was the absence of local influence on the standards.

I would say overall I would prefer state written standards. I know the process for writing the standards for skilled and technical sciences and I’m very comfortable with how it is done. Teachers drive the standard writing and they do it in a way that is easily understood. It’s great that education is a national concern, but I believe that state’s are able to create their own rigorous standards.