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Good Lord, can't we just wait to see the standards? What's the rush?

Tom, you'll notice from the statement that we've endorsed the process, not necessarily the standards themselves, which we haven't yet seen.

Tom:

Your positive, but cautious, endorsement, and in particular, your insight that the common core must enable standards-based classroom instruction and truly aligned with assessments is welcomed. As yet, it is unclear if the common core state standards initiative will advance education’s primary objective, the effective, sequential transfer of content knowledge and skills to students.

U.S. students continue to fall academically behind their international peers, and chronic learning gaps already present serious social and economic challenges for communities and families.

The lack of the knowledge-referenced detail needed to make state content standards teachable and measurable is a serious and costly problem for teachers and administrators. Standards-based education requires that the standards defining instruction and assessment set forth, clearly and specifically, the sequential content knowledge and skills students need to learn.

The common core state standards initiative leaders have provided no evidence that their processes or results will reflect this requirement or that the ensuing standards will enable states to:

• Define content standards as high fidelity, easily understood knowledge specifications,
• Precisely align the standards with classroom instruction and assessments, or
• Measurably improve student achievement and close learning gaps

To be effective and a sustainable solution, the common core needs to provide states, districts and teachers with a sequential, coherent, knowledge-referenced curriculum. Doing so will fully support education’s in-place, well-organized and competent infrastructure, including our four million certified classroom teacher professionals.

The initiative’s success will be measured by it achievement of positive classroom and student benefits, which include:

• Teachable and measurable state content standards driving classroom instruction, eliminating the need for ‘teaching to the test’ practices
• Districts, teachers, parents and students with clear, detailed and usable understanding of ‘what should be taught’ and ‘what will be assessed’
• State standards in perfect alignment with curriculum and assessments and easily benchmarked with any other standards or assessments

Until the education community is assured that the common core initiative will deliver these results, its support for the effort should be tempered by the reasonable caution you expressed.

Steve Kussmann
stevekussmann@alignedbydesign.org

I cannot believe that over half the state school board members across the US voted for a veritable Pandora's box like this. They did not see the "formative, summative," and end of course 9-12 grade assessments because the consortia have not completed them; they can't know what SS and science standards will look like; nor could they know the results of P21 getting their standards woven into Common Core; has anyone even seen the teacher evaluation forms; we don't know what exactly will go in the "longitudinal" p-20 databases or whether the personal data will remain secure or what non-academic elements are included (like attitudes and beliefs); how will the courses of study for ed schools be changed? How many states can tell the voters what the cost of this change will be and how much additional money the feds will give their state in return for signing on? The OBE style assessments are going to cost a lot to score. All we know is everyone wants MORE MONEY NOW. What were the results of the pilot programs for Common Core Standards and the assessments, etc? Oh, there have been no pilots? Who would have thought? Hmmm. In the name of transparency, who all paid for this? Pioneer Inst has worked up the Gates contributions to NGA, Achieve, NASBE, PTA and CCSSO,but what about all the other groups? How many textbook, prof dev,and assessment companies will be left standing at the end? Pearson and who else? It's astounding such a uniquely massive, transformative overhaul of public education has occurred without the public's knowledge! Was it Arne Duncan who called this a quiet revolution? More like a silenced revolution!Once the states take the bait, there is no backing out even after they see what they bought. Like Esau, will we all feel like we paid a huge price for a some porridge?

Can someone tell me how nationalizing education empowers parents?

*Article 1, section 8 of the U.S. constitution defines Federal responsibilities. Education is not one of them.
*The tenth amendment leaves responsibility to the states and the people everything not defined in the U.S. constitution.
*The Federal government always, when overstepping their responsibility, says the laws or rules they are promoting are "voluntary," but become mandatory when federal taxpayer dollars are accepted.
*The Federal Department of Education formerly said it would not interfere with education curriculum. CCS applies directly to curriculum. The Federal Civics curriculum, We The People,The Citizen And The Constitution, already up and running does the same thing.
*Is CCS about education or about control of children?

Why are state leaders and education support groups allowing the Federal government to usurp states rights? Is this about educating children; receiving Federal tax dollars; Control?