In a strange twist of events, the fate of a set of academic standards has been decided by politicians instead of educators. The entire country waited with bated breath to see what Governor Mary Fallin would decide on June 7, 2014. HB 3399 was a bill that immediately removed the Common Core State Standards from classrooms across Oklahoma. On June 5, 2014, the governor of Oklahoma repealed CCSS which has reverted Oklahoma educators back to pre-2010 academic standards which were adopted in 2003. That particular set of standards was called PASS: Priority Academic Student Skills. Also, with the repeal, there is a possibility the federal waiver that was granted to the state will be rescinded and Oklahoma will be back to No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
The main reason I am dismayed by the recent turn of events is the loss of the Common Core writing standards. Writing instruction has long been a neglected piece of mandated curriculum in state-written academic standards and the core moves writing back to its rightful place in a thinking-based curriculum that is stair-stepped from kindergarten through the twelfth grade. In the building I am privileged to work in, we as a staff have worked endlessly on implementation of the standards in the form of decomposing each individual standard in order to write Common Formative Assessments and also involving ourselves in book studies and writing workshops to better learn the CCSS writing standards. Writing in the classroom also involves the listening and speaking standards as well as the informational reading that had been beautifully implemented as Close Reading with annotating and writing concise summaries. While we will not lose everything, my wish is that educators would make the return to PASS in regard to what is best for students, instead of what is easiest for the educator.
Another reason I believe the governor of Oklahoma should have voted to retain the standards is the vast amount of hours and professional development money that educators, curriculum specialists and districts across the state have invested to implement the standards. The thought of moving backwards to the PASS when school begins in August, fills me and thousands of educators and administrators with mind-numbing angst. Our district had implemented new academic vocabulary just this spring which was aligned with the CCSS. Also purchased were many professional materials for teachers to implement units which also aligned with the new standards. While those materials and new word lists can be tweaked to reflect the older set of standards, many are shaking their heads in disbelief at the complete waste of time and resources that has resulted from this turn in state politics.
Opponents of the Core have believed many suppositions ranging from the CCSS being a malevolent form of educational take-over from the federal government in the form of a federally-mandated curriculum to believing that the standards were created by terribly rich non-educators which has resulted in dumbed-down standards that will kill all the young minds across America. The Constitution of the United States of America does not allow for a federal curriculum but yet it seems that thousands of folks feel that the Race to the Top monies offered by the US Department of Education was an incentive to adopt a set of rigorous standards, therefore making the CCSS a federal set of standards. Do those same people realize that a set of standards does not equal a curriculum? The unifying standards would provide a baseline for all students across our great nation while allowing local school districts and the highly trained professionals called teachers to decide what curriculum is best for their students and how best to implement and teach the set of standards.
Another sticky point has been the exemplar text list. While I completely agree that a couple of the titles on the high school portion are completely inappropriate and are too sexually graphic to be in a classroom, I would trust that all educators would utilize their common sense and realize that the exemplars are merely suggested titles—not mandated book lists. One deal-closer happened last week when a state representative read aloud a graphic selection from one of the exemplar texts. He spelled the words too graphic for the floor of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and his point was certainly made that if a text is too graphic to read aloud on the floor of the House, how then could it be appropriate for teens to read in public school classrooms across our state? While I work hard to not censor books for students, I do agree with his premise.
The proponents of HB 3399 state that academic standards should be decided by the state government, instead of ceding control to the federal system. In a twisted ironic way, the repeal of CCSS might result in much more federal control in the form of NCLB and the many aspects of fear mongering by the USDE and possible take-over of low-performing schools by the state department of education. Right now, Oklahoma educators are anxiously awaiting the federal system to decide if Oklahoma should retain or lose its waiver that was signed at the Race to the Top money grab. Accordingly, the Fordham Institute declared the Oklahoma PASS skills “too close to call” when compared to the CCSS back in 2010. If this was the case, why did our state not just retain the PASS skills instead of asking educators to jump through many hurdles with the stress of implementation of new standards over the past four years?
Oklahoma has declared that we as a state will write our own standards now. Before going to the press, the new set of standards will be approved by: the State Regents for Higher Education, the State Board of Career and Technology Education, and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. These new college and career ready standards are scheduled to be distributed to school districts by 2016. In light of this news flash, I have one word to describe my feelings for this situation: Interesting.
In education, as much as methods change, the overall broken-down philosophy remains. Are we as educators going to do what is best for students or will we succumb to the political rants of our legislators and allow them to decide what we teach in the classroom? Yes, in the fall, as a curriculum specialist, I will help the teachers in my building negotiate the rough and choppy waters of the return to PASS. However, we will continue to teach those standards in a rigorous and child-friendly manner which will of course include holding tightly to our belief that all children can learn to read as well as write. The writing instruction and beliefs that have been implemented over the past few years will not simply vanish into the dark night, but we will continue to push on in hopes for a brighter day in Oklahoma.
More info here:
Gov. Mary Fallin's repeal of Common Core standards raises questions in Oklahoma | Oklahoman.com
This above op-ed was submitted to the Education Week periodical for publication this week.
I await their comments, rejection or acceptance. It's a scary time! :)
Please....
I beg you...
for the future...
don't drink the un-informed Kool-Aid of our day!
Be a reading, informed citizen who makes wise, common-sense types of choices based on what you read and gather information coupled with honest conversations with people who are alike and different than your point of view! It's a possibility to be wrong in our thinking!
Be strong in your core beliefs which should be based on the
in your life...
then read newspapers, articles, periodicals, journals, etc.
then discuss those current events with people--all people.
It will MAKE you better & stronger!
ARGH!
Go ahead....have an iced coffee! Drink A LATTE!
It's sure what I needed after the above 1,100+ words!
