[UPDATE: After I wrote this post, SB1310 was voted down in the Senate, 18-12.]
Is it possible Sen. Al Melvin and I agree about Common Core? Well, not exactly. That would just be wrong. Let’s say we share a common interest in halting its full implementation.
Cap’n Al’s bill, SB1310, prohibiting Arizona’s use of the Common Core standards and tests passed the Senate Education committee 6-3 on a straight party line vote. Melvin made his usual mess of things during discussion of the bill.
Melvin, pressed in floor debate Tuesday to identify what in the Common Core standards he does not like, provided no answer.
“I leave it to you to find them,’’ he told Sen. David Bradley, D-Tucson. Instead, Melvin said he was simply reflecting what he said is the will of a majority of Arizonans who said they do not want Common Core.
“We can do a better job at the state level than the federal government dictating standards,’’ Melvin said.
Earlier Melvin talked about “borderline pornographic” reading material and “‘fuzzy math,’ substituting letters for numbers.” He said he hadn’t really read the standards, but “I’ve been exposed to them.” (Hope he got his immunization shots so he doesn’t catch anything.)
I’d like to see the Common Core subjected to some serious scrutiny, and a sizable contingent of folks in the progressive education camp agree. We’re worried that schools are turning into testing factories where students, teachers and schools are at the mercy of their standardized test scores, and any classroom experiences that don’t raise scores are viewed as frills that need to be pushed aside to allow more time to teach to the test.
The standards Melvin hates and fears aren’t really the problem. [Full disclosure: I haven’t read them in depth either] It’s not a bad idea to suggest what students should learn at certain grade levels, and the standards can be used as a guide for schools, districts and states which decide to adopt them. For others, they can be part of an ongoing discussion of what kind of education is best for our children.
As the standards are adopted in classrooms across the country, something which hasn’t really happened yet, we can decide how appropriate they are for the general student population and get an idea of whether a one-size-fits-all approach works for students with different socioeconomic backgrounds in different parts of the country. They should be a work in progress where we keep the standards that work, throw out those that don’t and tweak those needing adjustment. Who knows, we may even decide that a country as large and diverse as ours shouldn’t have a set of standards every classroom has to adhere to.
But when you attach high stakes tests to the standards, they’re written in stone. Failure to teach to the standards means student failure on the high stakes tests, and no school wants to face the consequences of low scores. The AIMS tests have skewed Arizona’s education for the worse. Common Core testing will take the process even further.
So no, I don’t agree with Melvin. He and I object to the push for Common Core for different reasons. He’s against black education helicopters flying over Arizona forcing students to read pornography and use letters instead of numbers, but he’s fine with standardized tests so long as they’re not related to Common Core. I don’t mind giving the standards a serious look, but I’d like to drive a stake through the heart of our obsession with high stakes tests.
But I have to say, I don’t mind Cap’n Al gumming up the works on this one.
This article appears in Mar 6-12, 2014.
Whatever Al Melvin’s stance is on anything, doing the opposite is going to be best for everyone, except Al.
Al Melvin has consistently voted to de-fund K-12 public schools and our state universities. Melvin also wants to establish an education fund from nuclear waste recycling projects he wants established in Arizona. Frankly, his lack of support for Common Core make those more liberal who also happen to be lukewarm about Common Core want to embrace the standards had he not taken a stand. I do wish there was more discussion on the corporate tests that claim to measure the standards. As a parent, I support the teachers who know what works in the classroom to help students achieve in developing critical learning skills. I also question the assessments tied to the standards that must be given on computers that many school districts can ill-afford due to underfunding by the state. Why are we going down the path when tests will lead to sharp drops in scores and proficiency rates? This corporate reform is not true reform. http://www.fairtest.org/common-core-assess…
The Common Core standards are available for free on the web: http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards
Al Melvin’s objections are asinine on two fronts: the first being that there is no standard reading list from which one might judge a work pornographic; in fact, unless I am horribly mis-reading them, there are no texts, literary, poetic, or informational, listed in the standards. Second, Mr. Melvin clearly doesn’t understand fuzzy logic nor algebra, but that doesn’t surprise me much.
I think that objection to the Common Core is misplaced. I think if you read them you will find less to object to that you might imagine. The implementation of those standards, however, can leave much to be desired, as any standard would be. High stakes testing, Taylorization and the scientific management of teaching, teaching to the test, privatization, budget cutting, these are all worthy of opposition, but they aren’t the Common Core. They are sometimes correlated in time, but they aren’t causal.
The last thing to consider is that the Common Core is just a standard for reading and math, not science or history or anything else. They are just frameworks that require a great deal of local elaboration. They are also just a common floor, not a ceiling. You could follow the Common Core and still have a rich, culturally relevant and responsive classroom environment.
Of course, as soon as I post, I realize that there are example texts listed in appendices. In any case, I think a claim that they are pornographic demands some evidence, rather than just accusation.
” whether a one-size-fits-all approach works for students with different socioeconomic backgrounds in different parts of the country”
It doesn’t. In fact, a “one-size-fits-all” approach won’t work even within a single classroom. But apparently we need to keep pretending we can apply manufacturing techniques to human beings.
Substituting letters for numbers? Next thing you know they’ll be doing Algebra. And we all know that’s Muslim.
I began teaching in 1969 during which time we struggled with SLO’s which were very similar to the Common Core standards. Since then I have taught thru several variations of the same thing. I do not believe a “one size fits all” approach is good in this changing world, however, I do maintain that all public school students must be taught to read, write and do math. After that, let’s let our wonderful, skilled teachers teach!
Oh for cripes sake! CC is just a set of objectives children need to learn…the real problem is the “high-stakes” testing the government wants hand-in-hand WITH the common core….of course, they will attach THE TEST to whatever they (sigh) decide is next. Common Core is pretty much the best I have seen in my 27 years. I wish the ignorant “never really read ’em types” would find another profession to crawl all over!