How do you feel about the Common Core Curriculum?

[frazzled]

6. I doubt most of us are familiar enough to have a truly valid opinion

I know that's the case for me. However, there are a few things I can think to say on the positive side, from what I've read. (Of course, there are inevitable negative sides, but since I haven't seen this curriculum in action, I'm not sure what they are yet).

1) I like the focus on reading and writing skills, with increasing complexity through the grade levels. Also, that teachers and districts and states will decide the actual reading curriculum. Aside from some foundational texts expected for everyone (from myths to Shakespeare), reading lists for the curriculum will be decided at the local level. Of course, this means that kids in Mississippi will most likely get inferior readings to kids in, say, Massachusetts. But the common standards will hopefully lead to some gains for those kids in less educationally oriented states.

2) I like that research projects are emphasized for writing, even at the early elementary levels. My kids had this as early as first grade--choosing an animal and researching and writing a brief paragraph about its habitat; they learned to use a topic sentence and structure a clear argument on a very narrow topic that engaged them at that age.

3) I like that media analysis is part of the core curriculum. Heaven knows we need all kids to learn to think about what they are watching and hearing in the various media.

4) I'm super dumb at math, so I'll ask my son the mathematician to see what he thinks of the standards.


I like the idea that at least we're trying to insure that kids all over are exposed to high-level curriculum, and that the focus is not on testing or on learning a particular set of facts (as in many of the state standards that arose from NCLB) but on comprehension and skills. Maybe we'll have a bit more national unity if we raise our critical analysis skills and expose our kids to a slightly higher level of content. Maybe that's why conservatives and libertarians particularly seem to hate this.

In summary: I think we should give it a try before we decide how well it's working ... or not. I've learned a lot from Green Eggs and Ham lately.