On common Core

[nadinbrzezinski]

42. CC is just targets at DOE

What needs massive reform is Race to the Top.

Think of race to the top, and it is approximate because the curricula is developed locally, as the school board looking at the list if state targets and developing a way to meet them.


We need a slew of changes to it.

1.- Money, economic segregation is starting to be seen as a problem

2.- Money for CE for teachers.

3.- The testing is quite frankly a way for people to make money (I am looking at you Neil and Bill) so the testing needs to go.

4.- And of course we need an end to the destruction of public schools

That does not mean we do not have issues, we do. International assessments are clear on this. So keep the national targets. That is the high level policy. Kids can handle them. Expand the lunch program to year round (my local district is not just doing that, is experimenting with how to increase reach because they know they don't have it fully during the summer, so school libraries will have food as well as boys and girls clubs). And here are critical points, during the summer train teachers and administrators, and in my view have kids from different socio economic backgrounds at schools regardless of where the schools are physically. Essentially make every school a middle class school and equalize funding across a district. I guarantee screaming at my ritzy areas.

These are just some ways to help. But demand high standards. The kids can handle it.

But throwing the baby (that be CC) with the bath water (the implementation which has many holes) is nuts.

As a nation we also need to change spending priorities from Defense to infrastructure, basic research and education. That is also a high level policy statement. As usual, how you get from those to implementation is the tricky part.

Now you asked why they kept it? Once you get a policy going it's very hard to turn that around. Why the republicans fought so hard to stop the ACA from being implemented. And while you have critics of CC, trust me school board meetings always have at least one of them, not everybody hates it. In fact, most people would look at us odd because what is Race to the Top and CC?

And locally one of my local districts (new young superintendent) is turning performance around after decades of pedestrian performance. She has support of the board and she is in the trenches with implementation. Now if I could clone her and send her to every district nationwide...and money is an issue btw. Shoe string comes to mind for the district.