Missouri Education Watchdog: Show Me Institute Showing Signs of Getting It

Missouri Education Watchdog: Show Me Institute Showing Signs of Getting It:

Show Me Institute Showing Signs of Getting It

by Anngie

James Shul, Show Me's newest Education Policy Analyst, had conversations with teachers on both sides of the state and discovered that they were not happy with the Common Core Standards being rolled out across the state. (read articlehere)

Both were unhappy about the relentless testing associated with the standards, and that part hasn't even fully come into play yet.

At a recent Rockwood District public meeting Chief Financial Officer Tim Rooney reported that the district expects to spend $900,000 to retrain staff over the next two years to comply with Common Core. That's almost a million dollars to radically change the way the teachers, in a district that has very good stats compared to the state, teach. When it comes to Common Core the old adage, if it ain't broke don't fix it, doesn't apply.

Confounding this statement was an observation by one parent that the middle school had already begun teaching Common Core math through the use of new text books and no training was required. So what will we be paying close to a million dollars for? How to administer on-line assessments?

For Rockwood, the change in math standards has been a welcomed improvement. For years the district stuck