Common Core: What’s Educational Justice Got to Do With It?
Last spring I completed a study of American high schools; I looked at five schools serving very different economic and social communities. Here is the headline: If a student is not lucky enough to attend a high school located in an upper-middle or middle-class neighborhood, he or she is likely to get a watered down, uninspiring and inadequate set of academic choices — often taught in a hit-or-miss manner. If a student attends a school in an area of concentrated poverty his or her course of study often consists of work sheets, out-of-date textbooks and more work sheets.
While the implementation of the Common Core State Standards in 2014-15 will not solve the problem of providing equality of educational opportunities to all students, it is part of the solution. Without a robust, demanding curriculum, education flounders. This is not new news. I think Socrates mentioned it early and often.
High standards would seem to be an educational reform that would unite educators and the public. After all, we consistently find ourselves in the middle of the pack in international testing. Many of our kids are being frozen out of the emerging job market. Lack of verbal and math skills is essential for success in our dynamic and
While the implementation of the Common Core State Standards in 2014-15 will not solve the problem of providing equality of educational opportunities to all students, it is part of the solution. Without a robust, demanding curriculum, education flounders. This is not new news. I think Socrates mentioned it early and often.
High standards would seem to be an educational reform that would unite educators and the public. After all, we consistently find ourselves in the middle of the pack in international testing. Many of our kids are being frozen out of the emerging job market. Lack of verbal and math skills is essential for success in our dynamic and