Moving backwards Common Core jeopardizes ed reform- CommonWealth Magazine

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Moving backwards

Common Core jeopardizes ed reform

BY: JIM STERGIOS
ISSUE: SUMMER 2013

July 16, 2013

 

I AGREE WITH Commissioner Chester that some around K-12 education are enthusiastic about Common Core. Washington, DC-based trade groups like the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Governor’s Association, Achieve, Inc., as well as federal and state administrators, tend to be big fans of Common Core.

But it is worth remembering that noted education historian Diane Ravitch’s lament that the history of American education policy is an infinite loop of intellectual faddism that distracts from the important work in our classrooms. Common Core and the entire soft-skills agenda are just the latest fad.

Prior to the commissioner’s arrival in 2008, Bay State SAT scores rose for 13 consecutive years. That was due to the faithful and creative implementation of the Commonwealth’s landmark 1993 education reform act. Read Mitchell Chester's Argument.In 2005, Massachusetts students became the first ever to score best in the nation in all four categories on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) fourth and eighth grade reading and math assessments. Since then, we have continued to earn top honors each time the tests have been administered.

The results of the 2007 Trends in International Math and Science Study showed that, while American students as a whole lag behind their international peers, Massachusetts students had become competitive with top-performing nations such as Singapore, Korea, and Japan. In 8th grade science, Bay State students tied for number one in the world.