As schools implement Common Core, controversy arises : Wsj

As schools implement Common Core, controversy arises : Wsj:

As schools implement Common Core, controversy arises

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9 hours ago  •  By NORA G. HERTEL | Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

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Schools around the state are implementing the Common Core standards this fall.

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What Common Core requires

Common Core sets a series of benchmarks for what K-12 students should know and when they should know it. In some cases the standards are similar to those previously used in Wisconsin, which set benchmarks for just fourth, eighth and 12th grades. Other standards are more demanding. Here are some examples:

Kindergarten, math: “Count to 100 by ones and by tens. … Write numbers from zero to 20.” (The prior state standards set no specific benchmarks for math in kindergarten.)

Fourth grade, writing: “Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details and clear event sequences.”

Sixth grade, geometry: “Find the area of right triangles, other triangles, special quadrilaterals and polygons … (to solve) real world and mathematical problems.”

Eighth grade, reading: “Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings.”

Twelfth grade, writing: “Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events and/or characters.”

As Wisconsin schools begin a new year, many are tailoring their lessons around an increasingly controversial set of voluntary math and English standards for kindergarten through 12th grade.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative, which sets new and often more rigorous goals for the nation’s students at each grade level, is drawing flak from all sides, from Tea Party activists to educators.

Complaints focus on how the standards were developed amid concerns there was not enough local input. But backers say a wide range of interests were brought to the table, including educators and politicians from both sides of the aisle.

In 2009, the bipartisan National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers partnered with Achieve Inc., a nonpartisan education nonprofit, to draft the standards. With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the governors and school officers sought to address concerns that American students were not achieving at the same level as students in other nations and were not prepared for college and careers after graduation.

The standards list specific expectations for academic mastery and call on teachers to help students develop critical thinking and analysis skills, said Emilie Amundson, Common Core State Standards team director for the state Department of Public Instruction.

“For Wisconsin as a state, this is a huge shift. Our (previous) standards … were so incredibly general,” Amundson said. “We now have an expectation as to what children should learn and be able to do.”

So far, 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the standards — though some, such as Wisconsin, are starting to balk.

Many educators around Wisconsin began implementing them when they were adopted by State Superintendent Tony Evers in 2010. But this year, the standards will be in place in virtually every public school in the state, and some private

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