Common Core Validation Committee Non-Signer Dylan Wiliam Shares a Couple Thoughts
by Frederick M. Hess • Sep 15, 2014 at 8:38 am
Cross-posted from Education Week
Cross-posted from Education Week
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The other week, I wrote a column flagging what I deemed to be five "half-truths" that have been repeatedly offered up by Common Core advocates. I was curious whether advocates could convince me that my concerns were baseless. On that score, the response was less compelling than I would've hoped. Several advocates eschewed the substantive points and simply declared that I'd become "anti-Common Core." My friend Mike Petrilli responded with a flurry of questions that seemed to essentially concede my criticisms, but charge that existing standards are plagued by the same shortcomings. Mike's right about that, of course, though the point is that advocates for other standards haven't promoted them as "evidence-based" or suggested they ought to be adopted on a national scale.
In any event, one of the more interesting responses I received was from my friend Dylan Wiliam, emeritus professor of educational assessment at the Institute of Education, University of London; former senior research director at ETS; and author of Embedded Formative Assessment. Dylan was one of the 29 members of the Common Core Validation Committee and one of the five who refused to sign off on the standards. I asked if I could share his note, and Dylan gave his okay. It's worth noting that Dylan remains bullish on the Common Core. He writes, "To re-iterate, I think the Common Core State Standards are our best shot at creating an education system that meets the challenges of the 21st century. I am frankly appalled at the level of much of the debate, so if you think this can help, by all means share it."
Despite his support for the enterprise, Dylan also made it clear that he thinks some of the claims made for the Common Core are problematic. Here's what he had to say:
Reading your AEI blog today, I can't remember if I ever shared with you my experience of being on the validation panel for the Common Core. You may have heard that I, along with Barry McGaw, James Milgram, Sandra Stotsky and I think at least one other, refused to validate the standards. Over the last few years, I have explained my reasons for my decision to anyone who asks, but I have made no public pronouncement, because I thought it would not be helpful in terms of the general debate...However, given your blog today, I thought you might be interested in why I declined to validate the standards.On May 25, 2010, [then-director of education policy for the National Governors Association] Dane Linn wrote to all members of the Validation Committee asking them to review the final drafts of the standards and asking for a straight up or down vote by May 31st, as to whether each us would validate the standards. We were told that validating the proposals meant that we were agreeing that the standards were:1) Reflective of the core knowledge and skills in ELA and mathematics that students need to be college- and career-readyCommon Core Validation Committee Non-Signer Dylan Wiliam Shares a Couple Thoughts :: Frederick M. Hess:
2) Appropriate in terms of their level of clarity and specificity
