Students Can’t Hide From Common Core No Matter What School they Attend
The more I read about Common Core and education reform, the more I am convinced that one of the most important issues is that all students will have to be instructed with these standards if they choose to attend college.
A misconception exists about students in private or parochial schools being lucky that they won’t have to mess with the Common Core. But this is a myth, unless these schools will be willing to take criticism when their seniors wind up not answering correctly on the SAT/ACT tests to get into their dream colleges.
I’m not saying students will be better prepared for college, but they will have to learn what is on the test in order to get there.
Still, many are under the assumption that the Common Core State Standards are only found in public schools!
Even Nancie Atwell, who recently won an award for teaching, and whose book In The Middle is seen as a great reading resource for teachers, implied that teachers should only go into teaching if they go into the private sector. She said, Public school teachers are so constrained right now by the Common Core Standards and the tests that are developed to monitor what teachers are doing with them. It’s a movement that’s turned teachers into technicians, not reflective practitioners. She rightly criticized the Common Core.
But as much as Nancie, and anyone else running a private or parochial school, might dislike the Common Core, they will also be hamstrung to teach to the standards! Homeschooled students are not exempt either if they want to attend college.
The tie that binds all schools together is the SAT/ACT tests which are aligned to the Common Core State Standards. The Advanced Placement (AP) tests and even the General Education Development (GED) tests are aligned to Common Core too!
David Coleman who helped write the English/Language Arts part of the Common Core, is now in President of the College Board. He is aligning SAT HERE. The ACT is also aligned HERE.
Here are the comments by Dr. Sandra Stotsky who was on the Common Core Validation Committee but who now argues against it, said:Students Can’t Hide From Common Core No Matter What School they Attend: