Backdrop slap on Common Core’s test of ‘feelings’
(La.) In another move to limit the federal government’s reach into its classrooms, lawmakers have approved legislation that prohibits education officials from adopting any academic content standards or tests that assess a child’s non-cognitive skills.
HB 245, signed into law by Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal earlier this month, directs the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to adopt only content standards and assessments that apply to “subject matter proficiency” of students, and that do not include items intended to measure a pupil’s “non-cognitive, emotional, physical, or psychological characteristics, attributes, or skills.”
“This bill came out of some questions that were asked on some PARCC tests in some other states,” the bill’s author, Rep. Cameron Henry, told members of the Education Committee in May, referring to student testing being developed for several states – including Louisiana – by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career.
“I wanted to make sure we only ask questions of students that they know the answer to based on what they’ve been taught in school,” Henry said. “We don’t want to ask them what they believe in; what they feel like.”
Louisiana’s new law comes amid a growing national movement to equip schools to teach not only basic core subjects but to address a child’s social, emotional and physical needs as well.
It appears also to be a veiled attempt at keeping new national English language arts and math standards known as Common Core out of Louisiana’s classrooms. The state initially adopted the standards but opposition, which Jindal eventually joined, stalled their implementation and led instead to the launch of an exhaustive review process designed to create new state-specific goals by next spring.
Researchers, educators and others believe that non-cognitive skills play a major role in determining a student’s academic and long-term achievement, and many state and federal programs are geared toward supporting non-academic needs, such as training teachers to assess mental health issues or providing drug and alcohol support services.
But there is also a widespread belief among opponents of the Common Core that the standards are the federal government’s tool for nationalizing education and indoctrinating the attitudes, beliefs and mindset of students.
Standardized test questions asking students to discuss their personal feelings about a topic, or write Backdrop slap on Common Core’s test of ‘feelings’ :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: