Backlash of new education standards is rooted in suspicion of federal government : News

Backlash of new education standards is rooted in suspicion of federal government : News:

Backlash of new education standards is rooted in suspicion of federal government

8 hours ago  •  By Elisa Crouch ecrouch@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8119

19

Critics question Common Core education standards at St. Louis County meeting

People uncertain of new education standards pack Lindbergh meeting room. Read more

Mo. Senate wants hearings on new ed. standards

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Senate has given first-round approval to legislation requiring the state education department to hold …Read more

A LOOK AT THE COMMON CORE

The Common Core Standards include detailed lists of what concepts ought to be taught when to students in grades K-12.

Missouri, like most states, is now reworking its standards to conform.

In some cases the Common Core is more rigorous than the former state standards.

Example:

Missouri required third-graders students to "tell time to the nearest five minutes."

The Common Core requires them to:

"Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes. Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of time intervals in minutes, e.g., by representing the problem on a number line diagram."

In other cases, the Common Core seeks earlier skill mastery.

Example:

Common Core asks fourth-graders to determine the theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, and to summarize the text.

The Missouri standards expected that of seventh-graders, focusing more generally on having fourth-graders "identify and explain the relationship between the main idea and supporting details."

In many cases, the Common Core and Missouri standards were largely in agreement.

Example:

Common Core for writing in grades 11 and 12 says students should:

"Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing."

Missouri's standards said:

"Compose a variety of texts using narrative, descriptive, expository, and/or persuasive features."

Source: Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

James Shuls of the conservative Show-Me Institute considers himself an outspoken critic of the Common Core, a set of national standards that define what English and math skills public school children should learn at each grade level.

But even Shuls was surprised at how quickly a public meeting on the subject got out of hand this month, when parents and grandparents began shouting at Missouri education department official inside a Lindbergh School District meeting room.

They accused the official of lying. Of wanting to collect private information about their children. Of trying to control students’ thoughts.

“Some of it is misinformation,” Shuls said later. “Some of it is real legitimate concerns parents have.”

The growing backlash to the Common Core, to be fully in effect in Missouri and Illinois in the 2014-15 school year, has less to do with the skills and knowledge the standards promote than the motivations many parents fear are behind them.

They were developed in 2009 after the National Governors Association began pushing for a common and more challenging set of English and math standards for the nation’s schools. The effort involved hundreds of educators. It received bipartisan support from the nation’s governors. Backers include Republican Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, and Democratic Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon.

Once educators developed the standards, the Obama administration endorsed them. The U.S. Department of Education made adoption of the Common Core one of two