Common Core will lead to misery, not higher achievement
A Raging debate over whether Common Core is good or bad for American schoolchildren is intensifying, but in most U.S. schools, the new standards already govern how teachers teach and what students study. In 40-plus states, the math and English guidelines determine the knowledge students have to master by the end of each grade, what they’ll be tested on this year, and in many cases, how teachers and principals will be rated at their jobs once those test scores are released. Teachers are throwing out lesson plans and writing new ones, textbooks have been overhauled and new digital products are being hawked to schools that promise to help them meet the challenge of the new, tougher standards.
And yet too often the political fights over the Common Core exclude the voices of educators who have studied the standards and are grappling with how to apply them. To help fill this void, The Hechinger Report has invited two experienced principals to write a weekly column that will examine the Common Core through the eyes of those who have lived it.
Carol Burris has served as principal of South Side High School in the Rockville Centre School District in New York since 2000. In 2010, Dr. Burris was recognized by the School Administrators Association of New York State as their Outstanding Educator of the Year, and in 2013 she was recognized as the New York State High School Principal of the Year.
Jayne Ellspermann is principal of West Port High School in Ocala, Florida. She has served as a principal in elementary, middle, and highCommon Core will lead to misery, not higher achievement - The Hechinger Report:
