The Common Core Ate My Baby!

Growing up, I always loved a good urban legend.  Particularly the scary kind that made butterflies flop around in my stomach.  One I will always remember has to do with driving over a bridge in my hometown... We spent many afternoons testing that myth!  Now, being much older and wiser, I'm a little more keen on when a myth is just that - a myth.

In the world of education, with new things coming and going before we even find firm footing, we're used to the, "Well I heard this is going to happen..."  or "Well I heard THIS is coming!"  What I think all educators will agree on is that the only thing that stays the same is things keep changing.

One big change we've been working with this year is the adoption of the new Common Core Standards, standards that are dominating classrooms across the country.  This change has brought hours of extra work, sleepless nights, and, you guessed it, urban legends.

In their December 2012/January 2013 issue, Educational Leadership put out an article titled The Common Core Ate My Baby and Other Urban Legends.  You can find the article here:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec12/vol70/num04/The-Common-Core-Ate-My-Baby-and-Other-Urban-Legends.aspx

In case you don't have time to read the full article, here are some of the urban legends surrounding the CCES that are addressed...

1.  The new standards prohibit teachers from setting purposes for reading or discussing prior knowledge.

• TRUTH:  There is no ban on pre-reading; however, the new standards require students to read more challenging texts and engage in close reading lessons, in which REREADING is a hallmark.  Let students give the text a try without over-preparing them.  All too often the preparation to read a story is far more extended than the story itself.  Let the students try to interpret the author's message on their own.  Pre-reading preparation should be brief and focus on providing students with tools to make sense of the text on their own.

2.  Teachers are no longer required to teach phonological awareness, phonics, or fluency.

• TRUTH:  Anyone who looks through the CCES will see the section titled Reading:  Foundational Skills.  The CCES start with reading comprehension and end with foundations.

3.  English teachers can no longer teach literature in literature classes.

• TRUTH:  The standards suggest that 70% of older students' reading should focus on nonliterary texts, but that refers to ALL school reading (in all subject areas).  Students will need to spend more time reading informational texts, but that includes science and social studies classes.

4.  Teachers must teach students at frustration levels.

• TRUTH:  Students should have an array of reading experiences in the same way that a long-distance runner has a varied training schedule that mixes different distances and speeds.  Such varied schedules enable a runner to build muscle, speed, and endurance - three key skills of reading, too!

5.  Most schools are already teaching to the new standards.

• TRUTH:  We STILL have to make significant changes to our practices.  We've only just begun to realize the rigor of the CCES, and it's going to take time and hard work to meet the demands of the new standards.

*According to the article, about 70% of students meet their state's standards and enter higher education.  BUT more than 40% of these "successful" students require remediation when they get to college, and most of them fail to graduate.  We have GOT to prepare our students to be college- and career-ready, and that begins with upping our rigor... starting in Kindergarten!

And for what it's worth, the Common Core did NOT eat my baby.  Just sayin'.