Common Core in Beaufort County discussed by BOE | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    At their regular monthly meeting on November 25, 2013 the Beaufort County Board of Education heard a report from Superintendent Don Phipps as well as comments from Paul Varcoe during the Public Comment section of the agenda on the hotly debate issue of the "Common Core."

    Common Core is the label being used for the K-12 curriculum, specifically in math and language arts. It has been adopted in concept by the State Board of Education, which is, by law, the agency responsible for adopting a statewide curriculum. In the past it was called the "Standard Course of Study." But the term common core has become controversial as a cause célèbre of several conservative groups who oppose it, in part because they see common core as a national curriculum being pushed on the states by the Federal government. A growing number of states have rejected the program while a number are using it, including North Carolina.

    Essentially common core seeks to prescribe what students K-12 should know and be able to do when they complete each grade or level going through school.

    There has always been an ongoing debate about what should be taught in our elementary and secondary schools. The question is: Who is going to determine that? The origin of "common core" came as an attempt to establish minimum standards that all students in all schools should be able to accomplish at a minimum level. But critics see such uniformity to be a negative. Teachers' unions have opposed it, in part because it would allow teacher evaluation based on student performance on a common set of standards. The debate thus far has centered more on how it is to be decided what will be taught, rather than what is to be contained in the curriculum.

    So at the November meeting Dr. Phipps presented an overview of common core and addressed some of the issues that have been raised. The board took no action and is expected to continue addressing the concerns and issues raised.

    The first video below is Mr. Varcoe's presentation:



    The next video is Dr. Phipps' comments on common core: