My thoughts on Common Core | Eastern North Carolina Now

    This commentary will make more sense if you review this article and particularly if you watch the video of Dr. Phipps' report to the Beaufort County Board of Education at its November meeting.

    We want to commend Dr. Phipps not only for a lucid report on Common Core but more so for his leadership in dealing with the issue. Unfortunately, there is much misunderstanding about the issue and his leadership will be crucial in helping Beaufort County work through the controversy. Here's how we see it:

    Common Core is simply a label. It is, like dozens of others, a multi-state approach to defining what is to be taught in K-12. Those knowledgeable of the history of American education understand that it is only one of a long line of curriculum development movements that have come and gone under various names. And that is as it must be. Periodically it is essential that the public school curriculum be assessed and revised. That is just common sense.

    The issue almost always becomes: Who should develop the revisions and what should they contain?

    What is important for anyone to understand is that the N. C. Constitution and statutes are clear on that question as it applies to North Carolina. It is the State Board of Education that determines what is included in the K-12 curriculum in our state. It does not matter what label is put on "the curriculum." Most recently it was called the "Standard Course of Study." Unfortunately, much of the current controversy comes simply from the label "Common Core" because of the attacks that have been made on it from highly vocal critics.

    Mr. Varcoe, in all due respect, is simply wrong when he says it is a "national curriculum." It simply cannot be a federally imposed curriculum because it is the State Board of Education that must adopt the curriculum in North Carolina. And the Easley/Perdue State Board did a lousy job of adopting the standards that are now referred to as "Common Core." But the current Board is not doing much better, so far.

    We would suggest that the State Board of Education simply adopt a motion that rejects Common Core and start over again. It should simply take the standards that have been proposed and revise them. But this time the SBOE should use an inclusive process of addressing the questions: What should student know and be able to do (at each grade level) and what level of performance should be designated to depict achievement levels. We would suggest the same labels used in the Standard Course of Study system (Levels I, II, III and IV) with Level III being the minimum level of satisfactory performance for the composite of each grade level. And for political reasons we think the bottom of Level III should be tied to the "national average." That achievement level should also be tied to a "C" on student report cards.

    But unlike the previous system, we would recommend that the testing metrics be revised every five years to define the achievement levels in relation to a national standard. Until a better set of national standards is developed we would suggest the achievement levels in North Carolina be correlated to the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests. The technology exists to do this, but suffice it to say here that we need a way to compare performance of North Carolina's students to other students across the nation. Every parent has a right to know how their child's performance compares to other students across the state and across the nation.

    If our state accepts that proposition then it has to correlate our state's standards to those of other states. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that....provided: The State Board of Education rejects those specific standards it deems inappropriate and adds those that it believes are missing. That review process should be done in a systematic way that includes extensive involvement by those individuals and organizations that wish to offer suggestions on a standard by standard basis.

    And we would suggest to the critics of "Common Core" that they set about the task of reviewing the curriculum standard by standard and base their suggestions on which standards should be revised and which should be added.

    To those critics of Common Core who say that local school systems should set the standards, we would say: You are wrong. What a child needs to know at each grade level in Beaufort County is no different than what a child in any other county in the state needs to know. It would take more space than we have here to fully explain it, but suffice it to say here that local standards allow for manipulation of performance standards that would eliminate valid accountability. Local control is often a good thing, but not when it comes to deciding what a student should know and be able to do in comparison to other students across the state and nation, or even around the world.

    And to our Board of Education our advice is simple: Take advantage of having an excellent Superintendent. Let him lead you through this mess. He did it on the Sex Ed. Issue and he can do it on Common Core. Don't let his efforts be sabotaged.

    Finally, we would suggest: Too much of what is behind the attacks on "Common Core" is simply based on misunderstanding, politics and resistance (by the union) to accountability. It is the Perfect Storm coming from a high level of frustration with public education and the government in general. But this too shall pass. What we've got to work for is that the result will be a more effective accountability model for public education. And that system must insure that our students are taught what they need to know and be able to do, and that we know how well they learn that in comparison to other students.

    The critics of Common Core have a duty to step forward and point out clearly the specific standards that are not appropriate, regardless of who authored them. They should be able to say: "This is something that a student does not need to know..." or "This is something that they do need to know but was left out."

    Let's get on with it.

    Delma Blinson writes the "Teacher's Desk" column for our friend in the local publishing business: The Beaufort Observer. His concentration is in the area of his expertise - the education of our youth. He is a former teacher, principal, superintendent and university professor.
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