Pattern shows need to review standards
IN 2014, the Legislature voted to repeal Common Core academic standards in English and math and develop a replacement set of standards within two years. Supporters proclaimed the new state-developed standards would make Oklahoma a national leader. It hasn’t worked out that way.
Instead, independent evaluators continue to find Oklahoma’s standards are wanting, sometimes substantially so.
In a new report, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute examined Common Core standards and the standards of states that haven’t adopted Common Core. It found Oklahoma’s math standards are “weak” and require “significant revisions.” To cite just one problem, reviewers found “there are no explicit expectations for the instant recall of the addition and multiplication facts (e.g., 2+2=4)” among elementary students.
The reviewers concluded Oklahoma’s math standards “amount to weaker preparation for college and the workplace ...”
Oklahoma’s English standards fared better and were declared “good,” although Fordham still recommended “targeted revisions.” And, despite the “good” rating, Oklahoma’s English standards were still deemed inferior to Indiana’s state standards and Common Core English standards.
The Fordham reviewers did not automatically declare all state standards inferior to Common Core standards. Texas’ math standards, for example, were given the same “strong” rating as Common Core.
Fordham’s review is the latest such evaluation of Oklahoma’s academic standards issued by independent experts.
Achieve, a nationally recognized education reform organization, warned in 2016 that Oklahoma’s standards “fall short on nearly all” criteria for quality standards “because they are too broad or inappropriately focused to effectively guide instruction,” and will “disadvantage Oklahoma students” and leave them “less prepared to successfully enter college and careers.”
That same year, two expert reviewers brought in by state officials also raised concerns. During a legislative hearing, Lawrence Gray, a math professor at the University of Minnesota, said more than 100 items in Oklahoma’s math standards needed revision. Among other things, Gray said the standards expect kindergarteners to perform a mathematical exercise many adults cannot do, one fifth-grade objective “doesn’t really require students to do anything,” and objectives dealing with money don’t require students to “work with actual money amounts, such as $1.43 or $47.”
At that same hearing, Sandra Stotsky, professor emerita in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, bluntly warned that Oklahoma’s English standards “cannot lead to strong academic outcomes” and “are not worth following.”
State schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister had previously declared Stotsky and Gray to be academic-standards experts.
A clear pattern has emerged: Independent evaluators consistently find Oklahoma’s academic standards are inferior to the standards used in most states.
This year, many teachers have chosen to run for legislative office. Should those candidates win, improvement of Oklahoma’s standards would seem a good place to focus their efforts. If citizens want Oklahoma schools to be among the nation’s best, we can’t settle for mediocrity.