NATION & WORLD
Students in 45 states are now being asked to form strategies and opinions
New standards alter classroom
focus: Teachers across the country are adopting lessons that emphasize critical-thinking skills following implementation of Common Core.
MIDDLETOWN, Del. — Remembering the plot of a short story is no longer good enough in teacher Amy Lawson’s fifthgrade classroom.
Today’s students are being asked to think more critically. For example, what might a character say in an email to a friend?
“It’s hard. But you can handle this,” Lawson tells them.
Welcome to a classroom using the Common Core State Standards, one of the most politicized and misunderstood changes in education.
In 45 states and the District of Columbia, Lawson and other kindergarten through high school teachers are starting to use the standards to guide what skills students learn and when.
To hear the standards’ critics tell it, there are few things more dangerous happening in the country. But in this community in northern Delaware, it’s just another day in the classroom.
The Common Core State Standards are academic benchmarks that outline the skills a student should have at each level. For instance, third-graders should know how to find the perimeter of a figure. A fifth-grader should be able to compare and contrast two characters from a story.
The standards were created by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to improve academic achievement and increase accountability. President Barack Obama and his administration embraced them.
That led critics, including Republican members of Congress, to call the standards a national curriculum. The standards are not a curriculum, despite the opponents’ claims.
Alaska, Texas, Nebraska and Virginia did not adopt them. Minnesota has adopted only the English standards.
At the core of the standards is a reduced emphasis on memorization. Students now have to apply critical thinking.
Critics’ biggest disagreement with the standards is that students and teachers are being expected to do more and do it more quickly. If either group doesn’t keep up, there are serious consequences.
“Honestly, it’s overwhelming at first,” said Lara Crowley, an English and language arts specialist in Delaware’s Appoquinimink School District. “I had a hard time wrapping my head around how this was going to work.”
In some places, such as New York and Minnesota, the shift to Common Core testing produced a steep drop in student scores, which reflected poorly on teachers.
“We know there is going to be a bump in the road. But we’re going to do our best for the students,” said Silver Lake Elementary School principal Cynthia Clay, a 31-year educator who has insisted her teachers receive training on the new standards.