Common Core sets new goals for education

For a minute last Tuesday, the library at Ridgeway High went quiet as 30 or more math teachers imagined what school will look like in 2026 when this year’s kindergartners are seniors.

“At the rate we are going with graduation, I think a lot more international people will be performing our highest-level jobs,” said Pamela Cleaves, assistant principal at Hickory Hill Elementary.

In 17 schools across the state, thousands of teachers asked themselves the same question in the first day of a massive statesponsored Common Core training. When the project wraps up in July, 32,000 Tennessee teachers, nearly half the state’s teacher corps, will have completed two days of instruction in what English and math will look like when the new standards roll out in August.

“The purpose of the next two days is to be a learner, to learn and grow as a teacher and professional,” said Dogwood Elementary teacher Megan Guschler, one of 700 teachers leading the sessions all across the state.

Forty-five states have adopted the standards, which means that for the first time in the nation’s history, the vast majority of students will be held to the same expectations.

In Tennessee, where the goal is to have the fastest-improving scores, Common Core offers hope that “when we expect more, our students will achieve more,” Gov. Bill Haslam says in a video clip shown in the training.

Today, 16 percent of state’s high school graduates are considered ready to succeed in college or work and the state is in the bottom five for test scores.

For some teachers, Tuesday was the first time they have had any exposure to changes they will be expected to teach this school year.

“It’s not about memorizing formulas anymore; it’s about being given a problem and figuring out how to solve it,” said State Department of Education spokeswoman Kelli Gauthier.

By the simplest definition, the Common Core calls for teachers to cover fewer concepts but teach them deeper so students advance to the next grade with a firmer grasp of skills.

The new format also means students will read more nonfiction and be expected to dig deeper to support their thesis. And it pushes students to take more responsibility for learning.

It’s also tumultuous. A ripple is fanning against the Common Core among people who say it gives those in power control over the national curriculum.

“There’s no question, that’s one of the conversations people have been having about this,” said David Pickler, local school board member from Germantown and new president of the National School Boards Association. Although the change was a project of the National Governors Association, “it has the feel for many of a federal mandate.”

At least 10 states have yet to align their math and graduation requirements and some states have opted out completely. Part of the worry, Pickler said, is if test scores fall, “groups wishing to advance the privatization agenda will use the decline to say that public schools are failing.”