Common Core Opinions

This morning, MSN's Today Show had a feature about today's teachers and the problems they face in the classroom.  Interviewed were two public school teachers; one of whom has being teaching for 25 years, and the other who started her teaching career just two weeks ago.  The feature began by stating that there are over 3 million public school teachers this year, 300,000 of which are brand new in the classroom.

Forty five states and Washington, DC have already adopted the Common Core Standards.  The teachers in the Today clip worried most about the appropriateness and engagement of the standards.  The veteran teacher argued that her primary concern in the classroom has always been to create academically rigorous lessons.  She didn't feel that she needed the standards to force her to do this.  The teacher continued by commenting that she had an eight year old student inquire if her job standing was a result of his test score and that she was worried about the amount of pressure this mindset would create for the young student.  It sounds like the common core murmurings and dissatisfaction are reaching the students and affecting them on an emotional level.

Being a teacher at a school that does not follow the Common Core Standards, I decided to take a small poll.  I asked some of my fellow teachers if they were content with the miscellaneous standards that different subjects are using, or if they think we should adopt common core.  All of the teachers were dissatisfied with the system that we are using; teachers find the standards that they wish to use and find most appropriate, and follow them as they see fit.  For example, I am using a mixture of Common Core and the Next Generation Science Standards.  All of my colleagues say that they feel a little lost with their curriculum and wish they had more concrete standards to follow.  They don't know if adopting common core is the solution they see fit.

It seems like we always want what we don't have....including standards.  Those with them, dread them.  They bad mouth them till no tomorrow.  Those without the standards ask for more structure.  They feel lost and hope to have a better understanding of where their students stand in comparison to other schools.  What's the right answer?