Boycott Reforms? Or Offer Suggestions...

Diane Ravitch recently reposted a letter from a concerned mother of a seven year old second grader.  The mother was writing her frustrations about the common core test in New York.  Her young daughter, a strong student, was incredibly nervous and distraught about an upcoming math test.  The mother, a former teacher, studied countless hours with the daughter, review methodology, and making sample test questions.

At one point, the mother expresses her frustration with common core by saying, "Come on parents, we change our shoes if they are uncomfortable.  We switch doctors and seek second opinions if we don’t like our course of treatment.  Our grocery store loyalty is fickle if we don’t have a positive experience or they ran out of the brand of pasta we like.  And here we are sitting back, watching our children suffer."

While I completely agree with this concerned mother's "go get 'em" attitude, I also feel that "shop around until you find the right solution" is detrimental.  There have been countless educational reforms over the years; none of which has proved successful.  The 1960s and 70s plethora of reforms lead to the infamous A Nation at Risk, where the National Commission on Excellence in Education hi-lighted the educational flaws in the United States.  The document only lead to more reform turn over.  Balanced Literacy in New York was soon followed by professional development heavy model in San Diego.  New York rebutted once again with a business model education system, starting the charter movement.  Perhaps, if one of these reforms had stuck around a little longer we would be both celebrating its successes while amending its flaws, rather than starting from scratch over and over again.  

This is not to say that I firmly support common core and the testing movement, or privatization and charters, etc.  I do, however, feel that the United States needs to pick a central focus and work with that, flourishing its pros, and fixing its flaws.  Personally, I think that common core is a brilliant idea with poor implementation.  The standards and assessments need to be evaluated and tweaked regularly until they more accurately assess what is actually happening in grade level classrooms.  

So in response to the concerned mother in NY, I sympathize for you and for the teachers who are given little freedom in what they do.  I worry about your daughter, dealing with such high stress at such a young age.  And lastly, I urge you to take a stand, but make sure you think carefully about what you are arguing for and against.