State Is Set to Revamp the Common Core
Like an ostracized adolescent in need of reinvention, the Common Core, federal standards adopted as guidelines for kindergarten through 12th-grade education, is expected to be revamped in New York State and to return to school in September with a new name and more likable personality.
At least that is what the New York State education commissioner, MaryEllen Elia, is hoping will occur when the state adopts the Next Generation English Language Arts and Mathematics Learning Standards. The new standards and name, which grew out of a lengthy process of revising the Common Core, will be voted on in June by the State Board of Regents. Approval is expected.
The Common Core was first applied in 2010 as a unified set of educational standards, and was adopted, at one point, by 45 states. It drew praise from educators who saw its potential to correct the inequities caused by ZIP code or economic status, and $330 million was poured into its federal funding.
Detractors, however, saw the Common Core as little more than federal coercion. The apparently high-stakes Common Core testing that followed ignited opposition. Teachers argued that the tests were being used to punish those whose students did not perform up to the standards. Before long the Common Core became synonymous with high-anxiety testing and monotonous test-prep drills. A widespread testing boycott — known as the “opt-out” movement — began, with parents refusing to let their children take the tests.
By 2015, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said the state’s education framework had become “problematic, to say the least,” and he assembled a diverse commission to recommend changes. In December that year, the New York Board of Regents voted to suspend the use of state standardized test scores in teacher evaluations until 2019. But this did not stop the opt-out movement.
Long Island emerged as the epicenter of the movement in the state, with over 50 percent of students in grades three to eight refusing to take the tests. This year in Suffolk County, 56 percent of students opted out with the Comsewogue School District registering refusals at 87 percent. Locally, the Bridgehampton School had the highest opt-out rate, at 57.5 percent, while East Hampton had the lowest, 7.4 percent. Other rates were 30 percent in Springs, 29 percent in Montauk, and 24.1 percent in Amagansett.
Even Common Core supporters conceded that at the very least a name change was needed. The Next Generation was unveiled at a Board of Regents meeting in early May, along with a broad series of tweaks and changes.
The new standards evolved out of identifying some of the Common Core’s flaws and replacing them with so-called “lost standards,” a series of benchmarks that were being crafted by educators before they were scrapped in favor of the Common Core. They had used literature versus informational texts, with emphasis on teacher training and their role in test development, as well as clearly defined support strategies for English language learners.
“The result will be improved teaching and learning in New York’s classrooms, with a greater emphasis on supporting English-language learners, students with disabilities, and other special populations. These standards are rigorous and will help equip children to lead successful lives in the 21st century,” the Regents chancellor, Betty Rosa, said.
Reactions from local school professionals, who will actually have the task of implementing the rebooted program, range from concern to uncertainty. Debra Winter, the superintendent of the Springs School, said she was concerned that the changes would not change parent attitude.
“We have to educate our parents that we need to have some measure that educators are doing their jobs. I believe we need prescriptive assessments that tell us what a student is deficit in, or what gaps we, as educators, have in our instruction. It is my hope that computer-based testing will give us immediate feedback to assist us in educating our students,” she said.
Beth Doyle, the principal of the John M. Marshall Elementary School in East Hampton, agreed, saying, “The standards are great but parents have forgotten that there’s a difference between the standards and the tests. All they think about are the tests.”
According to Eleanor Tritt, the superintendent of the Amagansett School District, who spoke of the new standards at a school board meeting last week, “We need more than a name change. We need the Board of Regents to make some serious considerations about the value of these tests.”
Eric Casale, the principal of the Springs School, expressed hope, however. “With more involvement from educators, I think these standards will eventually reflect the true potential of what teachers and students can achieve when they work together,” he said this week.
Regardless of how the standards are changed and what they are called, more thoughtful implementation of the Next Generation English Language Arts and Mathematics Learning Standards will be crucial for lasting success. Whether the rebranding will make a dent in the boycott movement remains to be seen