*Nine in 10 principals (93%) and teachers (92%) say they are knowledgeable about the Common Core.
* Nine in 10 principals (90%) and teachers (93%) believe that teachers in their schools already have the academic skills and abilities to implement the Common Core in their classrooms.
*Teachers and principals are more likely to be very confident that teachers have the ability to implement the Common Core (53% of teachers; 38% of principals) than they are very confident that the Common Core will improve the achievement of students (17% of teachers; 22% of principals) or better prepare students for college and the workforce (20% of teachers; 24% of principals).
Only 17% of teachers believe the Common Core will improve "student achievement."
Only 20% of teachers believe the Common Core will better prepare students for college and work.
Instead of wondering if the standards might be problematic, the "education writer" at Huffington Post gets a quote from an ed deform non-profiteer that attacks teachers:
The survey's common core findings worry Stephanie Hirsh, director of Learning Forward, a non-profit teacher development group. "They think they know it, they view it as challenging, and maybe because they don't have confidence, they don't believe it's really going to get better results -- so perhaps they're not willing to accept the challenge of going about implementing it," Hirsh said of teachers. "More teachers need to get a deeper understanding of common core."
You see the deformer sleight of hand there - it's the teachers' fault for not having a "deeper understanding"of the Common Core Federal Standards for why they believe the new standards will not improve "student achievement" or better prepare students for college or work.
These ed deformers are incapable of self-reflection or self-criticism. Their default mode is to blame teachers for all the problems - in schools, with students, with the Common Core.
It's a pattern that we've seen over and over from the Kleins and the Rhees and the Colemans and the rest - point the finger elsewhere, never wonder if their own performances, standards or policies are part of the problem.
And of course the ed deform-friendly writers - like the one from Huffington Post - help the deformers with the Blame Teachers First meme by framing their education stories this way.
You can already envision how this will come down in a few years.
The Common Core has already been problematic in the lower grades.
Raising the so-called standards three or four grade levels beyond the developmental abilities of students is setting those students up for failure, anxiety and stress, as we saw in this NY Post article.
In addition, the Common Core Federal Standards privilege academic learning over socio-emotional learning, another flaw in the standards that Americans are going to come to rue in the future.
Other problems with the Common Core Federal Standards are explored here by Susan Ohanian.
Why the Common Core developers and proponents cannot see the flaws in the standards or the implementation of those standards and instead need to blame teachers for both of those things is emblematic of how the Education Reform Movement handles their so-called reforms.
It's the fault of the teachers - always.
Teachers cannot be trusted to render any professional judgment.
The Ed Deformers - especially the ones without teaching experience (or with just a couple of years of it) - know best.
This is Common Core crap is doomed to failure, but I am pretty certain that in the end, with the deformers having all the money they need to to frame the stories the way they want, they will skirt blame for this mess and teachers will end up, once again, as the villains of the piece.
Well
ReplyDeleteSorry, pressed the return button prematurely.
ReplyDeleteWhat I meant to say is that if The Common Core, and it's attendant high stakes tests, bring about a wave of "failures," and calls for school closings, charter inaction and teacher firings, then it will have been very successful, indeed.
Ed deform advocate Rick Hess gave the game away back in November (blogs.edweek.org/edweek/ rick_hess_straight_ up/2012/11/ the_common_ core) when he said that most deformer types he's spoken to we're excited about the Common Core because they expected huge declines n test scores (not surprising, since the tests are being given before the curriculum is fully developed) in suburban districts that up to now have been resistant to privatization.
The assumption is that the urban districts have already been taken over, as they mostly have, but there are markets still to be tapped.
In the perverse world of corporate education reform, failure is success.
The 17% who support are probably E4E who will support any deform even if it included eating the livers of misbehaving students.
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