I have been asked by a few people to explain what the Common
Core standards are and what impact they have on Penn-Trafford. The answer will fall under the title “a long
answer to a short question”. I will not
offer my opinion about the Common Core or the standards system in general, but
will only provide the facts. It is
important to realize that academic standards have been around for a while and
that they are embedded into the structure of Pennsylvania schools.
The Standards and the
PSSA Exam
The first thing to remember is that Pennsylvania has had official
academic standards for more than 15 years.
These standards serve as the foundation for the PSSA Exams. In other words, our students are tested on
how well they have been taught the Pennsylvania Academic Standards. The link to
the PA standards is: http://www.pdesas.org/Standard/VerticalStandard,
and http://www.pdesas.org/Standard/Views.
Even more importantly, the rankings for
school districts across the State are based on how well students perform on the
PSSA tests. Since the reauthorization of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 2002 (known by its moniker “No
Child Left Behind” or NCLB) schools and school districts are categorized and
punished (some would say shamed) according to how well (or poorly) their students
perform on the PSSA Exams (students in grades 3-8 and grade 11 are tested). NCLB created 4 categories that students (and
schools and school districts) would be categorized based on the results of the
PSSA Exam. These categories are “advanced”,
“proficient”, “basic” and “below basic”.
NCLB set a goal that 100% of students in America would be considered
either “advanced” or “proficient” in Reading and Math by 2014. To encourage schools to meet that goal,
targets for performance were created that increased every year; if a school met
these targets then you realized something
called “Adequate Yearly Progress” (AYP) (http://paayp.emetric.net/Home/About).
For example, in 2013 the target that schools must meet to reach AYP is 89%
advanced or proficient in Math and 91% advanced or proficient in Reading. NCLB also required that different “subgroups”
of students meet the same targets of proficiency; so different minorities, the lower
economic status students and special needs student’s scores aggregated together
must also meet these requirements. If a
subgroup does not meet the requirements then the school (or district) is labeled
as not meeting AYP. There are 40
different subgroups. To have a subgroup
a school must have at least 40 students categorized into the subgroup. I have veered off into “PSSA land” because it
is important to note that Pennsylvania has had academic standards for a long
time and that those standards are the basis for the PSSA Exams.
The Origins of The
Common Core
As the 2000’s unfolded politicians and some education policy
makers became frustrated that different States had different levels of rigor in
their standards. Thus, it was difficult
to compare children across different States as they took their State’s
exams. Pennsylvania has one of the more rigorous
standard systems as compared to other States in the Union. Therefore, a Pennsylvania student may be
classified as “proficient” but know more than a student classified as “advanced”
in another State. The solution that was
developed for this problem (for good or ill) is something called “The Common
Core”. The Common Core standards are
standards developed nationally (not
by the Federal Government, by the way) and States are encouraged to
adopt them as their own. This would (theoretically)
“even out” the different levels of rigor between States. Currently only 5
States in the Union have not adopted the Common Core Standards. Pennsylvania adopted the standards in July of
2010 and schools have been forced to realign their curriculum to meet the slightly
different requirements of The Common Core versus the old Pennsylvania
Standards. Information about the Common Core can be found at: http://www.corestandards.org/. Information
about the Pennsylvania Common Core can be found at: http://www.pdesas.org/Standard/CommonCore.
The Common Core currently has standards for Math and English/Language Arts.
The Keystone Exams
Pennsylvania has also started to replace the 11th
grade PSSA test with something called “end of course” exams. These exams are called “Keystone Exams”. Currently, the class of 2017 must pass a
Keystone Exam in Algebra I, Literature, and Biology. Eventually, English Composition and Civics
and Government will be added to the list of mandatory tests. The Keystone Exams
are based on the Pennsylvania Common Core Standards. Schools, school districts and students are
categorized (for AYP purposes) based on student results on the Keystone
Exam. To graduate from high school a
student must pass these Keystone Exams or an alternate project approved by the
school district and the State. Penn-Trafford
gave the Math and Literature Keystone Exams as required by school code this
winter.
Penn-Trafford and The
Common Core
In the past, Penn-Trafford aligned our curriculum to the
State Standards. This was done so our
children would do well on the PSSA Exams which are based on the State
Standards. By aligning we mean that we
make sure the curriculum at minimum covers
what will be on the test. When our staff compared The Common Core with what we have
currently in our curriculum (which is based on the PA Academic Standards) there
were no significant changes or additions. It is the school district’s responsibility
(and obligation) to our students to help make them successful by passing the
Keystone Exams to graduate from high school.
Imagine if our school system did not prepare students to meet the
requirements of graduation set forth by the State; we would be negligent in our
duties.
I have been asked what the financial impact of The Common
Core has been on the school district; the answer is that it has been negligible. Teachers have been given time to make sure
the standards students will be tested on are in our curriculum and some staff
have attended conferences to try to keep up to date about graduation
requirements put forth by the State regarding Keystone Exams. The district will have two trainings for teachers on May 3rd that are tangentially related to The Common Core. The titles of the first workshop is "Reading and writing informational texts"which will define what informational texts are and give them ideas for including informational texts in their classroom. The second workshop is entitled "Lessons in Logic: Constructing strong arguments" which will give teachers ideas to help move students from persuasive writing to constructing more logical arguments in their writing.
I have also been asked about our textbooks and how they are
influenced by The Common Core. First, it
is important to note that Penn-Trafford was very smart a few years ago to
develop a cycle where money was budgeted every year to purchase textbooks. Every year different subject areas at
different levels (high school, middle school and elementary) sit down and
determine what textbook (or other resources) they need to create engaging
lessons for our students. As I will discuss
later, our teachers are moving away from a teaching model based on the textbook
as the center of instruction and moving to an instructional model of creativity,
collaboration and engagement. With that
being said, textbook companies are making sure that their books are aligned
with The Common Core. This means the
textbooks “cover” The Common Core Standards.
Here at Penn-Trafford, our teachers have been moving away from the use of
textbooks and are using them as only one resource. As a matter of fact, in the last two textbook
purchasing cycles for Middle level English, Social Studies, and Math, teachers
have chosen not to purchase textbooks and instead have used the budgeted money
to purchase instructional technology that allows students to collaborate and be
creative in the classroom.
I hope this long answer can answer some questions that are
arising in the community. The Common
Core is just the latest iteration of academic standards that the State has had
in place for a while. No matter how one
may feel about the legitimacy of The Common Core Standards, our schools are
required by law to follow the guidelines put forth by the State and make sure
our students can meet those guidelines and graduate with a diploma.
