Cored to Understand the Common, Reading Standards Again and Again

I went on a reading rampage last night to get another grip on the Common Core State Standards. I left Kentucky in 2007 and, to tell the truth, was selected as a Humana Scholar in 2005 through BreadLoaf to begin working on the transition of "analytical skills" the state felt were needed. The work was part of my membership with the Writing Advisory Board. This new emphasis on the analytical, of course, eventually turned into the Common Core and now Kentucky is pioneering new assessments of the standards.

The Common Core requires more writing, K-12, and I continue to stand proud when I say, "Writing portfolios in Kentucky helped students to prepare for college and career ready writing." Students wrote in a variety of genres and teachers received much support for implementing best practices for writing through the Kentucky Writing Project via the investment of the National Writing Project. I attest, though, that at the time of portfolio assessment less emphasis was placed on reading critically and analytically, although my students transitioned well to meet these goals when the buzz for more analysis began.

Anyone who knows me realizes quickly that I advocate for higher standards and more rigor. Yet, I also fight for more creativity and playfulness. The articles I read last night in favor of the Common Core emphasized that teachers will need to spend much less time on knowing students as young people developing into adults. More must be placed on curriculum that will help students to be successful after graduation.

Those who have taught in schools, however, will recognize that it is personal relationships and knowing the unique potential of every student that motivates a classroom to learn. The trick for meeting the Common Core State Standards will be the talent of how well teachers can blend the personal with the analytical. The numerous articles I read last night were strong advocates for the rigor, but fell short with how such rigor will successfully be implemented. Many of them draw on NAEP scores which, interestingly, show Connecticut as both the top scoring and lowest scoring state in the nation. After living here two years, this makes sense. This is a state of haves and have nots. The gaps are because our nation has not worked to close our class system.


The potential for failure will arrive because there's a lack of investment in education, with professional development for  teachers, and in rebuilding American schools. I work often in one urban  high school, for example, and the teachers there do not have reliable technology, provide their own paper if they want copies (but the copiers seldom work), experience tremendous truancy with their student population, and face extreme poverty every day. Driving from my working-class neighborhood through the streets where many of the students reside and to my campus, I'm reminded of the footage I've seen in Apartheid of S. Africa. It's hard to believe I'm in the United States and I'm wondering whether or not  federal and state governments will work to fix this problem (or if we can design assessments to measure how well they are fixing the problem).  Almost every educator I know goes into the teaching profession with passion and a sense of integrity.

Yet, the schooling systems that currently exists has turned to bullying teachers. It's created a culture of cynicism and frustration - behaviors that trickle down to the kids. If we do not invest in educators and treat them as professionals, I argue it is unlikely that they will have any of the tools to fulfill the Common Core State Standards. In recent years there has been a movement via Teach for America to take highly educated and successful students from prestigious colleges (super achievers, if you will) to do educational work in high needs schools. Yet, the departure rate for these teachers after two years is large making it obvious to me that the "highly educated" and "successful" need more than school smarts and skills. They often leave for other jobs and opportunities.

I ask, "Why?"

Probably because these teachers report what more experienced, veteran teachers have been saying for a long while. If we are to improve education and bring students forth with common standards, then we will need more than a core. It will require more professional development for teachers and administrators, better funding, extra support, and more encouragement. Standards provide a skeletal structure, but it is educators that flesh out what works with actual kids.

If I were to still teach in a K-12 school, I know I would do my best to help  students meet the standards, especially in writing. What I don't think I could achieve, however, is maintaing such rigor without  support. I would need more time to plan, greater opportunities to collaborate with fellow professionals, abundant tools and resources available in my school, more financial support to stay current in my field, and encouragement to see every child as the individual they are. I'm afraid, however, that without such support teachers will continue to be harassed. They will burn out even faster than they have in the past.
In the last six years, schools have lost funding. They are expected to do more and more with less and less.

I ask the following: Would you go to a dentist who only has a toothpick to work with? Would you trust a taxi-driver that has flat tires, is out of gas, and has no sense of direction? What about eating at a restaurant that has failed health inspections, that doesn't clean its floors, and that smells like urine? 

The answer, I image, is "probably not." Then why are we expecting students to learn in conditions that are not conducive their needs? Why aren't we pouring more resources into our schools?