The controversial nature of Common Core is furthered through a new ACT National Curriculum Survey 2016 report from ACT QualityCore, which comes out every four years.
As the report sums up, many educators don’t think the standards work and aren’t preparing students for college and the work place. Parents aren’t the only ones concerned with Common Core. Elementary school teachers employ different methods from the standards, but which they still think are important.
The Washington Post analyzed the report. “Though the Core standards were designed to prepare students for college and career, the survey found that many workplace supervisors and employees believe skills necessary for success are not part of the Core,” the analysis says.
A major part of the report focused on the “Skills and personal characteristics important to education and workplace success.”
There specifically is a “disconnect” between what the Core intended and reality:
During the 2016 CPAC conference, Emmett McGroarty with the American Principles Project and Neil McCluskey with the Cato Institute discussed Common Core from how it “exposes rift between political elitists and the people.”
The presenters also spoke from a states’ issue. In their view, the media has not properly focused on the issues. Hopefully this new report could change that.
The report also had a focus with helping states in ensuring student success, for their “Policy Recommendations,” with added emphasis:
- States should maintain their commitments to implementing challenging academic standards in the classroom by ensuring through statute or regulations that all schools in a state adhere to the same set of standards with the goal of preparing all students for college and career
- States and/or local educational agencies should develop ways to measure and track the progress of students’ development of nonacademic skills, and support schools integrating the teaching of these skills into their instruction.
- States and districts should invest resources into technology-use training so that teachers can better prepare students to use technology, especially in the context of new assessments.
- States and local educational agencies should use funds allotted under the Every Student Succeeds Act to provide professional development for teachers on ways to make effective use of the results of large-scale assessments.
States have been turning to implementing their own standards, including North Dakota. With the report’s focus confirming what many already fear about Common Core, perhaps more states will turn to their own standards.
