Area Educators Blast Common Core Curriculum at State Hearing
A 15-member task force created by Gov. Andrew Cuomo held its first round of public hearings on the controversial Common Core curriculum last Friday, and speakers made it clear that they vehemently oppose the current setup.
Garrison Union Free School District English teacher Ian Berger addressed commissioners dressed in a replica yellow Star Trek shirt. The new standards were preventing his students from growing and learning as much as they can, he said.
“I want it to be about experiencing the world, about growing and seeing the world as they might have never seen it before,” said Berger during the two-hour hearing held at SUNY Purchase. “Unfortunately the Common Core English standards are not letting me do that. They are about technical standards: analyzing, explaining, comparing, determining and dissecting. We’re taking the beautiful animal and instead of learning about it, we’re cutting it apart and killing it.”
Berger said the excessive testing and the Engage NY modules teachers are required to teach from are killing the passion to learn.
“I don’t know who designed these things or who designed the Common Core in general, but they didn’t ask teachers who know what they’re doing,” Berger said.
Valhalla School District Superintendent Dr. Brenda Meyers said the poorly developed standards were punishing districts and creating a culture of failure.
“We’d love to see a definition of what are higher standards, not more standards, not technical standards, but higher standards,” she said.
Meyers said the curriculum for elementary school students, especially kindergarteners, is inappropriate for their age groups.
“In addition to that, the standards are built on 220 days of instruction, but I am lucky with snow days to get 160,” Meyers said. “I cannot meet all of these standards. People wonder why I need a 90-minute ELA and a 90-minute math block, it’s because the standards include far more content than we can rationalize or teach in a year.”
Mahopac Middle School English teacher Tom McMahon said standards often didn’t line up with the New York State Regents system, and often run counter to what those exams or other statewide tests required.
“How are teachers supposed to teach to an Algebra I test for students to pass in order to graduate when it’s not clear how the standards are supposed to fit within the grade level content?” McMahon asked.
Greenburgh Eleven Union Free School District Trustee and Westchester-Putnam School Boards Association Executive Board member Lisa Tane said that parents and educators have been airing the same concerns about the Common Core standards for several years, but to no avail. Tane said the state must return to research-based, developmentally appropriate curriculum.
“Please let the educators educate,” Tane said. “Untie the tests from teacher evaluations. It’s insanity. We’re all saying the same things. We all agree this has to be the right way, and the way that the government is doing it is not. Please listen to the educators.”
Also among those who spoke was Louis Wool, superintendent of the Harrison Central School District. Wool recommended a moratorium of at least two years on the implementation of the standards, as well as creating an expert panel to build a more meaningful assessment system over several years.
“They were given a charge that is not possible to implement, and I think it’s the wrong charge,” Wool said. “To suggest that somehow modifying 2,000 Common Core standards is going to correct the misdirection of this reform initiative – that doesn’t address developmental appropriateness, the development of assessments that can be used in a meaningful way and disavows the research that says what it takes to implement a high quality curriculum – it’s not possible.”
The hearings were scheduled several months after Gov. Cuomo questioned Common Core and how it’s been implemented following rampant criticism from parents and teachers.
Task force members are expected to make recommendations for Common Core reform to the governor later this year based on feedback received at this month’s meetings held in each region of the state.
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