Leadership Matters - August 2013

Common Core issues bubble up in state Dispelling myths with facts, and sharing concerns is approach that resonates

By Michael Chamness IASA Director of Communications

“ One of the main points we tried to make is that curriculum and instruction is still under the control of the local school board. No one is telling us

With everything else that is swirling about public education, some school leaders in the state are being asked to explain the Common Core State Standards Illinois and 44 other states have adopted. Dr. Lindsey Hall, Superintendent of Morton Community Unit District 709, Assistant Superintendent Craig Smock, and Troy Teater, director of curriculum and technology, recently spoke at a meeting of the Morton-Tazewell 9.12 Tea Party. They presented factual information about Common Core and then answered questions from the more than 40 attendees. “We just shared the facts about Common Core, the sources of our information, and our experiences as school administrators,” Hall said. “One of the main points we tried to make is that curriculum and instruction is still under the control of the local school board. No one is telling us what books to read in English class.” Hall’s experience in Morton is hardly unique. There is a website called “Stop Common Core Illinois” ( www.stopcommoncoreillinois.org ), and questions about Common Core persist not just in conservative political groups, but also in Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs) and in the general public. Issues raised by the group in Morton were pretty much in line with opinions expressed on the website referenced above, including concerns about standards being too low and too much government intervention, ranging from a perceived federal control of curriculum to the gathering of personal information about students. Hall said she distributed a CCSS Informational Sheet , encouraged the group to read the standards themselves, and pointed them to websites that contain pros and cons about Common Core. She also shared some of her concerns about Common Core with the group. “One of my big concerns is that Common Core is another unfunded mandate, but in the world of public schools that is not unique. Mandates get passed all the time with no money to fund them,” said Hall, noting that her district is fortunate to have the hardware, software and bandwidth capacity needed to conduct the Common Core assessments, but that many other school districts might need to upgrade or add those capabilities. Other Common Core issues Hall cited included

the time spent conducting the assessments and the resulting loss of instruction time as well as questions about the assessments themselves. But she has no objection to the standards themselves. “We didn’t go to the meeting to make a sales pitch for it,” Hall said. “But we made the point that having learning standards is not a new thing for us. Illinois enacted state learning standards back in 1997, and those were preceded in 1985 by the Illinois State Goals. We can’t blame everything on Common Core. “Collecting data about students is also not a new activity for public school districts, but ‘data mining’ is definitely a concern of groups like the Tea Party. The people we talked with, I believe, were receptive to our message because we did balance the positives with our concerns, and openly answered questions.” Hall said she was glad to have been able to meet with three of the Morton group’s leaders prior to the public meeting. She said setting parameters for the public discussion and requesting submission of questions in advance paved the way for the public discussion about Common Core to be efficient, respectful and productive. She also said she emphasized that standards are not the determining factor in a child’s education. “The single most important factor remains the teacher in the classroom. It doesn’t matter what standards we adopt if we don’t have great teachers.” what books to read in English class…. The single most important factor remains the teacher in the classroom. It doesn’t matter what standards we adopt if we don’t have great teachers .” —Dr. Lindsey Hall Morton Community Unit 709

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