Common Core

On Monday, a group of Senate Democrats, accompanied by members of the American Federation of Teachers, called on Republican Gov. Tom Corbett and the Department of Education to stop implementing the Common Core standards, which Corbett's Democratic predecessor, Gov. Ed Rendell, started to get students ready for college and careers.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative, which is managing the standards creation and feedback process, offers a wealth of information on its website to help district staff understand the process and get their questions answered.

For too long, schools from district to district and state to state have had wildly different standards and tests that make it harder for some students to compete and harder for parents and educators to get a handle on how well schools are performing.

Two decades ago, Texas became ground zero for the accountability movement in public education. Now, after a revolt by teachers and parents who claim that high-stakes testing is ruining classroom instruction, the legislature is poised to undo many of its own reforms. Does anyone have the right answer?

By David S. Martin, Ph.D., 5-2-13

We read increasing numbers of messages these days about second thoughts that various entities are having in regard to the Common Core Curriculum Standards. On the one hand, this statement of concerns is definitely troubling because for the real first time, the Common Core (for all of its shortcomings) is a bona fide attempt to coordinate American public education—an historic attempt; the resistance is partly due to short-sighted parochialism on the part of some states, wanting to “maintain” their own curriculum.

Critics say the standardized test-driven reforms pushed by those like Michelle Rhee may actually be harming students.

The conference—which will take place over two and a half days—will focus on the topic of teaching excellence and will have more than 150 sessions tailored for educators of all levels, including teachers, teacher leaders, principals, and district supervisors.