Education standards heading in right direction
In the classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” small town lawyer Atticus Finch said “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” In the past week, the Louisiana Legislature took this advice with regard to the ongoing controversy over Common Core State Standards.
Legislators on both sides of the issue worked out a compromise that creates a task force of educators to re-evaluate the current Louisiana PreK-12 education standards. The process will be transparent with legislator and governor oversight and will provide significant opportunity for public engagement. The intent of the process according to State Superintendent John White is to “create a framework for high expectations and challenging tests for students, as well as stability and consistency for teachers.”
For many like me, there is great optimism that accompanies this development. In my profession in cardiology, physicians write the guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. For teachers, the same should be true. Professional educators can draw upon research and their past experiences — especially their experience in the classroom with the current education standards — to change what needs to be changed and keep what needs to be kept.
From the perspective of someone who has heard all sides of the Common Core State Standard debate, there are three hopes. First, there is hope that this change process will remain driven predominantly by a diverse group of educators. This education diversity should not just be confined to race but be expanded to include teachers from suburban, inner city, and rural schools as well as teachers early, late, and mid career. Parents, business leaders, legislators, and governors should be contributors but not drivers.
Second, the foundation principles from Louisiana’s current standards should remain in any improvement process. Louisiana’s PreK-12 education standards should be based on high expectations. The standards should allow for teacher creativity by being fewer and clearer than Louisiana’s previous standards. The adjusted standards should preserve the Common Core foundation of teaching the basics for the 21st century — real world skills of reading comprehension, writing, problem-solving, and critical thinking. This will preserve the goal that all students are college and career ready at graduation from high school.
Lastly, if teachers on the standard review committee are successful, people on both sides of the issue will not be completely satisfied. From this perspective, those who want standards to look nothing like Louisiana’s current education standards based on the Common Core and those who want the exact same standards with only a title change will not be happy. This process should not be about starting over or window dressing. It should be a good faith effort to change what needs to be changed and preserve what needs to be kept. We should trust the teachers who have worked in the classroom to be pragmatists and make the right choices.
More than anything, the teachers in our classrooms need stability and consistency. They are in the best place to make decisions about standards and guidelines that govern their profession and their calling.
Surely we can do this without the current “gunfight at the O.K. Corral” mentality that accompanies even mention of Louisiana’s Pre-K thru 12 education standards. We can and we should.
Dr. Phillip Rozeman is the founder of the Alliance for Education, Education’s Next Horizon, Shreveport-Bossier Business Alliance for Higher Education, and Chairman of Blueprint Louisiana.