It’s easy to get lost in all the back-and-forth debates over the widespread implementation of Common Core State Standards and all that it represents. But maybe it’s not that complicated – especially not for Washingtonians.
In the end, these standards seek to raise the bar for what we teach our students in order to give them the best possible education. And they have broad public support in the state, all the way from Governor Jay Inslee to regular Washington voters. (80 percent of Washington voters supported Common Core, according to a 2013 survey.)
Washington is leading the nation in developing “Smarter Balanced” assessments aligned with Common Core that accurately measure student progress and prepare them for success in college, work, and life.
The standards and tests are both relatively new, so they are not yet perfect. That’s why developers are running field tests (despite some assertions to the contrary) both to make sure the assessments are fair and to give teachers and schools the opportunity to gauge their readiness ahead of the first “real” assessments in spring 2015.
We’ve seen a backlash against new types of testing here in Washington. Smarter Balanced assessments address those concerns head-on, moving beyond “fill in the bubble,” deemphasizing rote memorization, and bringing what we know about best teaching practices into the conversation.
In fact, thoughtful teachers are taking it upon themselves to try out the tests—like Kristin, who was initially overwhelmed by the idea of new standards but gave the Smarter Balanced Assessment a second chance and decided “Guess what? It’s a good test.”
Perhaps Nancy Pfaff, a Lake Washington School District teacher and Common Core supporter who won a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Instruction, summed the ideas up best in a recent interview with the Seattle Times when she said, “We’re not only focusing on the content, we’re focusing on the thinking skills that go along with the content.”
Jeff Charbonneau, 2013 National Teacher of the Year, from Zillah, Washington has said that the Common Core State Standards “allow freedom for teachers to determine what the path is…as long as our students get to the same place.”
We’ve all heard the statistics; United States students are falling behind their international peers. The U.S. ranks 25th in math and 17th in science out of 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). But there are sobering statistics from Washington state too. We rank 46th in the nation in sending our students on to higher education, which means in our knowledge-based economy, employers are forced to look outside of Washington to hire.
We need to do better in preparing our children for the future, and that means evolving our educational standards to take on the challenges of tomorrow’s biggest industries. That’s where the Common Core State Standards come in—as a state-sponsored national framework that establishes benchmarks for teachers and students, allowing for better teaching and learning methods nationwide. Washington says, “Onward with Common Core!”
Tania de Sá Campos joined DFER Washington (DFER-WA) in April 2013 as Deputy State Director. In her role, Tania engages with a growing constituency of active, reform-minded Democrats and works with partners and allies to position Washington state as a leader in the next evolution of the movement to give every child a great education.