Teacher's Responsibility Concerning Common Core

This was  the beginning of my journey against Common Core.  From an earlier post, My Thoughts on the Common Core, I explain how I felt at the end of my teaching journey at my past district.   But this is how it all started.

When Common Core first started, my colleagues and I were all told this was a change in curriculum. Our thought was "Here we go again. Another change."  We moved on. Using the new standards, but using our own methods to achieve those standards.  Our district began using the Common Core early on. (Personally, I think it was because our superintendent is such a good buddy to the Governor.) Anyway, my colleagues and I plugged away at implementing yet another state initiative along with about 50 other things being implemented.  Then I received a call from my brother-in-law inviting me to attend a meeting on the Common Core. My brother-in-law is on the school board in a neighboring district. He takes his responsibilities as a BOE member very seriously. He doesn't just attend meetings. He studies the agenda and does research. He had been researching Common Core. He wanted my husband and I to attend this informational meeting and see what we thought. We attended. 

I began hearing things that were happening in my district. Things that concerned me and made me start questioning where this was headed. Words like business consortium, Bill Gates, data collection, rigor. What did it all mean? And how would it affect my students?  

I started researching and I attended more meetings.  Meetings led by parents who had already had negative experiences with Common Core in their districts. Meetings led by educators that were speaking out against the lack of rigor and how objectives were being dumbed down. Meetings where politicians were invited to speak and share their knowledge. Meetings were DESE was invited, but didn't show up to explain and defend the CCSS.  School Board meetings where parents and patrons passionately shared their concerns with BOE members.  During one such meeting I became upset with the way that some BOE members were treating citizens and their questions. And I'll admit that I was also a little upset with how they seemed so disinterested in this topic. All, but my brother-in-law, were ready to sign on. So... I did what the other tax payers were doing at the meeting- I spoke up. I reminded the BOE that they actually worked for the people  in this room. They were elected to represent our interests. And... the superintendent worked for them. This went over like a lead balloon.  Months later (and I'm sure many more tense meetings later) this district became the first to sign a resolution against the Common Core. I was so proud of my home town.  

But my joy and pride were short lived, when I realized that many teachers liked the Common Core. They didn't know what it was about, but they believed everything that their school administrators had been telling them.  Just like me, a few months ago.  

They still believed that the CCSS was just another new thing that would be here today and gone tomorrow.  It was no big deal.  Well, it is a big deal and I believe that anyone in the education field and any one that has children owes it to those children to investigate. CCSS isn't all that it is cracked up to be.  Yes, we need standards, objectives, grade level expectations- I'm a firm believer in setting and achieving goals - but we don't need all of the other things that are attached. Things like data collection, violation of children's rights, increased taxes to support more technology, and dumbing down of expectations and grades. And there are pieces to the Common Core that clash with my Christian beliefs. The more I learned the more concerned I became.     

I know that as educators many of us are in a position where we have to use the CCSS, but that doesn't relieve us of the responsibility of knowing what we are doing or how we use them.  Educate yourself. Look at both sides.   
Some good places to start are:
Missouri Watchdog and this interesting parent letter.  Both are lengthy and will require time you don't have, but you owe it to yourself and your students to be better informed. 

I am ashamed of how quickly I accepted the CCSS as just another initiative.  I know that I still use it in my curriculum design because I am expected to do so at my job.  But that doesn't mean that I have to encourage it and support it.  I am still learning more and more about this program.  I intend to keep learning.  After all, we expect our students to be life-long learners, shouldn't we be also?