K-12 Education

I am a teacher because I believe education is the solution to every problem.  Education matters.  Education is the backbone of an enlightened and advanced society.  One of my favorite quotes comes from one of my favorite books, The Phantom Tollbooth, "[W]hatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps his wings, a breeze goes round the world; when a speck of dust falls to the ground, the entire planet weighs a little more; and when you stamp your foot, the earth moves slightly off its course. Whenever you laugh, gladness spreads like the ripples in the pond; and whenever you're sad, no one anywhere can be really happy. And it's much the same thing with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer.”

I love my job.  I love it because I get to live that truth every day.  I get to challenge 10 and 11 year olds to ask the questions and then find the answers themselves.  I get to teach them to think critically, to analyze, to inquire, and to operate both independently and collaboratively.  And, as a result, the whole world becomes that much richer.

Unfortunately, despite my love for my job, there is ample evidence that the U.S. education system is subpar.  Teachers are not revered as educational authorities.  Success is often predicted by geographic location, race, class, and language proficiency.  Schools are not typically set up to ensure success for anyone who differs from the neurotypical, able-bodied, well-supported-at-home child.  Students who aren’t successful in school often end up in prison.  Many schools in our nation lack the most basic facilities for even a basic education.  I could go in depth into the many problems with the American education system today, but instead, I am going to focus on a solution that has come out in the last decade: the Common Core.  I’m focusing on it because I feel like mainstream society has very little understanding of it and therefore offer up a litany of misguided criticisms.

I, myself, am an a learner at my core.  This project on learning in depth about each of the issues was born out of my deep desire to learn and understand.  My desire to learn extends into learning about learning.  As a result, I have earned my teaching license, my Master’s Degree in education, and over 60 credits beyond my Master’s Degree.  One of those post-graduate level courses was dedicated to the Common Core state standards.  For the class, I studied the Common Core standards in great depth, read the books, Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Student Achievement by Lucy Calkins, Mary Ehrenworth, & Christopher Lehman  and Understanding Common Core State Standards by John Kendall, and wrote over 7,000 words about the standards.  

So, what is all of this Common Core business?  If you don’t like to read, watch this 3 minute video.  The Common Core State Standards initiative is the most sweeping reform in K-12 curriculum in the history of education in the United States.  My district has adopted the English Language Arts (ELA) standards and not the math standards so I will focus on ELA.  As a teacher both before and after common core was instated, I can personally attest to the fact that they emphasize much higher-level comprehension skills than previous standards, place equal weight on reading and writing, stress the importance of complex texts, cross-curricular teaching, and the importance of every state using the same measuring stick for mastery in reading and writing.

But, why?  Why do we need them?  Our nation’s students have lost ground to their international peers.  In an effort to remedy this, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA) recognized a need for consistent learning goals across the states and coordinated a state-led effort to develop the Common Core State Standards in 2009 comprised of teachers, school chiefs, administrators, and other experts.  As a result, the Common Core is comprised on the highest, most effective standards from states across the country and world that are research and evidence-based, clear, understandable, and consistent, aligned with college and career expectations, based on rigorous content and application knowledge through higher-order thinking skills, built upon the strengths and lessons of current state standards, and informed by other top performing countries so that students can succeed in a global economy and society.

Prior to the Common Core movement, there was a great inequality between the states and their standards.  As stated in the conservative publication National Review, “For decades, students in different states have been taught different material at different rates and held to radically different standards.” No Child Left Behind (NCLB)’s proficiency requirements on states tests meant different things in different states based on unequal standards.  Common Core creates a common bar without lowering it or raising it too high for any students.

Proper implementation of the Common Core state standards is an incredibly effective opportunity in education today in order to help us ensure that all students are held accountable to high levels of rigor and can ultimately compete globally.  Prior to these standards, there was a great inequality based on location in what was taught and we must never go back to that.  All American students should be held to an equal standard.

Much criticism of the Common Core comes from lack of understanding or buying into myths.  For more information, I encourage you to check out these myths vs. facts.  Additionally, many parents are frustrated, particularly in the area of math, because their students are not being taught in the way that they learned despite the fact that “the way they learned” did not yield true understanding and has led us to be subpar in the areas of math and science.

Here is where the candidates stand in regards to education.

Clinton:  Clinton understands the ever increasing expectations on educators.  She gets that preparing students for an ever increasing competitive economy, staying on top of new pedagogies, and filling achievement gaps while supporting low-income students, English language learners, and students with disabilities is no simple task.  Because of this, she will launch a national campaign to elevate and modernize the teaching profession by “preparing, supporting, and paying every teacher as if the future of our country is in their hands--because it is.”

Additionally, she will provide states and school districts with funding for computer science instruction to help fill the half a million open jobs that require computing skills.  She will build on the Build America Bonds by doubling the subsidy to provide cities and towns the capital they need to rebuild their crumbling schools.  She will also provide $2 billion to reform overly punitive disciplinary policies and encourage schools to implement social and emotional support interventions in order to dismantle the “school to prison” pipeline.

Clinton Accomplishments in Education:

• Fought to raise standards, increase teacher salaries, and reduce class sizes as First Lady of Arkansas as the chair of the Arkansas Educational Standards Commission.
• Chaired the first ever convention focused on improving access to educational opportunities for Hispanic children and youth as First Lady of the United States.
• Served on the Senate Health, Education, and Labor Committee as a key Senator in the shaping of No Child Left Behind Act.

Trump:  In the 51 second video on his website, Trump claims to be a tremendous believer in education.  He says that education has to be at a local level, meaning different municipalities can determine what is and isn’t important to teach.  He says, “We can not have the bureaucrats in Washington telling you how to manage your child’s education.” (Recall that Common Core was state-led and comprised of teachers, administrators, and other experts.)  Because of this, he calls Common Core (which ensures all students in America are held to a high standard) a total disaster.  He cites the United States as being rated 28th in the world and says that we spend far more per pupil than any other country in the world by far. (Both claims have been proven “Mostly False” by Politifact.)  His proposal is to end Common Core and “have education an absolute priority.”