News Brief

8 Problems With the Common Core State Standards? I Don't Think So

In this commentary, National Center on Education and the Economy President Marc Tucker responds to an Aug. 15 column in the Washington Post by Marion Brady that he feels is "way off the mark" in regards to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Although Brady says the CCSS should be attached to "qualities of mind" rather than school subjects, Tucker points out that standards are still important for core subjects and that they take into consideration the need for students to have analytic, problem-solving, and writing skills. Brady points out that the world changes and adhering to a static strategy is futile, but Tucker insists that the CCSS will provide a foundation for a lifetime of learning. While Brady argues that the territory between and beyond the traditional core subjects will continue to expand, Tucker insists that the point of the CCSS is "not to have standards for everything a teacher teaches or a student learns, but to define a much smaller core that all teachers should teach and all students should learn." Brady also believes the focus should be on poverty, not standards, but Tucker argues that the fact that children continue to experience poverty is a good reason to maintain high expectations for students and high standards. Moreover, Brady believes the CCSS discourages innovation in the classroom, but Tucker stresses that a lack of standards is equivalent to chaos and requires teachers every year to spend a lengthy amount of time reviewing what was learned the previous year to ensure all students are up to speed -- a scenario the CCSS would help to avoid. Tucker also takes issue with Brady's contention that the CCSS will result in standardized tests that cannot evaluate complex thought or measure non-verbal learning, among other things, and he emphasizes that the top-performing countries on which the CCSS are based focus on essay questions that encourage complex thought and creativity and that the standards themselves cannot be blamed for schools using the kinds of tests that Brady condemns. Finally, Tucker disagrees with Brady's assertion that student achievement standards "standardize minds" and focus on "pedestrian" goals of preparing students for college and career, arguing that at a time when high-skilled workers are in high demand and education and training play a major role in how much people earn, it is important to provide students with the means of developing the skills needed to make a decent living.