By: Duane Vance
In the last few years, the Common Core State Standards have been a controversial topic among educators, politicians, and the general public who have heard various accounts in the media. At the present time, the content of the standards, their implementation, and the politics that surround them cause passionate debate between those who view the standards as the next best step in education and those who oppose the initiative altogether. The Common Core State Standards were developed with public education in mind, so where does that leave private schools in their relationship to the standards? In particular, how should WELS schools view and use the standards, if at all? Leadership and decisions makers in WELS schools need to familiarize themselves with this issue and be prepared to provide a sound answer to parents and other stakeholders in the school as to their approach.
Concern does exist around the standards in the political spectrum. While the government did not develop the standards, they are interested in states adopting high quality, internationally benchmarked common standards, and the Common Core standards have the endorsement of the United States Department of Education with the promise of millions of dollars in support. Opponents see this as an attempt by the federal government to seize control of education from the states by withholding federal dollars from states that do not comply. Conservatives also charge that the standards contain a highly liberal agenda designed to produce like-minded students who conform to society regardless of differing God-given gifts and abilities (Newman, 2013).
As of now, WELS and other private schools enjoy great autonomy from federal and state governments. Schools are free to choose what standards they would like to use and how to implement them. Those not receiving any kind of government funding, whether state or federal, may also use any type of standardized testing that they see fit. For these reasons, the political arguments surrounding the Common Core standards should be avoided, except if scriptural principles are present (ie., concerns with Planned Parenthood being involved in the possible creation of standards [Newman, 2013]). While teachers and administrators may have strong political feelings about the standards, it is wise to remember that they will encounter parents and others who may not share similar ideologies. The more important issue is what is found within the standards. If a WELS school decides to use the standards or not, its answer should point to student achievement. Schools that adopt the standards should be convinced that they support a high quality education, and those that avoid the standards should have a solid rationale for what standards they do use.
Serious debate is certainly found over the content of the standards and whether they will help bring a higher standard of education. The National Education Association believes the Common Core initiative will achieve this goal. Along with many states, several private schools have also adopted the standards, including three-fourths of the Lutheran schools in the Michigan district of the Missouri Synod (Robelen, 2012). Opponents argue that standards in several states, such as in Massachusetts and Minnesota, will actually have to be lowered to meet the Common Core (Newman, 2013). Furthermore, the argument can be made that the definition of “college and career readiness” as provided by the Common Core standards provides no clear distinction from the definition of “proficiency” as provided by the No Child Left Behind Act; therefore, is it really superior to previous educational reform attempts? (Hess & McShane, 2013).
WELS schools should look at the attention standards are receiving in the media as an opportunity to review their own practices. Standards should be used as a guide for the curriculum. They state to the students, parents, and teachers what each child should accomplish at a particular level, but they do not show how to arrive at that point. Common Core standards are no different. Methods of instruction need to be left to the classroom teacher. Effective, professional teachers will lead to greater student success in reaching benchmarks. Positive aspects of the standards can and should be incorporated, while those aspects that are seen as detrimental or ineffective should be avoided. The Common Core State Standards, or any set of standards, need to be viewed as another tool to educators and as a guide for instruction that support, not dictate, the philosophies and best practices of the school.
WELS administrators and teachers should be aware that questions about the Common Core state standards will become more common, and a thoroughly prepared rationale should be given as to what standards the school uses with a focus pointing directly to increased student achievement.
Duane Vance is a 2001 graduate of the University of North Florida and began his teaching career near Jacksonville, Florida, as a high school social studies teacher. He received his WELS certification through MLC in 2007 and has served Jerusalem-Morton Grove, Illinois, since 2005. Currently, he serves as the school’s principal and 6th-8th grade teacher. Duane entered the graduate studies program at MLC in the 2014 spring semester.
Join the conversation. Consider and respond to one or more of these questions provoked by Mr. Vance’s article.
- Mr. Vance notes that controversies surround the Common Core State Standards in three areas: their content, their implementation in schools, and the politics surrounding their creation. What struggles have you and your fellow faculty members encountered as you studied and attempted to implement the Common Core State Standards? Or have you decided not to use them? If so, what is your reasoning for that decision?
- Mr. Vance maintains that when asked about the standards, school leaders should have a “sound answer to parents and other stakeholders in the school.” What is the “sound answer” your school has developed? Or have you found such an answer unnecessary, because parents in your congregation have not raised any questions?
- Mr. Vance offers two opposing views of the standards: The National Education Association believes the standards will “help bring a higher standard of education.” Others in states such as Massachusetts and Minnesota feel that current standards in their schools “will actually have to be lowered to meet the Common Core.” What do you and your faculty believe about these standards: Would they raise the bar in your school or lower it?
References
Hess, Frederick, & McShane, Michael. (2013). Common core in the real world: Created to fix problems that NCLB either started or couldn’t fix itself, the common core faces its own challenges – seen and unseen – during implementation. Phi Delta Kappa, 95(3), 61-66.
Newman, Alex. (2013). Common Core a scheme to rewrite education: Common Core – new national education standards that the federal government is bribing and coercing states to adopt – will harm students, not benefit them. The New American, 29(16), 10-19.
Robelen, Erik. (2012). Private schools opt for Common Core. Education Week, 32(7), p 1, 12.
I’m not trying to be difficult, Charles, but I don’t understand your comment “so much so that we are reading this document.”.
Mr. Vance has initiated a much-needed discussion, and says much that WELS school leaders would do well to heed. Permit some additional thoughts from a forty-five year veteran WELS teacher who has read countless pages of Common Core critiques and attended multiple hours of legislative Common Core hearings in Wisconsin.
Dr. Duke Pesta (University of WI at Oshkosh) raises a foundational question: Do standards matter? It’s counter-intuitive, but he maintains that since the standards era began a few decades ago some fifty studies on their impact have been conducted and the evidence is clear: Standards have little or no impact on student outcomes. Are state and national standards, then, just another educational fad which, like so many fads in education, promise to save our schools, only to soon be set aside for the next fad?
Further, it appears no case has been made for the contention that national standards are needed to raise achievement levels. Does anybody really believe that students in an inner city setting should be held to the same “targets” as students in Silicon Valley?
Is the political aspect a relevant concern of WELS school leaders? When Israel was carried into captivity, Jeremiah urged God’s people to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you…” (Jeremiah 29:7). That may be descriptive rather than prescriptive, but it should be hard for Lutheran leaders to ignore the peace and prosperity of out land. The Constitution and ESEA strictly forbids federal involvement in local education affairs. Common Core standards were written by a somewhat secretive consortium of educationists, not the federal government, but the distinction seems to be one without a difference. Billions of federal dollars and waivers from much-hated NCLB provisions were used to entice states to adopt CC and the required testing that accompanies it. I cannot be supportive of initiatives which degrade our Constitution and law. That cannot lead to peace and prosperity.
Regarding the validity of the standards themselves, the authorship team appointed a Validation Committee of twenty-nine individuals. Included was one academic in the field of mathematics (Dr. James Milgram, Stanford) and one academic in the English/language arts field (Dr. Sandra Stotsky, a leading figure in developing the strong Massachusetts standards and more recently retired from the University of Arkansas). These two did not sign off on the standards because they found them to be insufficient, even harmful. Google those names for details.
Yes, there is hype out there regarding CC, but be careful not to dismiss every negative as merely “hype.” Nor is all the opposition coming from conservatives. Increasingly we hear of teachers’ unions filing serious objections as we get further into the task of implementation.
This coming spring participating schools must begin using the CC aligned tests developed by PARRC or SBAC. Part of the agreement schools make is to send student-level data to the United States Department of Education. That should raise several questions worthy of investigation by WELS school leaders.
Can a WELS school remain entirely free of CC? The prospect is not promising. Educational publishers are rapidly aligning their materials with CC. There may be little to choose from that is not so aligned. Even SAT and ACT are scheduled for CC alignment. Will well-educated WELS-school students (or home-schooled kids) be at a disadvantage in regard to college admission when the college entrance exams emphasize skills and procedures which are foreign to the student’s experience?
At any rate, as a philosopher of old said, “Be not the first by whom the new are tried, nor yet the last to cast the old aside.”
Thanks for sharing your insights, Ron.
I expressed my concerns regarding text books to my Texas teacher cousin. She told me Texas is getting their own, non-common core, special edition. She assured me that our schools shouldn’t feel bound by the text book issue. The Texas textbooks are available to our schools. I found this to be a huge relief!
Hey, Mr. Zahn! On a personal note: My wife, Terri (Amos), says she had you in 7th & 8th grade while in Owasso, MI. You’ve had a lasting impression on her.
I am using Terri’s account…
My cousin teaches in the Texas Catholic school system. Texas rejected Common Core BECAUSE of the Common Core standard (ie. ‘tagets’).
To have our synod’s name associated with Common Core in any way is a disgrace. It does not belong in our country and certainly not in our parochial schools. I find it deeply disturbing that Common Core is being embraced by MLC.
Government ruined the public school system. Are we really going to let it’s influence ruin our schools, and ultimately our churches? I pray that our leaders rethink this.
Signed: Jim Baur – a deeply concerned layman.
Thank you for sharing your concerns. Please keep in mind that the blog Issues in Lutheran Education provides a forum for a variety of viewpoints on issues that affect Lutheran schools. The viewpoints represented on this site do not necessarily represent the philosophy or practice at MLC. Rather, we believe that allowing an open, balanced discussion enables schools to make wise, God-pleasing decisions.
I hope you read often and continue to contribute your ideas.
John Meyer
Thank you, Professor Meyer for making this clear. Also, I would like to state that the purpose of my article was to provide a balanced view of the CCSS. I did not include my own personal beliefs about the standards- political or academic in nature. This blog should not be seen as an endorsement for the standards at all. It also should not be seen as a condemnation. This is an issue in education today, and we are seeing these questions in our schools. We need to be well educated and ready to provide answers. The issue deserves to be looked at from all angles so that schools can make informed decisions.
Mr. Vance, a very well thought out and rational piece. Having seen standards come and go over 26 years of teaching, I personally find the Common Core State Standards to provide a great framework for WELS teachers to use when preparing curriculum maps, unit plans, and daily pedagogical instruction for the classroom.
Very often WELS teachers use the textbook–and that is their curriculum. That is as wrong in the classroom as having no learning targets for the students!
One last comment; all the social media reports of Common Core lessons are in error. The Common Core never tells you what subject matter or how to teach. A standard is a target for where you want to go. The professional teacher, working within the framework of the school and with the stakeholders still decides what to teach. AND, the professional WELS teacher always makes everything, “captive to the Word of Christ”!
A single comment overheard concerning Common Core has stuck with me. “If I wanted my children educated under CC, I would send them to the public school.
Our WELS schools are suppose to offer so much more than public school. Namely, God’s Word. And we are to offer all subjects taught in light of God’s Word. We don’t need to be ” as good” an public schools. We are to be better!
Is this a case of the infamous pan of brownies? Gooey chocolately and yummy. With just a pinch of marijuana for extra zest…?
Even if the media hype is wrong about CC, if it is a stumbling block in any way for parents in sending their children to our schools, we should steer clear of it. We are perfectly capable, and have done so for years, of establishing our own set of standards based on Scripture.
Terri, thanks for your thoughts. Please clarify your fourth paragraph…”stumbling block”…? People think it is a sin to use CCSS?
I may not like something, but it won’t cause me to sin or reject Christ if you like it and use. That is part of Christian freedom when not commanded or rejected by the inerrant Word of God in the Bible.
I’m not saying CC would cause someone to sin. I’m sayiing its bad reputation might keep families from coming to our schools.
Thank you for starting a reasonable and thoughtful discussion about CCSS. Whether you are in favor of or against them, it should be because of what they contain, not because of the hype. As with any standards, they should be weighed for their educational value and judged in the light of God’s Word. We owe it to our students not to simply accept what is being said in the media and on social media, much of which is misinformation, and truly do our “homework.”
And yet, WELS members should know where our teacher training college stands on this matter. No???
Since I graduated quite some time ago, when our teacher training college was still DMLC, I don’t presume to know what their answer to this would be. However, I would think they have no “stand” on this issue as it is not a doctrinal one–unless there are specific standards that go against the Word. I would think that at MLC they present the concept of using standards and then offer examples from different states/systems/and Common Core and discuss them in the light of their educational value. Each individual WELS school makes the decision about standards within their own situation and congregation. It is not up to MLC. In the past, some schools have adopted state standards, some ALHS associations have developed K-12 standards, and some schools simply stick with what works for them.
“unless there are specific standards that go against the Word.”
And this my friend, is the crux of the matter. MLC should be able to give us the answer, don’t you think?
– Jim
We’re taught the standards, so much so that we are reading this document.