James Joyner points us to a Washington Post article on how Bill Gates somewhat single-handedly pulled off a dramatic restructuring of American public education, via promoting the Common Core standards. There is much that is fascinating here, including the fact that a billionaire with a plan can get things done in our fractured Republic a lot more easily than our actual governments (plural because education is still largely a local matter) ever could. Apparently, Gates got a pitch in 2008 from a pair of education reformers who wanted to see uniform standards for US schools. Gates thought about it, then jumped in with two feet (and a vast philanthropic and lobbying apparatus). Within two years, 45 states and the District of Columbia had fully adopted the Common Core Standards. The idea enjoyed bipartisan support; only quite recently, when members of the Tea Party realized that all this happened under Obama’s watch, have Republicans taken up the fight against it.
Personally, I’m completely in favor of national curricula and standards. Indeed, I’d like to go much further, and nationalize the schools, so that public spending on students in rural Louisiana is just as high as that in wealthy suburbs in the Northeast. I’m also not dead set against swift action by small groups of people who are willing to get things done, rather than sit around for decades trading white papers and town hall meetings. (I even helped a bit with such non-democratic action myself, and suffered the attendant abuse with stoic calm.)
What I don’t know, since I simply am completely unfamiliar with the details, is whether the actual Common Core initiative (as opposed to the general idea of a common curriculum) is a good idea. I know that some people are very much against it — so much so that it’s difficult to find actual information about it, since emotions run very high, and you are more likely to find either rampant boosterism or strident criticism. Of course you can look up what the standards are, both in English Language Arts and in Mathematics (there don’t seem to be standards for science, history, or social studies). But what you read is so vague as to be pretty useless. For example, the winningly-named “CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.1” standard reads
Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
That sounds like a good idea! But doesn’t translate unambiguously into something teachable. The devil is in the implementation.
So — anyone have any informed ideas about how it works in practice, and whether it’s helpful and realistic? (Early results seem to be mildly promising.) I worry from skimming some of the information that there seems to be an enormous emphasis on “assessment,” which presumably translates into standardized testing. I recognize the value of such testing in the right context, but also have the feeling that it’s already way overdone (in part because of No Child Left Behind), and the Common Core just adds another layer of requirements. I’d rather have students and schools spend more time on teaching and less time on testing, all else being equal.
I looked at some of the “Common Core” math you described.
It is clumsy, but worse than that, it’s insulting. The problem I saw was even worse: 32 – 12. If this problem was solved using ACTUAL CURRENCY the way that a cashier at a FAST FOOD establishment needed to do, it is only one step: two DIMES. But that’s far from the obtusely convoluted way they were taught to work the problem out. They started out by adding 3 cents (to 12), and it just gets worse from there.
Before my talent for math was noticed, I was in a “business math” class which, among other things, taught us how to do math “the old fashioned way”. It wasn’t until I actually worked as a cashier (yes, in McDonald’s) that I learned there were easier ways to work with giving change than working it out using a pencil and paper. I learned it in about 10 minutes on the job.
There really needs to be someone in charge of developing the curriculum who wasn’t home schooled. Any teacher who thinks this is a great example of how to teach even business math needs to get a better lesson plan. If young math students don’t find it insulting to be subjected to math that doesn’t even prepare them to make change at McDonalds properly, they should.
@Daniel @John
Here’s a pretty good discussion of that subtraction bugaboo that’s been circulating that you brought up:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/teaching-math-under-common-core-fact-and-fiction-part-v/
To summarize, the standard itself describes a skill, not a pedagogical method, though it does suggest several alternative methods, this is one, so is traditional regrouping. The method you’re complaining about does have some merits, because children are not little adults and they think differently than adults do.
Lastly, cashiers do not routinely use subtraction to make change. Cash registers do that now. Very few people do pen and paper arithmetic as part of their job anymore. But number sense is still important to develop.
@Craig
I agree with a lot of what you say about age vs. grade. Unfortunately, the current age based structure is deeply baked in to both our educational institutions and our larger culture. And purely age free grade assignment would bring its own challenges, especially for smaller schools, IMHO.
The aspect of it I would stress more than economic or social disadvantages is brain development. Many algebra students report struggling until suddenly it all makes sense. This isn’t because they worked hard or the teacher finally explained it the right way; it’s because the parts of the brain that handle abstract problem solving have sufficiently matured. When this will occur for a given student is almost impossible to predict. (I would argue that fifth grade is too early for most students).
Regardless, nothing will change about this anytime soon. One example of a much simpler structural change for which there is empirical support is getting rid of the summer break, dispersing it into smaller breaks between quarters throughout the year. A lot of students lose significant ground over the long summer break, and this can be easily demonstrated, but it remains basically untouchable. If we can’t change even that, many other worthwhile ideas are surely off the table as well.
For any mathematicians, wondering what they think of this article by Hung-Hsi Wu, Phoenix Rising: Bringing the Common Core State Mathematics Standards to Life: http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/fall2011/Wu.pdf
I think he makes a pretty strong case for why the Common Core math standards are needed, but would like to hear if anyone (particularly those who are mathematicians or physicists) disagrees.