Common Core

Taking a 'second look' at Common Core

Posted

Assemblyman Brian Curran held a special Common Core forum at South Side Middle School in Rockville Centre on Jan. 28, which gave many local education experts a chance to voice their opinions on the curriculum and how it could be changed for the better.

Curran was joined by fellow Assemblyman Ed Ra, the ranking minority member on the Education Committee, and Dave McDonough, who also serves on the Education Committee. From the education side, they were joined by Rockville Centre Superintendent Dr. William Johnson, Valley Stream District 13 Superintendent Constance Evelyn, Covert Elementary School Principal Darren Raymar, head of Long Island Opt Out Jeanette Deutermann and Dr. Carol Burris, the former principal of South Side High School who is now the executive director of the Network for Public Education. Evelyn had also served on a Common Core taskforce that Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently created, which released a series of recommendations for how to change the curriculum.

Over nearly two hours, each panel member outlined what they saw as the problems with the Common Core curriculum, the state tests for grades 3 through 8 and teacher evaluations, also known as APPR.

“We are at a fork in the road in our education system here in New York,” Curran said. “And we find ourselves at that fork because of the passion and determination of the grass-roots effort that was pushed by you to force New York State to take a second look at Common Core and its implementation.”

Much of the meeting was devoted to talking about the history of Common Core and the problems with its implementation. “Common Core could have been the most perfect, the most wonderful thing ever,” Ra said. “I don’t think, even under those circumstances, that it would have been successful in the way we went about it in New York State.”

The problem, many said, is that the curriculum was rolled out too quickly and was not reviewed by educators. It was designed by an outside company, Pierson, and given to districts in what the state called “modules.”

The modules were never supposed to be curriculum, but rather guidelines for districts to base curriculum on. However, for many low-income districts, the modules became the curriculum.

Page 1 / 2