Creating 21st century learners

For the greater part of the 235-year history of the U.S., education has been handled at the state level. That’s about to change, as the new Common Core Learning Standards will nationalize curriculum for the first time.

The new federal learning standards, adopted by the New York State Education Department last year, will be implemented in classrooms next September. Officials from Valley Stream’s four school districts are preparing for the new standards, which they say will fully challenge students.

“It’s all to raise achievement,” said Dr. Adrienne Robb-Fund, superintendent of District 13. “It’s all to create 21st century learners. I think we will have better learning. Not that we don’t have good learning now. We do. But as a nation, we always like to improve.”

Robb-Fund said that the new learning standards will require some changes in District 13’s curriculum. Already, she said, the standards have been implemented in math in kindergarten through second grade. District 30 has done the same. District 24 has put the standards in place for both English Language Arts and math in those grades.

Districts have not implemented the new standards in third grade or higher because this year’s state tests, which will be given in the spring, will still be based on the old standards.

Teacher-training workshops have focused on the new national curriculum. In the Valley Stream Central High School District, it was the focus of November’s superintendent’s conference day. English teachers learned about a writing program from Columbia University.

In District 24, teachers have attended several training workshops, said curriculum developer and Robert W. Carbonaro School Principal Dr. Lisa Conte, and more sessions are planned. Every teacher has already had to develop a lesson this semester based on the Common Core Learning Standards for English. In the second half of the year, teachers will be required to do a math lesson based on the new standards.

Conte said that District 24 educators have been working to revamp the curriculum. This means changing some of the literature that is used, she explained, because the new standards require that students read more nonfiction.

High School Superintendent Dr. Bill Heidenreich said that students will also be expected to analyze reading passages rather than just recall facts. The purpose, he said, is to encourage high-level critical thinking in order to prepare students for real-world problem solving. “The ultimate goal is for our graduates to be college- and career-ready,” Heidenreich said.

Math will also become more difficult, he said. “Some of the sample questions that we’ve looked at are complicated word problems,” he said. “So if a student is not literate, they’re going to have a hard time on the test.”

District 30 teachers and administrators have been attending conferences and taking part in webinars to learn about the new standards. Over the summer, several teachers got together to make changes to the English curriculum. And there will be a series of after-school workshops in April for teachers, Superintendent Dr. Elaine Kanas said.

“Everybody is working hard and working collectively on this,” she said. “Teachers and administrators are rolling up their sleeves.”

Kanas sits on a state advisory panel that focuses on the implementation of the Common Core standards in English Language Arts. It comprises teachers, administrators, college professors and other academic leaders, and Kanas is the lone superintendent in the group. She said it gives her intimate knowledge of the changes she can bring back to Valley Stream, while also giving her a chance to offer input.

Kanas said it is “an exciting time in education,” and added that the new curriculum, while not drastically different, will be challenging for children. New York has already made its learning standards more rigorous in recent years, she said, so districts are well prepared for these changes.

Heidenreich said that as in the past, good teaching will play a large role in student success. What makes the Common Core Learning Standards unique, he said, is that they will create a near uniform curriculum among the 45 states that have already adopted them.

Robb-Fund said that while some changes in education have been rushed, she believes the state has done a good job this time, and that the Common Core standards are being implemented “thoughtfully.”

By 2014-15, the state assessments in English Language Arts and math will be replaced by national tests. However, Heidenreich added, the Regents exams, the end-of-the-year tests on a variety of high school subjects, are expected to remain in place for now. Because states have different school calendars, he said, it would be difficult to nationalize those tests.

Like his colleagues, Heidenreich said that New York’s school districts are prepared for the new standards. “We’re used to a system where there are end-of-the-year assessments,” he said. “That’s not the case in all states.”

Common Core standards

The purpose of the Common Core Learning Standards is to prepare students for college and careers in a global economy through a challenging, national curriculum. The standards were developed by teachers, school administrators and education experts. The standards apply to reading, writing, speaking and listening, technology and mathematics. To date, Common Core has been adopted by 45 states, and each state can add its own specific standards, up to 15 percent of the curriculum.

The K-12 standards are: