Monday, February 20, 2012

Common Core for the Common Good?

Well here we go. The education pendulum has swung back again. When I started teaching in 1991, it was all about skill based learning. It moved to performance based assessments around 1993, then back toward functional tests around 2000, then those went away in favor of this thing called MSA around 2007. Now, MSA is going away to make way for the Common Core; a set of standards that is supposed to normalize content taught in all states in the country. However, my beef with these changes still have one thing in common....tests. Now, with Common Core, many states, including MD are making student test results link to teacher evaluations. 7 years for MSPAP testing and it did not work. 7 years for functional test which did not work, now 5 or so years for MSA and that did not work. Maybe the problem is not the curriculum, or the books, or the teacher. Just sayin'