(With permission to post on this web site)
In reply to this: http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/13201820-95/editorial-myths-guiding-opposition-on-common-core
Dear Editor:
The recent Editorial by the Concord Monitor: Myths guiding opposition on Common Core, expresses the same patronizing position other supporters have taken when addressing the opposition to Common Core.
Since most of the opposition has come directly from parents and teachers one has to ask, does the editorial staff believe they are stupid?
The Huffington Post recently published an article: How the Common Core Lost Teacher Support. In the article, Peter Greene who is a teacher, talks about how support for Common Core is dropping like a stone among teachers. He also lists the many reasons for the continued decline among teachers, such as the horrible core-aligned curriculum that they say causes children to suffer.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-greene/how-the-common-core-lost-_b_5694139.html
We’ve seen numerous examples of developmentally inappropriate math assignments for young children that Child Psychologists, Teachers and Parents have rightfully criticized. If a young child’s brain is not developed to think abstractly and yet the math standards call for abstract thinking in the early years, all they’ve done is set the child and teacher up for failure.
Speaking of teachers, this entire reform effort has teachers as the scape-goat. U.S. Secretary Duncan has pulled No Child Left Behind Waivers if states were unwilling to tie a teacher’s evaluation to the standardized tests. This has made the problem of high stakes testing an even bigger problem.
Parents throughout the country have researched Common Core and it’s insulting to imply that they are “mis-guided”. Teachers are on the front lines dealing with these new standards and tests and it’s insulting to imply that they are misguided too.
There was a better way to address the low quality New Hampshire Standards that were developed under Governor Lynch that no one seemed to mind using prior to the Common Core. The former or the current Governor could have utilized the teachers in New Hampshire, the college Professors at our local colleges and universities, and developed state level standards that are the best in the country.
Other states have taken that route, why not New Hampshire? Why should our children settle for standards that do not include math standards that prepare students for STEM programs? Why should our children settle for standards that put them two years behind their international peers?
This is the failure of the Hassan Administration and the previous Lynch Administration. Neither were committed to developing state standards that are the best in the country and that are developmentally appropriate for children.
Instead we continue to hear how we are guided by myths when we know the facts.
Sincerely,
Ann Marie Banfield
Education Liaison, Cornerstone Action