Tackling Common Core

By:  Michael Duncan, Superintendent

 I have been asked many times about my opinion of the Common Core. My answer is usually guarded because the question is typically asked by those with hyper-partisan views who get their talking points from talk radio, but, honestly, I don’t have a big problem with it.  Common Core is much more rigorous, requiring greater levels of critical thinking, so from this perspective, it is a better curriculum. Is it perfect? Not by a long shot.  It’s too broad. Critics have argued it would take more than 20 years to teach the Common Core to deep levels of understanding; that is, the ability to apply knowledge and skills independently to real-life situations and solve real-world problems.

Recognizing the need to increase the level of rigor and develop 21^st Century Skills (critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration), we must find time to focus on depth of learning, not just coverage.  To this end, we are working to identify the most impactful curriculum standards and eliminate redundancy.  Our goal is to align the Common Core from kindergarten to twelfth grade, reducing the curriculum, hopefully, by 40%.  This will afford teachers and students the time to engage truly authentic intellectual work which require 21^st Century Skills.  The impact will be significant-more reading, more writing, and more thinking.  It’s really that simple.

The challenges ahead are clear:  creating processes whereby teachers can do the intellectually heavy lifting of evaluating the effectiveness of the curriculum and instructional practices in light of student achievement data; investing in high quality textbooks (Yes, I said textbooks); and maintaining a laser-like focus on professional development in 21^st Century Skills.

What does this look like for students?  I know this is profound, but hang in there with me:  More reading, more writing, more thinking.