Common Core Standards Debate

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Rigorous Standards & High Expectations

Jim Barrett, GLEP Chairman There is no question our public education system is failing too many children, since less than 20 percent of Michigans high school graduates are considered college or career ready. To help our students compete and succeed in the 21st century global economy, states and education reform organizations joined together to establish the Common Core State Standards. Far from the federal takeover of public education described by critics, the Common Core State Standards were developed by state leaders and educators. The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers have been working together to create standards for math and language arts that will help teachers prepare our children for success in college and work. Forty-five states have adopted the standards for Math

Race to the Bottom

William C. Skilling, Superintendent Oxford Community Schools Like many other states, Michigan has let itself tumble into the pitfalls of giving up its constitutional right to govern education. Falling victim to the power of the purse strings in high stakes testing, some Michigan officials have come out in support of the Common Core standards. Frankly, I am tired of listening to politicians trying to apply simple solutions to complex problems so that they can say they are champions of education for re-election purposes. Anyone can raise standards. However, raising standards does not lead to improved student performance or improved education, nor does it lead to innovation. No one seems to be asking the right questions. Why is it that America is still leading the world in innovation exports, more than 70 percent per year? Why is it that Americans receive

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and Reading. The Common Core State Standards are not a federally mandated curriculum, but a rigorous, streamlined and more relevant framework to prepare students for real world application beyond high school. These internationally benchmarked standards will challenge students to read, write and solve math problems at greater capacity, raising the bar for all students and resulting in a more valuable education. Our students are competing with others from around the world for the high-wage jobs of the future, and these jobs require a higher level of knowledge especially in math, science, engineering and technology. It is imperative our education system develop high, rigorous and consistent academic standards for every grade, every school and every state. The Common Core State Standards draw on the best state academic standards in America and were drafted by experts from across the country a combination of experts a single state would be unlikely to assemble.

more than 50 percent of the international patents awarded each year? It is because the United States leads the world in creating and inventing. Unfortunately, however, with nationally standardized high stakes tests, we will be moving in the wrong direction and therefore dumbing down our education system. The Common Core narrowly defines education while totally disregarding the diversity of talents and interests of our students. The Common Core will stifle creativity, ingenuity and risk taking. It will lead to elimination of fine arts and other programs that are important to the holistic development of students. The window of opportunity to turn this country around is closing fast, and the last nail in the coffin is public education. I believe we are not only facing a financial cliff, but also an educational cliff. No longer can we operate as independent, locallycontrolled educational institutions. We are now squarely under the control of big government and its political whims. Never in the history of the world has

While the Common Core State Standards clearly define what our children need to know, they do not tell our teachers how to teach. States, communities and schools maintain flexibility to determine how to help

any national government been able to run a successful business or education system that compares to the success of Americas ingenuity and the American school system under local control. We should not use

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students meet and exceed these new expectations. In fact, the Michigan Merit Curriculum exceeds the high school requirements of the common core and should be maintained. The results in Michigan since adopting the Michigan Merit Curriculum have been increased performance and a reduction in dropouts.

standardized test scores as a metric. We should use results of what students accomplish in the workforce instead. The American people have created more wealth, created more individual freedoms, solved more ageold problems, and created more innovation than any other country in the history of the world. Under the current administration, there

Rigorous standards wont improve education quality without careful implementation which includes an aligned curriculum, solid instruction, meaningful assessments and excellent teachers and leaders. There should be more widespread use of technology for teaching and learning, and the next generation of student assessments, called computer adaptive testing, is to be encouraged. The right testing and assessment tools will not only provide real-time information that can inform classroom instruction these tests measure both proficiency and individual student growth. This information not only leads to better outcomes for students, it is a much fairer method of evaluating teachers. At the same time, adopting the Common Core State Standards and implementing next-generation assessment tools will help us move toward a simpler, uniform system to

appears to be a clear goal of marginalizing American greatness. In its destruction of free enterprise by a takeover of American businesses through over-regulation, and in increasing the power of federal government, the current administration has forsaken local control and individual liberties. I believe adopting the Common Core standards is yet another way to ensure American greatness is lost forever, and individual liberties will no longer be part of our education system, under the premise of raising standards. In an education system controlled by our national government, students will begin to believe they can only be successful through government control. For those of us who actually grew up and lived under a free society, where ingenuity was fostered and encouraged, where people were rewarded for risk-taking, and people valued freedom, we understand that more control concentrated in a bigger

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provide A-F grades for individual schools based on student academic performance. Such a letter grading system will increase transparency and accountability for all public schools, further empowering parents to make informed choices. The Great Lakes Education Project strongly supports efforts to improve academic achievement, increase accountability and empower parental choice in our public schools. Implementing the Common Core State Standards is an important step in this process, and we urge the Governor, legislators and state policy makers to stay the course. Jim Barrett, GLEP Chairman, is the former President of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and recipient of the Mackinac Centers prestigious Jefferson Award in 2008.

government is not the solution. Our Founding Fathers adopted the Bill of Rights to protect us from government control and the Constitution to ensure the separation of powers. Where local school boards, parents and community members once had control of their schools, we now find ourselves reminding our children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. My recommendation to state leaders is to stop acquiescing to the power of the purse strings and start taking a stand for our constitutional rights to govern education locally. Restore authority to local school boards and give them the right to innovative, create, design, and implement educational programs that will prepare our students to compete globally. If Common Core standards become the norm, our students will become functionally unable to compete. If we continue to cede control of our educational system to the federal government, we will be in a Race to the Bottom, instead of fostering innovation, free enterprise and creativity. Dr. William Skilling is the superintendent of Oxford Community Schools. He can be reached at: William.Skilling@oxfordschools.org.

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MED in the Classroom is a publication of the Mackinac Center. Copyright 2013 Mackinac Center, All rights reserved.

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