Parents are asking a new question during open houses at independent schools this admissions season: “Do you do the Core?” As a school leader who is familiar with the CCSS, I must admit it isn’t an easy question to answer. I have come to learn that families have wildly varied experiences and understandings of the Common Core. Some may simply want to know if our school has high expectations that will prepare their children to succeed in a rapidly changing economy. Most want assurance that our school is indeed different from the public schools their children currently attend where the Common Core and “the test” have become the whole of their children’s school day.
Three years ago our faculty sat down to read these new, seemingly anonymously written, government-adopted standards expecting conflict with our own. We read scrupulously but, ultimately, when we reached the final page, we didn’t pump our fists and prepare for battle–we shrugged our shoulders. The essence of the standards were common to us: read quality fiction and nonfiction extensively and intensively; write clearly and precisely.
It seems obvious that parents and teachers want children to analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text (CCSS-R.3) when reading. Is anyone truly opposed to having children focus on an author’s craft and text structure to aid writing (CCSS-R4)? At Bay Ridge Prep, children “read like writers” in the first trimester of kindergarten by experimenting with ellipses and onomatopoeia in their writing using the works of author Donald Crews as a model. The Common Core also emphasizes reading across texts and other forms of media to build knowledge or compare author approach (CCSS-R.9). I am sure we all agree that this type of critical thinking is a key characteristic of a thoughtful, educated mind.
We read these standards and saw there was no need to sharpen our pitch forks and gather our fire brands. It seems that our school is “doing the core”: designing thoughtful curricula that appropriately introduces children to the wonderful world of reading and writing with deliberation.
But the answer isn’t that simple.
Teachers and administrators must be the authors of the curriculum that allows children to meet these standards. As an independent school we do not have a commercial curriculum imposed upon us.
In our hands the Common Core is a benevolent tool, in other’s …not so much. As schools scramble to align textbooks to these standards, it would appear that the true author of the Common Core is Pearson, the British testing company, that makes billions selling these high-stakes tests and preparation materials. In truth, “Doing the core” is more of the same test prep and worksheet driven education so many of my colleagues experience now in public schools- bereft of passion, teacher autonomy, and creativity. We say No to those common denominator practices, and luckily we can.