CommonCoreStandardsInsights

ByAnnaPanovaCicchino

AsIwasreadingthear cle,ZeevWurmanspointsjustmademeangrierandangrier.Itwasveryclearfromthe

introduc onthatheisagainstCommonCoreStandardssinceheisacoauthorofCommonCoresStandardsS llDont

MaketheGrade.WhatmakesmeangryisnotthatheisagainsttheCommonCoreStandards,buttheargumentsthat

heisusingtospeakupagainstthem.Firstofall,thetablethatheusedonpage46actuallymakesmeseethevalueinthe

wayCommonCoreStandardsarewri enwhileheistryingtoconvinceusotherwise.Asateacher,Indtheexplana ons

ofh
owmaterialshouldbepresentedveryhelpful.Whilesomemightseethele columnasmorefocused,asateacher

whoactuallyneedstoteachthesetopics,Indthecolumnontherightmuchmorehelpful.Onpage49,hemen ons

absenceofseveraltopicsincludingexponen alfunc ons.AsanAlgebra1teacher,Icanassureyouthatexponen al

func onsarealloverAlgebra1standardsandstudentsareexpectedtoclearlyseethedierencebetweenlinearand

exponen almodels.Zeevkeptmen oningstandardsofhighperformingcountriesthroughouthisarguments.AsW.

StephenWilsonpointsout,whenyouaresofarbehind,comparingtheUnitedStateswithbe erperformingcountries

throughtheincrediblynarrowlensofstandardsdoesntmakealotofsense(p.50).TheperformanceofUSstudentsis

clearlylaggingbehindothercountriesanditwouldbenaivetothinkthatsimplybyadop ngthesamehighstandards

asotherhighachievingcountrieswouldsolveourproblems.Inmyopinion,CommonCoreStandardsisagreatstar ng

point.

AsaHighSchoolAlgebra1andGeometryteacher,IvaluetheCommonCoreStandards.Wearefocusingon

understandingvariousmodels(linearvsexponen alvsquadra c)withstudentsthroughouttheyear.Func onnota on

isemphasizedthroughoutthecourseandIndthatstudentsarealotmorecomfortablewithfunc onnota on

comparedtopreCommonCoreStandards.Theproblemforusisthelackofqualityteachingmaterials.Manytextbook

addedcontentfromCommonCoreStandards,butnevertookouttopicsthatarenolongerthefocusofthecourse.

(Synthe cdivisioninAlgebra2isanexample).IcanseesomecleargapsinAlgebra1standardssuchasabsenceof

solvingabsolutevalueinequali es,howevermyhopeisthattheCommonCoreStandardswillberevisedtollinthe

gapsatthehighschoollevel.Adop ngCommonCoreStandardshasmademeabe erteacherandifeelthatmy

studentsunderstandtopicsfromtheconceptualpointandmakingnecessaryconnec ons.