I was disturbed when a woman I greatly respect—and whose multiple books on education I have on a prominent place on my shelf—came out with a blog post entitled, “How Common Core Killed the Dinosaurs.” Whoa, horsie!
I’m talking, of course, about Diane Ravitch, formerly a US Education Department employee and one of the earlier proponents of No Child Left Behind, though she has rescinded her support of the massive law.
Her writing shows her to be a very intelligent woman and one who cares deeply about the quality of education for our children. She quoted a “teacher” earlier this week, who claimed that the “Common Core” was preventing her from using dinosaurs in her second-grade lesson plans. Ms Ravitch is greatly admired, but here, she’s just wrong.
The assertion that a list of standards, even one as extensive as the Common Core in math and language arts, could prevent an actual teacher from using dinosaurs in class is incorrect and off the mark. The standards do nothing of the sort, and we should stop confusing people by allowing “teachers” to suggest the standards do something they don’t do. Rather, we should strive to increase teachers’ understanding of the standards, and this will also help the general public understand what they’re all about.
I understand Ms Ravitch’s opposition to the implementation of the Common Core. She opposes it mainly on the grounds that it prevents states and schools from developing their own standards of learning. But here, she confuses a list of standards in math and language arts, which is all the Common Core is, with a curriculum, which is a body of courses, syllabi, educational programs, lesson plans, textbooks, and so on. Teachers use a curriculum in their classrooms, and those can have all the dinosaurs Ms Ravitch (and I) would want to employ for the benefit of our children’s creativity. We have to hope and continue to evaluate whether the curricula chosen by teachers in our kids’ schools actually cover the standards, but as far as anyone knows, dinosaurs are as good as anything else for teaching the second-grade standards.
She directly quotes a teacher, who says, “I grieve my autonomy and my ability to use my professional judgment,” because she can’t allow her students to study dinosaurs, which tend to engage them. Her transparent motive for doing this is to take one more shot at the Common Core, which I respect, but this is a low blow. We all know kids love dinosaurs: My 7-year-old nephew carried around a dinosaur book I got him for Christmas for more than a year. Now they can keep their dinosaurs and the Common Core, too.
The Common Core here is being accused of something it didn’t do. Not in any way, shape, or form. Teachers have total autonomy under the standards themselves, as I explain here, although I cannot speak for school officials in this teacher’s district, who may have imposed lesson plans, textbooks, and other elements that make up a “curriculum” on her. Her argument should be with her school officials, not with the Common Core in a forum as widely read as Diane Ravitch’s blog.
Let’s please be a little more responsible.