Imagine for a moment what our students would be learning if the expectations for them did not change with the times. Oregon first adopted educational standards in the early 1900s and since that time Oregonians have understood that our schools had to continually evolve to ensure our youth are prepared to compete and succeed in life after high school. Thankfully, as the knowledge and skills required for successful participation in society and the world economy have shifted, so have Oregon’s targets for student learning.
Fast forward to the present and we see that Oregon has joined 43 other states in adopting the “Common Core State Standards.” Many would have you believe that the federal government developed these standards, but that is simply false. The effort to develop the Common Core was a state-led effort launched by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governor’s Association (NGA) toward a singular aim: to ensure students graduate high school prepared for college, career, and life — regardless of where they live. In the context of Oregon’s history of evolving education standards, the adoption of the Common Core is just the next step in Oregon’s century-long effort to move student learning forward, to prepare students for the rigors of post-secondary scholarship, and to connect K-12 education to the demands of the workplace.
So, how do the Common Core State Standards differ from the previous standards? The Common Core focuses on a more complex, and more relevant, set of skills for students. No longer are students only expected to remember and recall discrete facts, mathematical operations, or pieces of historical information. Students must now apply new knowledge to real-world problems; they must evaluate various pieces of information and develop logical arguments for their findings; and they must create arguments and back them up with evidence. Similarly, the instruction in our schools must now prepare students to reason strategically, to experiment and connect ideas, and to think critically and critique information. These attributes probably sound familiar to folks in many (if not most) family-wage occupations as the overarching aim of the Common Core is to develop the problem-solving and analytical skills required in the professions of today and the careers of tomorrow.
Although changing the standards, and the corresponding state assessments, poses great challenges for our students and our educators, the shift to this higher-level learning is ultimately good for our children and good for our collective future. I praise and support Oregon’s involvement in the creation of the Common Core and the State Board of Education’s decision to adopt these new learning targets. The new standards establish high expectations for all students in all content areas, and challenge our schools to help each and every student meet their full potential.
Along with the higher standards, Oregon has adopted a new assessment system to measure our students’ mastery of the Common Core Standards. With a wider range of question types (not just multiple choice or “fill in the bubble” testing) that require higher-level thinking and more elaborate answers, the new state assessment should be an improvement over prior measures. Our students will be exposed to the new, more rigorous state assessment for the first time this spring.
Most people I talk to about this new test are concerned that it will be too long, too hard, and disconnected from the reality of their child’s classroom experience. As with any new endeavor, I expect the first time students take the assessment it will be bumpy and uncomfortable — and for some the results may be disturbing. As a parent, I’m ready and willing to learn about my own children’s progress towards being prepared for college and career — even for my third grader — because I know that they will need my understanding, my advocacy and my support as a parent to succeed in school and in life. As an educator, I want to know how our students perform, what we can do in our school system to improve, and how to best align our resources and our collective efforts to help each of our students realize their greatest potential. As a parent and as your superintendent of schools, I am willing to be disturbed if it means I can help our children succeed later on.
Without question, these new standards and assessments are much more demanding. Here in Hood River County, our teachers and administrators have been working hard to align instruction and materials to meet this new level of rigor. We’ve recently invested in the adoption of Common Core-aligned curricula and in providing professional development for teachers to best utilize the new materials. We are reinvesting in early intervention systems to identify and intervene with struggling students as soon as possible to get them back on track. And we’re committed to providing our professional teaching staff time to collaborate in teams to review their students’ progress toward the Common Core and to adjust their teaching to meet individual student’s needs.
I assure you, in the Hood River County Schools we are doing our part to prepare our youth for these higher expectations. Along with raising the bar, however, our state must adequately invest in its future — our children. Oregon currently has the 49th highest class sizes in the nation and is near the bottom (46th) in terms of the percentage of available state resources directed to K-12 education. In 1991, Oregon was in the top 10 percent of states in terms of education funding. Fast forward to the present and we are stuck near the bottom. As a result of our state’s disinvestment in public education, Oregon students receive nearly a full year less of instructional time across their K-12 experience compared to the national average! And while Hood River County schools have stellar graduation rates compared to the rest of the state, compared to the rest of the country, the State of Oregon’s graduation rates are near the bottom.
These statistics are just unacceptable and are incongruent with the campaign promises of our elected officials. Raising the bar for students and teachers must be met with similar resolve from our legislators. I agree with my superintendent colleagues in the Eugene area schools who recently wrote in their area newspaper, “If our students are to compete in a global economy, and if our community is to prosper, the State of Oregon must focus on initiatives that add instructional time, reduce class size, close achievement gaps, invest in outstanding educators, support early literacy, and focus on assessment where it matters most — in the classroom.”
The increased expectations within the Common Core State Standards challenge both our students and our educators to reach for new heights. Every single day in our schools you can find evidence of students engaging in the powerful learning experiences called for in the Common Core. Our Hood River County educators will not retreat from the challenges associated with these higher standards and we embrace the opportunity to raise the bar for our students. It’s time our state leaders make good on their campaign promises and provide us the adequate resources to get the job done right.
Dan Goldman is the superintendent of the Hood River County School District.
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