Common Core State Standards

The final draft of the Common Core State Standards was released June 2. The same day, Wisconsin's Superintendent of Public Instruction announced that Wisconsin had adopted them. Why so fast? The obvious answer is to gain points in the state's Race to the Top application.

But unlike in other states, where groups have organized to protect their state standards from the common standards, I have not been able to spot any support for keeping the Wisconsin state standards. In Massachusetts, Minnesota, California, Texas, and other states supporters argue that their state standards are more challenging or more specific than the Common Core. Not in Wisconsin. Wisconsin standards fell down in a number of ways, often being couched in very general language and applying to broad grade "bands" rather than specific grades. Their weaknesses likely reflected the attempt to get broad consensus in writing them.

Let me mention two areas, one in math and the other in reading, where the Common Core standards have the potential to make a huge difference.

In recent years many widely-used math textbooks have encouraged students to invent their own methods of solving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems. Some books present a set of non-standard algorithms and invite students to choose their favorite. Promoters of this approach argue that it encourage creativity and, besides, in an age of calculators facility at calculation was no longer a necessary tool. Opponents argue that this approach confuses students and encourages math illiteracy. The Common Core Standards specify that students learn the standard algorithm for addition and subtraction (fourth grade), multiplication (fifth grade), and division (6th grade) for whole numbers. They also require the standard algorithm for all four operations for decimals in 6th grade. It will be interesting to see whether the nonstandard algorithms get downplayed as a result.

In reading, the standards require that students in kindergarten and early elementary grades be taught print concepts, phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and reading fluency. These reflect the recommendations of the National Reading Panel.

Race to the Top Applications

Last week the Department of Education announced the names of the thirty-five states that had applied for the second round of Race to the Top grants. Not surprisingly all the states that were finalists on the first round also applied for the second round (except, of course the two winners, Delaware and Tennessee).

Minnesota, in twentieth place on the first round, was the highest-rank state that did not apply. Wisconsin, in 26th place on the first round, managed to gain the endorsement of most of its teachers' unions, which will doubtless add points to its score. But as I suggested in a Journal-Sentinel op ed piece, it is not clear whether Wisconsin has sufficiently improved its plans for the use of student achievement data for decision making.