To the barricades!? Common Core and PARCC

There is an undercurrent of parents preparing to man the barricades to defend the virtue of youth against the evils of common standards and state assessments.  Should you join them?  Of course, why not! But before you do, let's arm you with something more practical and powerful than pitchforks, torches, and battle cries - let's ask tough questions about what's going on in education, and whether your school is doing what it should to ensure your child is prepared for college and/or career - in other words, life after school.

You have the right to ask questions, and to get good answers.  That's different than saying you have a right to like the answers, however.  Another important step for you to take is understanding the limits of what you can change, and what you will have to accept.

The most important and powerful question you can ask you child's school system is, "How does our school help my child learn what she needs to know in order to be successful?" As you ask such questions, consider the challenges your schools are facing right now.

What do our students need to learn?
Public education is built around the mission of preparing our children for success in college or a career.  The feedback public education has been getting is that it is failing in this mission. An average of 30-40% of high school graduates need remedial courses before they can enter college; some community colleges report a number as high as 70%. Employers report that new hires are not adequately equipped for the higher-level thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills demanded by the 21st century workplace.  Employers need workers who can navigate ambiguous situations where the answers aren't found in a user's manual.

By all accounts, public education is failing in these basic requirements of higher education and the workplace.  Your principals, teachers, superintendents and school board members are painfully aware of this failure, and will not be able to rest until it is fixed.  And we're not talking about knowledge and skills that you and I needed in order to be successful, so let's not hamper our kids with "I never needed to be able to do that when I was in school!"

If the first question is "What do our children need to know and be able to do?" then the answer is found in the Common Core standards for math and language arts. While I won't debate the merits of Common Core standards, before storming the gates please know what they are (minimum standards of what children must know and be able to do at each grade level) and are not (a curriculum; a federal program).  Simply, your school system may decide that these standards are not sufficient and set them higher, but they may not decide they are too demanding and require less of students.  The battle over Common Core is waning, and the fact is they are not going away, although they may be called something else.

How will we know when our students have learned it?
Assessments tell educators whether instruction is successful in helping students learn what they need to know and be able to do. Notice that it's learning that is required, not teaching. Many teachers are frustrated that their teaching is not enough to reach every student, and those teachers have all sorts of excuses why those kids won't learn. My hope is that someday we will find a better word for their role than the word "teacher," because their responsibility is to see that learning is taking place, not to merely teach.

Educators use two types of assessments to know whether students are learning, formative and summative.  I would say that formative assessments - think of a regular physical check-up - are more useful to the process because they tell teachers whether the content and skills are being learned, in time for them to adjust instruction accordingly. Formative assessments can be daily quizzes or end-of-section tests, but they should happen with enough frequency that teachers can intervene with kids who are not learning, and offer enriched learning to students who are.

Summative assessments are (wish I had a better analogy) the post-mortem - the autopsy - that is used largely for school accountability and to give an indication whether the student is ready for advancement to the next grade level. These are the "final exams" of my day, now increasingly called quarterlies.  The grandaddy of all summative assessments required by the state was until recently NJASK (in New Jersey), which will be PARCC in 2015.

NJASK, HSPA (High School Proficiency Assessment), PARCC . . . we've always had high-stakes assessments. So before we get all excited about PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career) let's keep in mind:

• State assessments have never been optional; PARCC is no different. Attempts to opt-out of PARCC, in addition to being silly, will only result in pointless legal headaches for everyone.
• If we have standards, we need to know if those standards are being met. PARCC is more of an accountability check for your school system - and yes, ultimately for teachers to some extent - than it is for your child.
• The first PARCC scores will likely be shockingly low; if 80% of kids are proficient with the current NJASK assessment, proficiency with PARCC will likely be somewhere around 30-40%.
• Another crisis that public education is struggling to address is unacceptably low graduation rates; nationally, only about 70% of kids graduate with a high school diploma. NO ONE IS ABOUT TO ENFORCE TEST OUTCOMES THAT WILL RESULT IN A DECLINE IN GRADUATION RATES.  Your child will not be denied his high school diploma because of a poor PARCC score.

So please, take a deep breath and relax - everything about Common Core and PARCC will be ok. What we are experiencing is a new age in education where schools are being judged "based upon student outcomes, not educator intentions" (Anthony Muhammad, Transforming School Culture, 2009).  This is good for our kids! It means that your school isn't just good because your school system says it's good.  We're all going to be struggling for a while to adjust to this new age - yes, it's too bad it has to be us and our kids, but better than not at all.

The questions you should be asking your schools

Please, don't go protesting Common Core, or PARCC - your school district can't help you with that. New standards and assessments are here to stay, and we're better (or will be) for it.  Instead, ask pointed questions around how effectively the school takes action based on those results.

How are our teachers using formative assessments to guide effective instruction?

The school (superintendent, principal, teachers, board members) should be able to explain in detail.

How does the school align instruction, and the assessments, to the learning standards?

No, really, how?  If instruction is aligned to the standards, and formative assessments prove that it is, won't your child feel much better-prepared for the high-stakes tests, like PARCC?

  What do you do for students who have not learned what they need to know?

  What do you do for students who have learned it?

Does your  school have a system in place for intervention with students who have not learned? Enrichment for those who have?  Is time made in the schedule for that intervention?  Is student participation voluntary or mandatory?

How does PARCC benefit my child?

Hopefully, if you've read this far, you have some idea of that now.  But do ask and see what you are told. If the answer is anywhere near "Well, it's required by the state," then somebody doesn't get it.  I hope the answer is closer to "Our teachers need to know that your child, and every child who comes through these doors, is learning what they need in order to be successful."