On Tuesday, November 12, Campbell Union School District (CUSD) parents and administrators including Superintendent Dr. Eric Andrew and several principals and school board members gathered at Rolling Hills Middle School’s gymnasium for a meeting on curriculum changes that will take place starting this year.
The goal of the new Common Core Standards which were adopted by California in 2010 but not implemented until now is to make school standards more equal across the U.S. and not dependent on zip code. Most of the other states in the U.S. have adopted them already.
Because I was a district PTA board member for several years, I have already been briefed in depth on what Common Core Standards aim to do. It was nice to hear some specifics about what is actually taking place now at my son’s school.
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PTA has been a big supporter of the implementation of Common Core. In fact, this California PTA statement which is posted on the CUSD website does a great job at explaining the new standards.
“New standards, called Common Core State Standards, are on the way for all students in California, beginning in the 2014-2015 school year. These standards set high expectations for all students. They are rigorous and internationally bench marked; research- and evidence-based; aligned with college and career expectations; and they build on the foundation laid by individual states. The aim of this state-led initiative is to develop standards that ensure all students are held to consistent expectations that will prepare them for college and career." - California State PTA
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I like the change because it means tougher K-12 academic standards and children better prepared for college.
According to the main speaker, Elizabeth Wolfe from CUSD, here are some changes that will take place in CUSD.
1) The infamous “Star Test” will not be given this year. Instead, around the March time frame, students will be given a test that they need to take using a school-supplied computer or tablet called the Smarter Balance field test.
This test focuses on math and English and language arts. However, the Spring 2014 test will only be for practice. The teachers, parents and students will not get to see their grades. It’s just given to show the test developers how the kids do. If it were up to me, I would opt to give the teachers and students their grades because wouldn’t they be more motivated to prepare if the test counted? It seems odd not sharing results. Other parents sitting near me did not share my concern though.
2) In math, instructors will go deeper into subjects and children will need to explain things more both in writing and verbally with less multiple choice test questions. The goal is to produce critical thinkers. My son said he has seen some of these changes already in his Geometry class and there is a label on his text book indicating that it follows Common Core already.
Some other changes include exposing all students to Calculus in high school and more integrated math classes that mix subjects. So your child may see “9th grade Common Core Standard Math” on his class schedule instead of Algebra. Wolfe anticipates that a high school math class will be brought down to middle school with the new curriculum. She added that high school has not finalized its Common Core plans yet so stay tuned for details on this to be released later.
3) In English and language arts, teachers will look for deeper reading comprehension and give more writing assignments that require the students to explain things fully both verbally and in writing. School district representatives urged parents to support this by reading more nonfiction with their kids, discussing what they’ve read together, and also by choosing multiple books on the same topic in order to explore different viewpoints.
Most of the parents’ questions during the meeting revolved around technology and they included, will the students be learning more keyboarding? Do the schools have the computers to support all of this testing and can you use a tablet? The answers were yes, they will start teaching keyboard skills as early as third grade and any Web based device can be used to take the Smarter Balance tests.
Sujatha Gopal, mother of a 7th grade Rolling Hills Middle School student said, “The children will adapt fine, however adults tend to be slower learners. This will take a couple of years for the teachers to implement. Change is good though.” Several parents agreed that the challenge will be teachers coming up to speed.
By the way, Wolfe said that the children who are due to take their standard California Standard Test in science will still do that this year, but next year that will likely change.
Wolfe invited CUSD parents to attend a January 21 meeting to discuss how Common Core standards will affect high school. Details about the time and place will be posted on the CUSD website soon.
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