Teacher Voices on Common Core

Teacher voices are critical in the effort to ensure that all students are held to high academic standards. Because their daily work is directly focused on student success, teachers know the benefits of the Common Core State Standards better than anyone. These classroom teachers are seeing the benefits of Common Core implementation in their classroom and urge the education community to stay the course. 

We want students to be thinkers, rather than answer-getters

By Eliza Akana Yoshida, The Maui News (Featured on the Hawaii State Department of Education website)

February 17, 2015

“​I learned math by memorizing formulas and multiplication tables in isolation. In today’s math class, this type of practice would be considered outdated. Today’s teachers are instead creating collaborative learning environments where students are talking about and engaging in meaningful math discourse.”

And,

“Mathematics touches almost every possible occupation our students will hold in the future. The rigorous learning targets outlined by the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics set a benchmark for the concepts and skills that all students should master by the end of each grade. Equally as important as these content standards, the Common Core includes the Standards for Mathematical Practice. These are habits of mind or powerful processes students should engage in while working with the content of math. For example, these practices speak to the idea of perseverance, reasoning, constructing arguments, critiquing the ideas of others, modeling, using appropriate tools, using repeated reasoning and seeing structure, all while precisely communicating about mathematics.

“I have been teaching for 12 years – 10 in the classroom and two as a state Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) resource teacher. Next year, I will serve as a math/science curriculum coordinator at Pu‘u Kukui Elementary School on Maui. I love Common Core Math because it has helped spark conversations about what mathematics instruction and learning should look and feel like. I want my students to, at the bare minimum, believe that they are all capable mathematicians, to not be afraid to make mistakes, and to recognize that there are often many different strategies and solution pathways. Mathematics is about collaboration, creativity and sense making. It is not just one right answer or the memorization of information.”

Common Core transforms math learning

By Laura Cole, Cincinnati.com

February 22, 2015

“If you visit a Kentucky high school math classroom today, including my own Geometry and Algebra 2 classes, you would see a different picture from the one you likely remember. You would see students building their skills using math concepts and questioning each other about different ways of solving problems. One of the reasons for this shift is the adoption of the Common Core State Standards of Mathematics.”

And,

“Over the past four years, with support from Scott High School, the Kenton County School District, and the state through professional development and time to collaborate with colleagues, I have made the Common Core State Standards the center of my teaching. The math I teach has not changed, but my strategy for teaching has. As a teacher, it has been a hard process, but a worthy one because it has shifted my classroom to one where students build on previous understanding and create a foundation of knowledge rather than memorizing facts.

“With the Common Core’s emphasis on ensuring students are college and career ready, students are learning new skills in my classroom and throughout the school, district, and state. Because of this, I am confident that students will be able to make sense of and solve any problem they encounter in their future.”

Common Core doesn’t hinder learning

By Danielle Alexander, The Detroit News

February 16, 2015

“Upon finishing a novel this week, two of my 9th grade students asked if I could organize an end-of-unit discussion or debate in addition to the literary essay I had to assign as the unit’s common summative assessment since there is still ‘so much to talk about.’

“My response? ‘Sure.’ My rationale? Common Core State Standards.”

And,

“Creating curriculum around Common Core has forced me to be more thoughtful and purposeful than I have ever been as a teacher, which has helped me to not only better communicate with parents and students but also with administrators when it comes down to measurement tools during evaluations. We cannot let this change to Common Core amount to “an alphabet soup of bureaucratic expectations” and “soul-less instruction” that some in our field say it has become; we can do better.”

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Common Core Resources Achieve has developed materials to help states, districts, and others understand the organization and content of the standards and the content and evidence base used to support the standards. Visit www.achieve.org/achieving-common-core.  Share NewsIf you find a news clip supportive of the Common Core, please send it to Chad Colby at ccolby@achieve.org.