The education world is abuzz today discussing the political significance of AFT President Randi Weingarten’s call for a moratorium on Common Core stakes yesterday. The idea of using Common Core as an accountability moratorium has kicked around for a while behind the scenes, now it’s out there. Three thoughts on all of that:
1) After more than a year of behind the scenes, and increasingly public, bad signals for Common Core supporters, Weingarten’s move should be the most worrisome yet. If Common Core were a stock yesterday would have been a good day to start shorting it. Weingarten is nothing if not completely political about positioning and this is what you might consider a serious market signal about Common Core prospects. If this doesn’t wake up the Green Zone, I’m not sure what will. And union support, from both national teachers unions, for Common Core has been key in a few ways including as an obvious rebuttal to the idea that teachers were not involved with or are not on board with the new standards.
2) For Weingarten it’s a no-lose tactic. It’s important to remember that in any debate with teachers unions and public officials is really a debate between two sets of elected officials — public officials and elected teachers’ union officials. Weingarten is paying attention to her base in the union with this play and by linking Common Core to issues like evaluation she can at once appease a membership angling for a harder line and also position the union to exit Common Core if necessary. One smart observer noted yesterday that the standards she is setting are akin to the ones conservatives set on border security and immigration reform: Impossible to quantify or discern and consequently cover for whatever position one wants to subsequently take.
3) While I’m not a fan of moratoriums and so forth, it’s a mistake to dismiss what Weingarten is saying and some of the issues she is raising out of hand. Common Core implementation is not nearly as robust as it should be and the lack of support for too many teachers threatens to turn would-be Common Core allies into opponents. At BW we looked at implementation activities around the country for a recent analysis and what’s out there is woefully under-matched to the scale of the challenge. But rather than crude approaches like moratoriums that make good headlines but lousy public policy, this should be an opportunity for policymakers to really think about smart implementation of all the various moving parts today – evaluation and Common Core – and, yes, selectively slowing down where necessary. The goal here should be to get it right, hold the line against predictable political pressure to back off on hard decisions and consequences, but not to just show who can be the most ‘gangsta’ on education reform. In other words, we should hope national leaders heed this as a wake-up call and a chance to really engage with what a significant shift in ambition Common Core represents, but not an opportunity to jump into the politically convenient but highly counterproductive moratorium slipstream.
“Common Core implementation is not nearly as robust as it should be and the lack of support for too many teachers threatens to turn would-be Common Core allies into opponents.” True.
Sadly, this is part of an all too typical pattern in education reform—a great idea emerges that can make a difference, but implementation is uneven or botched. One wonders why? Are there simply not enough public administrators (as opposed to policy analysts and advocates) involved in these policies early enough? Or does the political process inevitably set goals too soon? Or do reform implementations crash against and bureaucratic/human capital constraints?
Let me get this straight. Implementation is terrible, but we should still punish children for not mastering the poorly implemented curriculum? Lip service to “slowing down” but a line in the sand against actually not testing-and-punishing? Pure ideological bs.
Moratorium onward! (Or, as Weingarten warns–you’re going to find the Common Core dying on the vine.)
Either way, I’ll be happy. But honestly, though i oppose stupid testing abuses, I am pro-good standards. But I’d be happy to see the Common Core go down just to score a win over ideological blowhards who have done so much damage to children in our public schools.
Things would likely not be so muddled were reformists not trying to push big changes in education through during a time of national political gridlock, polarization, and economic crisis. I suspect all of us would feel better about the Common Core and NGSS if the political discourse in our nation weren’t a poisoned well of misinformation, lies, and posturing. In addition, accountability for the failures of our economic system have been allowed to trickle down to anyone who is not a conservative. So, teachers, being a mostly center-left bunch, are getting squeezed every way from Sunday.
Is it any wonder they are recalcitrant? More to the point, why aren’t they marching in the streets? Think about it, America. You, all of you, have put American education in a vise grip and every direction education tries to move, there is push back and bad press. Educators are trapped. There is no room to move.
Nice and easy to understand
Eduwonk » Blog Archive » Please, A Moratorium On Moratoriums. But, Don’t Dismiss What Weingarten Is Saying On Common Core Out Of Hand
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