State shows constant suffering in education
In a Jan. 28 article, The Baton Rouge Advocate’s Will Sentell observed that while Louisiana ranked 15 on Education Week’s annual state-by-state report, the state received an “F” for student achievement. He also noted that the state accumulated higher marks in other areas (tools to measure teacher accountability, accountability), which resulted in the higher ranking – but that the “F” ranking in student achievement was the third such grade in a row.
A couple of more reasons for Louisiana to look at innovative ways to improve the state’s student achievement ranking ... in the U.S. News College Compass report, Louisiana ranked 46; in the most recent Report Card on American Education (American Legislative Exchange Council) – we managed to rank 49 out of 50 states and the District of Columbia.
For a state that has little to show for the “accountability system” rolled out in 1999, we’ve precious little growth to show in a full generation of students and any measurable improvement in their performance and readiness to pursue success in an increasingly complicated and technical world.
Ergo, there ought to be good reason for anyone interested in moving Louisiana students up the education achievement/performance ladder to favorably consider the Common Core State Standards initiative; Louisiana approved the standards in 2010 and joins 44 other states in doing so.
But and surprisingly, that’s not been the case. Instead there is much criticism of the initiative along with a good bit of misinformation about it in Louisiana. Some of that misinformation includes the assertion that CCSS represents a federal power grab to institute a national curriculum for K-12. Others assert that the “standards” are too rigorous for young learners; and then there are the folks who worry that some students might be left behind.
Under the heading of “everybody’s entitled to his/her own opinion, just not his/her own facts,” I submit that a state consistently suffering a student performance ranking at the bottom of the national barrel ought to be real interested in factually assessing any promising education initiative – and not looking for reasons to equivocate … sans the facts.
CCSS grew out of a bipartisan group of governors and business leaders who got together at the 1996 National Education Summit. These folks created an organization the priority of which was to support standards-based education reform efforts across the states. As a result, “Achieve,” was formed “as an independent, bi-partisan, nonprofit education reform organization” (achieve.org). This organization has partnered with several other national organizations to “identify the ‘must have’ knowledge and skills most demanded by higher education and employers.”
In 2009, the organization commenced work on CCSS, partnering with the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Released in 2010, the final CCSS standards enumerate a set of math and language arts requirements that K-12 students are expected to know, each year, beginning with the 2014-15 school year. These standards are anticipated to improve the rigor of coursework and better prepare students for higher education and/or a career.
CCSS simply sets the standards – the benchmarks; the state or local school districts design the curricula to achieve the CCSS standards.
No scheming and devious federal education grab – just a thoughtful and thorough effort by folks who believe American students can and should excel and be competitive with their national and international contemporaries for all kinds of economic and national security reasons. And apparently this CCSS approach looks to state education officials and professional educators to develop and deliver education programs designed for mastery by students – along with serious and speedy remediation for those who are a little slow on the mastery track.
Louisiana has tried it the Louisiana way. Depending on the evaluation method, we recently nationally ranked “F,” 46th, or 49th. Given that standing, if there’s to be any controversy about Louisiana’s implementation of CCSS, perhaps we could insist that it be a factual one – and maybe better centered on how to ensure all school districts have the technical resources on which to test students – a requirement of the initiative – and a necessity in today’s education world.
Marty Carlson, a freelance writer, has been covering local news for the past 13 years. She can be reached via email at [email protected].
