MANSFIELD, Ohio – After exploring the origin of Common Core, as well as its standards and strategies, Richland Source explored the correlation between Common Core and Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) testing. We then reached out to educators for their perspective on Common Core and PARCC.
Educators were offered anonymity, as at least one district had discouraged teachers from expressing their opinions publicly. Others said their districts may not mind. The two educators willing to go on record asked to remain anonymous.
“As an educator, I feel that there are several misrepresentations in the media about [Common Core],” said one teacher. “I see it as being able to take the kids deeper into topics wherein they will actually comprehend the material and not just memorize a bunch of facts.
“I myself, as a teacher, want my students to be able to grow up and know what things mean and why they work as they do. I also want them to be able to think in depth and to solve problems. CORE allows us to teach them how to do these things,” stated the local teacher.
On the issue of PARCC, this educator noted that the test is “broken down into smaller chunks,” and spread out over a few days, unlike previous tests. The educator felt this allowed for a greater understanding of a child’s knowledge as they would be less tired and able to perform at their best.
“One bad thing is that it is done on computers which makes it harder for those who do not own one. There is a learning curve to this,” they added.
When asked if educators and students were more stressed with PARCC than with other testing, the educator replied, “With any test, you will always have those who are stressed, no matter what. We cannot control that. I would say that the stress level is no higher than in previous years for the students.”
“Are teachers stressed?” the educator continued. “Being as the test is new in Ohio I would say yes. It is all new to us. Most of the stress, to me, stems from the test being new and unfamiliar. We are being evaluated based on something we feel we have no history with as of yet. The teacher evaluation system is new. This is new. We have a new curriculum. It is a lot to swallow.”
Another educator, an English instructor who teaches juniors and seniors at a Richland County high school, said, “Common Core standards put the emphasis on helping students to develop skills as opposed to content, which is really valuable to students in the digital age. They can easily Google any content-based question, so learning skills is much more valuable and will prepare students to be competitive in the workforce.”
It was noted by the English instructor that there is currently a great deal of misinformation about Common Core. “These standards actually give teachers and districts more freedom in the content they teach,” they said.
“I think the real narrative here is that the problem is not with the standards, but the way the standards are being assessed,” the instructor said. “Since the Common Core standards are skill based, the assessments should be performance based—the students should create a product or a portfolio to prove that they’ve learned a skill. A multiple-choice test will never be a fair indicator of that.”
As for PARCC stress, the instructor said, “The practice tests that the students and teachers have access to are very difficult, so I think some of them are stressing out.”
