Why Core Curriculum (National) Standards Are Bad For Oklahoma

8/7/2019 Why Core Curriculum (National) Standards Are Bad For Oklahoma

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REPEAL THE CORE CURRICULUMSTANDARDS FOR OKLAHOMA SUPPORT HB1714



What are Core Curriculum

Standards or CCS?

National academic standards for English/language arts and math

Adopted by Oklahoma State Board of Education in June of 2010

To be integrated by Oklahoma teachers in their curriculum overthe next 4 years.

The Priority Academic Student Skills, or PASS, fully implemented in Oklahoma in 2003 will become obsolete.



Misconceptions about CCS

Misconception #1. National standards and tests will make USstudents more competitive with their global counterparts.

While the countries that outperform the US on international

tests have national standards, so do most of those countries that score lower than the US.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/05/Why-National-Standards-Won-t-

Fix-American-Education-Misalignment-of-Power-and-Incentives#_ftnref20

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/05/Why-National-Standards-Won-t-Fix-American-Education-Misalignment-of-Power-and-Incentives#






Misconceptions about CCS

Misconception #2. National standards are necessary so that

parents can understand how their children’s academicachievement compares to that of other students across thecountry.

The meaningful information that parents and other taxpayers

need is already available. If access to the information isinadequate, that does not justify a national standards and testing regime.









Misconceptions about CCSMisconception #3. National standards are necessary becausestate standards vary in quality.

Teachers union pressure, pervasive political correctness, and pedagogical and content disputes hamper the quality of statestandards and could equally plague national standards as well.

Centralized standards and testing would eliminate the possibility of competitive pressure for increasing standards of excellence. Isuniformity or excellence more important in the nationalstandards movement?










Yes! They empower the federal government.



Can national standards andtesting systems make a

considerable difference?







Will CCS Empower Parents &

Other Taxpayers? No. Centralized standard-setting would force parents and ot hertaxpayers to relinquish one of their most powerful tools forschool improvement: control of the academic content, standards,and testing through their state and local policymakers.

It is unclear that national standards would establish a target of

excellence rather than standardization, a uniform tendency toward mediocrity and information that is more useful to

bureaucrats who distribute funding than it is to parents who areseeking to direct their children’s education.











“Federal School Support”

means . . .

Centralized allocation of resources -or- “spread the wealth” goesto school.

The kind of comparable data that a national test would supply

would help to provide equalization of resources among schools.Equal spending has not resulted in raising student achievement.









Don’t we need to take

advantage of Federal money? At face value, this appears to be a push for higher standards. In reality, some states have dumbeddown their definition of proficiency on state tests in the interest of receiving federal funds. Federal

funding is an incentive that can trump interest in actual progress on student outcomes. http:// www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/05/Why-National-Standards-Won-t-Fix-American-Education-Misalignment-of-Power-and-Incentives#_ftnref20

No Child Left Behind led to the dumbing down of many state standards and very little improvement

in student outcomes. http://boston.com/community/blogs/rock_the_schoolhouse/2010/11/

Oklahoma should not give up its authority over education in exchange for temporary federal money,especially when we have lost the Race To the Top Grant and will get no Federal money for theadoption of CCS. Implementation of CCS has been estimated in the millions of dollars for somestates. W here will Oklahoma find this funding? http://www.dailynews.com/ipinions/ci_17168645

http://www.dailynews.com/ipinions/ci_17168645





http://boston.com/community/blogs/rock_the_schoolhouse/2010/11/
















How will CCS Affect Teachers?

The national assessments that arise from the CCS will drive what teachers teach on a daily basis. Many schools now tie individualstudent scores directly to teachers’ contracts/pay/rehiring. Tosurvive, teachers will be forced to “teach to the test”.

Why is teaching to the test such a bad idea? Its not, if you preferfor Washington to control what teachers teach and what childrenlearn rather than local officials and parents.



Can’t we just make our own

changes to the CCS?

Not really. As passed and enrolled, SB2033 stipulates that the

CCS cannot be modified more than 15% of the total curriculum.If the CCS are decided to be not as rigorous as first thought andare modified beyond that 15%, there could be a very real

possibility of our State Department of Education being in

violation of their own school law.

Did you realize that we have yet to see the CCS? How can we besure we wouldn’t want to change more than 15% if we have neverseen the curriculum?



What Can We Do Now?

We need to repeal the CCS before we havespent the money to implement them andbefore it will cost the state to repeal them!

Support HB1714 - Repeal the CoreCurriculum Standards for Oklahoma

Why Core Curriculum (National) Standards Are Bad For Oklahoma

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