Robert Shepherd is an experienced author, curriculum designer, textbook publisher, and assessment developer.
He writes:
Here’s why I oppose across-the-board standards that are, de facto, mandatory:
Standards tell us what we are supposed to teach at what grades and roughly in what order, and the require that the same material be taught to everyone. What’s wrong with that?
Well, for one thing, the single set of standards hamstrings textbook writers, curriculum designers, and teachers. They are no longer free to create new, innovative, learning progressions. Someone else has already decided for them what should be taught and when There are much more sensible learning progressions in the various domains than are instantiated in these standards [sic], but one can no longer even broach those. One has to follow the authoritarian prescription from on high. This mandate stifles innovation in curricular and pedagogical design. I am already seeing, all around the country, educational publishers turning out programs that slavishly follow the new standards as though they were a curriculum. Big, big mistake.
For another, there are no standardized kids. What is taught and when should be tailored to kids and their needs.
For another, the Common Core State Standards in ELA are themselves very poorly designed. They are extraordinarily regressive. They do not reflect what we now know about what works and what doesn’t in these various domains. Often, they seem to have been slotted very much at random. They combine apples and oranges and shoelaces into single standards. Some are extraordinarily broad. Some are extraordinarily specific. But we are stuck with them. We have no choice. That choice has been taken from us. This is what the standard says. This is what you have to teach, whether it makes sense or not.
I tried to find this on your blog and the message below is what i got. I tried the URL listed at the bottom of your post and I get the same message.
Diane Ravitch’s blog A site to discuss better education for all
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Oops! This page does not exist. Maybe you can try searching for it again.
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2013 00:45:34 +0000 To: queenofkeyboards@hotmail.com
My mistake
Will post again
Diane, thank you for posting this. The public opposition to Common Core is spreading like wildfire. Over the weekend, I and several others spoke about Common Core in three different cities in Ohio. In all, over 1000 people attended the three events, one of which was a debate. The public is waking up, and it’s time for those on the left and the right to unite on the issue of Common Core.
Indiana’s Common Core “time-out” bill, which calls for a thorough public review and cost analysis before diving further into this national experiment, is scheduled to come up in the House this week. It handily passed the Senate twice. Hoosiers who are reading this MUST call their state representatives and tell them to support HB1427. Republicans will be debating this first behind closed doors in their caucus. They need to know, Hoosiers want a deserve an up or down vote on HB1427!
This insane quest for “standardization” in the teaching and learning process that education is all about drives me crazy. I offer the example of eating, one of those oh so human activities, like teaching and learning. If one wants a standardized meal one goes to a fast food joint like McD’, BKing, etc. . . and one gets what one pays for. However if one wants an excellent meal one can cook it at home for less than what a fast food joint charges, or one can spend more money and get a gourmet meal. With these “standards” we are imposing upon the students a mediocre at best “meal” of the teaching and learning process. Isn’t there enough wealth in this country to provide a “gourmet meal” of teaching and learning?? Are we too cheap to provide it?? (and the accompanying services which should be part and parcel of a gourmet meal of education.)