For many years, the standard for completing kindergarten would be for a child to name, write, and identify objects up to 30. In the new Common Core State Standards, the students need to complete the process to 100. I'd feel pretty safe thinking the young marshmallow roaster could complete this task right now. I'll admit my evidence is anecdotal. Observations of a child's work in practice only completed to 30. But with some quick assessment it could easily be assessed whether she had completed this standard.
In my second month on the job as Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, I shared this informational video on the Common Core State Standards from the Common Core Website. In three short minutes it spoke of even steps grade by grade. It spoke of children throughout the country learning the same thing. Right now my family has children attending school in Washington, California, Georgia, Illinois, and the District of Columbia. The film is captivating, graphically appealing, and simple in its message. It feels positive. A message that hits home.
The film's message looks to eliminate differences in learning opportunities across the land. This message focuses on the delivery of instruction. It complements the message being distributed from the Department of Education regarding Achievement Gaps. The Department has a significant interest in reducing the gap in performance between different subgroups of our population. In this analysis, the Department would like schools and educators to eliminate the performance disparities between white, black, and hispanic performing children in their schools and districts, the disparities between socioeconomic groups, and between regular education, special education, and non-native English speakers. All of this measured by standardized tests.
The marshmallow roaster counted to 30 in Hebrew. What will her journey be in school? If the school follows the Common Core, will she sit on the sidelines for a year, or two, or three as they work on those students with needs until the content and skills are that which she actually needs to learn. Do they promote her upon entrance? Thus, removing the benefit of 13 years of public education already because her parents helped her learn as she grew. I ponder this possibility and think of my oldest child. The young lad who entered Kindergarten doing reading and mathematics at the entering 3rd grade level. Sure he could have done most of the academics with the 8 year olds but emotionally and with his writing he needed to be with the 5 year olds. How much of his school experience should be one of sitting and waiting for everyone to catch up in order to lower the achievement gap, and how much should be him moving forward?
The authors of Common Core will note that they Raised the Bar. Our marshmallow roaster needs to count and identify numbers up to 100 where previous learners needed only to count to 30. She will naturally in the Common Core system have most of pre-Algebra in 7th grade and most of Algebra in 8th grade. She, like all American students from the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters, will have a more "rigorous" learning experience. They will be expected to learn more content and experience harder assessment questions.
I look at the children around me and for some, Raising the Bar is not enough. It would be years before the education system catches up to those children. For others, Raising the Bar is too much. If they are expected to make equal gains and catch up the process will be overwhelming. And thus the failure of Common Core, the very foundation of common steps to eliminate Achievement Gaps and to Raise the Bar for everyone falters at the point of impact with the child learning.
Each day that our children go to school I hope they learn. I hope their teacher identifies their instructional level and helps them move forward. Whether it is my child attending school in the Chicago suburbs or his cousins in Seattle, Washington, neither of them should be held up waiting for the other. Instead of worrying about narrowing the Achievement Gap or Raising the Bar, we should be working to meet our clients where they are at and helping them move forward. We should look at education not as horizontal steps up a staircase but rather vertical rungs on a ladder, pre-kindergarten through post-doctorate. Encouraging each child to grab up onto the next rung. Don't worry if your brother, your cousin, or your friend is on a different rung, but rather to take that adventurous reach and grab the next rung. Learn the next step higher. Use each day to learn more.
If we want the educational foundation of our society to improve, we need to focus on the growth of every student. Under the No Child Left Behind legislation, schools focused on moving at-risk students to becoming barely meeting expectations students. Over that decade we left a whole lot of meeting and exceeding expectation students behind. Yes, they were performing well. But could they have grown more? Could we have even higher performing students entering college had they not been systematically ignored by the legislation of No Child Left Behind and the regulations of the Department of Education? We need to focus on the growth of all students. If we honestly care about each child moving forward, progressing, challenging themselves. If we think in terms of vertical learning and provide that next step of challenge. They will grow faster and farther. It won't be about Raising the Bar, because some of our students will not reach the bar that year. It will not be about narrowing the Achievement Gap, because all groups are being pushed forward with energy, time, and focus. It will instead be about challenge, adventurous reaches, and climbing a vertical ladder to personal and societal success.
Growth matters. Personal development matters. I have sent two very different children to school, one a below grade level reader, one a ridiculous 4 grades above grade level reader. Born two calendar days apart in different years, they were at the same developmental age when they entered public school as 5-year olds. If their teachers got them to grow at the same rate, 1 year and 2 months per school year, when they entered middle school in 6th grade, the low reader would have caught up to "grade level" by the end of 4th grade and enter 3 months ahead of grade level going into middle school whereas the above grade level student would enter middle school 5 years and 3 months ahead of grade level. Both children equally pushed, equally challenged. Over time even the lowest surpasses the Raised Bar. The Achievement Gap remains but through the power and focus on vertical learning, school can be a challenging place where all children learn more.
I'll be honest, I am not invested in closing the Achievement Gap. I am not invested in Raising the Bar. I am invested in the families and children I work with. This past week, I have had the honor and privilege to work with 40 students as they learn programming code. The children are between 8 and 13. Each has different skills. Each has a different knowledge base. Some have significant background in mathematics and grammar. They know what a semicolon is. They understand what variables are and what functions do. However, age doesn't seem to be a barrier in the class. Background knowledge is only a minor barrier. We give children a learning framework but encourage them to advance at their own levels. We give space of choice and exploration. They help each other solve problems, analyzing each others code, discovering their mistakes. They push forward, create unique programs, dazzle us with how quickly they can progress. It is truly a vertical learning environment, one in which children are taking adventurous reaches to move themselves and their friends forward.
The fire burns down and the children head towards bed. We remember that they are still young, none older than seven. We marvel at the unique way each of them approaches their life and their world. We hope that when we share them with their teachers, their principals, and their schools that those leaders will embrace them the way we do and encourage each of them to make that next adventurous reach up the vertical ladder each day.
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