This week the Governor unveiled the first step in his “full vetting of common core,” an online portal where any Tennessean can provide comments on the standards English or Math in any grade.
I took some time to complete the review process for my own content area (geometry) and wanted to provide a brief review of my experience with the portal. Overall I was very satisfied with the process. It is easy to use and puts the burden of proof on those who thing something needs to be changed. I truly believe that it should lead to a strong evidence-based review of our Tennessee State Standards.
Purpose of the Portal
Quick Background: The purpose of the portal is to provide feedback on individual standards, rather than the standards as a package deal. Feedback from this portal will be reviewed by the eight committees this summer, and comments will be passed on to the State Board of Education, who will make their recommendation on keeping or modifying each individual standard by the end of 2015.
Gate Keeping: The Login Option
One of my major concerns with the portal initially was that people from out of state would be able to “spam” the standards with positive or negative content. With that in mind I was very interested to see what types of screening mechanisms would be put into place.
The information shown below is the information that someone is required to submit to review the standards.
Overall, I’m satisfied. This gate keeping option requires a good amount of information and enough questions that I believe it will prevent all but the most determined spammers from taking advantage of the system. Anyone looking to do so would have to fabricate a good amount of information and provide their email address, which is probably not worth the trouble that they would have to go through to do so.
The Review Process
The review process is easy and straight forward to use. Users are prompted to select a content area, subject and standard ‘strand’ (collection of standards). They can then make a choice between three options on each standard; 1) keep it, 2) modify it or 3) remove it. For each choice you are prompted to give comments, but comments are only required if one selects the modify or remove option.
If modify is selected, users are also prompted to select “rewrite” or “move to another grade” for the standard.
Once you finish the strand, you can go back to the portal and select another strand, subject or content area. Theoretically, anyone review the entire set of Tennessee State Standards for any grade. Doing my own content, geometry, took less than 10 minutes. Very easy to use.
Why I Like It
Overall, the process is easy to understand and easy to execute. It is user friendly and contains no hidden catches or bugs (at least not that I found). A very well designed portal overall.
Gov. Haslam said last month that he would have a full vetting so that supporters and detractors could speak to what they specifically like or do not like. This portal is designed in this spirit, and the burden of proof is primarily on those who recommend removing the standards. I believe that this is as it should be given that these standards were written and vetted by content experts and have already been passed into law in Tennessee. If we are going to change anything with them, we should have a strong and compelling reason to do so.
Moreover, this portal requires those who oppose the Tennessee State Standards to offer specifics as to what they do not like. They can’t attack the standards as a package deal. They are forced to actually provide comment on specific standards and articulate what they like and do not like about any given standard. Additionally, those who accuse the standards of being “developmentally inappropriate” have the opportunity to identify what is inappropriate and recommend that it is moved to a later grade. No more speaking in generalities. Detractors must now offer specifics as they actually relate to the standards as to what needs to be improved.
So overall, great effort from the state. This should lead to some great feedback from those with true experience with the standards and force those who do not like them to specify what needs to be changed. I hope every teacher in the state with experience on these standards takes time to complete this process, as do those who have real and rational suggestions about what could be improved or modified for these standards.
Access the online portal here
By Jon Alfuth
Please ensure all comments are constructive and add to the conversation. Follow Bluff City Education on Twitter @bluffcityed and look for the hashtag #iteachiam and #TNedu to find more of our stories. Please also like our page on facebook.
Excuse me, but the “burden of proof” should be on the Governor and his corporate pals who put this untried and unstudied testing delivery system in place without a shred of evidence that any aspect of CCSS will have positive effects on learning.
While the positive effects for technology companies and the testing-industrial companies will be too large to count, there has been no pilot studies conducted and no feedback gathered in sites like New York, where 70 percent of kids failed the test in 2013. What percentage would you predict in Tennessee??
Jim, your comments are so off base that its clear you haven’t spent any substantial time reading the content generated on my blog by either me or by other authors. I find some of your comments so offensive and inflammatory that I’ve deleted two other comments you left. However, some of your statements are so egregiously incorrect (including those on the article you posted on your site) that I feel compelled to offer a few thoughts in response.
First, I write because I want to write. Nobody pays me to do this. I do this because I find the level of public content generation in Memphis lacking, because I truly believe that teachers need a place online where they can share their voices and because I enjoy it. I’ve never claimed to be THE spokesperson for Memphis parents, teachers or students, just one teacher trying to encourage others to share their voices.
Second, I welcome any Memphis teacher to submit content, as long as it stays positive and offers solutions. I regularly post stories that I don’t fully agree with. I’ve even directly invited teacher colleagues of yours with whom I vehemently disagree to write only to be turned down for reasons I can only speculate about. I welcome dissent as long as it leads to thoughtful and productive discussion (unlike yours).
Third, I do not support all education reform efforts outright as you imply with your quip about me being Governor Haslam’s “water boy.” See my work on vouchers, the ASD, testing and teacher pay and individual charter schools in Memphis.
Fourth, as to your assertion of my support for common core, I support the common core state standards because I’ve taught under both sets of standards and I honestly believe that common core is a better set of standards. I joined the organizations that I do because we share similar beliefs, not the other way around. Why is it so hard to believe that a teacher would choose to support something that his best evidence suggests is positive for kids?
Lastly, I welcome your comments on my blog as long as they stay respectful and constructive. I don’t particularly care if we disagree, I think it actually leads to better discussion. However, if all you’re going to do is make unfounded and over the top accusations, please leave your thoughts on your own blog.
I would also contest your assertion that we have no burden of proof. Since implementing CCSS in Tennessee, we’ve seen state test scores improve incredibly fast here in Tennessee. I honestly don’t think that you can attribute all of this to Common Core, but I don’t think its a stretch to believe that it’s played a factor.