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Making the Common Core Standards Work: Using Professional Development to Build World-Class Schools
Written for school leaders, this practical guide provides a blueprint for implementing and exceeding the Common Core State Standards, with a focus on empowering teachers and staff.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 23, 2015
If you find the Common Core State Standards (CCSS - get used to acronyms if you plan to read this book) somewhat confusing and less than lucid, you won't find a lot more clarity here. Nevertheless, wading through this book will help you have a better idea of what things truly matter to the CCSS promoters from their own perspective, without the pejorative straw-man arguments of their opponents. That is not to say that this book will sell you on the necessity and excellence of CCSS, but it may at least give a more honest picture of the deeply held beliefs of CCSS promoters.
Unless you are an administrator being forced to implement CCSS on an unwilling staff (which does seem to be a large portion of the audience the authors are trying to reach, for what that's worth), this is a book that deserves skimming in many places. Some points are made repetitiously, some portions seem written hastily (poor editing producing such gems as things being done by "trail and error" when no actual hiking seems to be involved), and it is written overwhelmingly in education jargon that implies Impressive Things are being said, even when the literal meaning is not all that significant. At one point I began keeping track and almost every word of more than two syllables was an edu-jargon term ("formative assessment," "mastery learning," "shared vision," and the list goes on).
What it does reveal is that CCSS are intentionally designed with the belief that the future before us is so significantly different from the past that human education must be radically changed. The main way in which CCSS seek to do this is by demanding critical thinking skills of students at all levels. Meanwhile there is a strong emphasis on local schools designing their own unique curricula to align to the standards (though the charts showing examples of this frankly baffled me as to how the local curriculum standards were actually accomplishing the specific CCSS standards in the least). All of this is ordered toward the end of producing students who are "college and career ready" for a technologically advanced 21st century.
I take issue with all of these foundational CCSS ideas--though that is a discussion for another place--but I am glad to have heard them openly spoken from proponents of CCSS who truly believe they are right and valuable. It helps me realize how deep runs the divide between CCSS and other educational philosophies.
If there is anything positive about CCSS that I gained from this book, it would be an empathy for the challenging student bodies that public schools must service. I do not agree with all of the proposed solutions for helping students from poverty-stricken or non-English backgrounds, but I do see the overwhelming task before the public educators who must teach these children.
Unless you are an administrator being forced to implement CCSS on an unwilling staff (which does seem to be a large portion of the audience the authors are trying to reach, for what that's worth), this is a book that deserves skimming in many places. Some points are made repetitiously, some portions seem written hastily (poor editing producing such gems as things being done by "trail and error" when no actual hiking seems to be involved), and it is written overwhelmingly in education jargon that implies Impressive Things are being said, even when the literal meaning is not all that significant. At one point I began keeping track and almost every word of more than two syllables was an edu-jargon term ("formative assessment," "mastery learning," "shared vision," and the list goes on).
What it does reveal is that CCSS are intentionally designed with the belief that the future before us is so significantly different from the past that human education must be radically changed. The main way in which CCSS seek to do this is by demanding critical thinking skills of students at all levels. Meanwhile there is a strong emphasis on local schools designing their own unique curricula to align to the standards (though the charts showing examples of this frankly baffled me as to how the local curriculum standards were actually accomplishing the specific CCSS standards in the least). All of this is ordered toward the end of producing students who are "college and career ready" for a technologically advanced 21st century.
I take issue with all of these foundational CCSS ideas--though that is a discussion for another place--but I am glad to have heard them openly spoken from proponents of CCSS who truly believe they are right and valuable. It helps me realize how deep runs the divide between CCSS and other educational philosophies.
If there is anything positive about CCSS that I gained from this book, it would be an empathy for the challenging student bodies that public schools must service. I do not agree with all of the proposed solutions for helping students from poverty-stricken or non-English backgrounds, but I do see the overwhelming task before the public educators who must teach these children.
February 4, 2018
Required class reading. Nothing too revelatory, but accessible & clear.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews