|
Cincinnati
Enquirer
Delays
predicted in Common
Core success
Apr. 22, 2013
There’s
good news and bad
news about the rise of the Common Core, that new system of math and
English
standards people hope will reshape and restore American education.
The
good news: the Common
Core’s tougher tests and higher standards in most grades will likely
push
teachers and students to stretch further academically than they would
have
under current academic standards. Ultimately more kids may make it to
college
or a career well prepared, many experts say.
But
until then, there’s bad
news: Even in the most optimistic light, it may take five years or more
before
high schools enjoy higher graduation rates and more on-time graduates,
a recent
study by the New York based Carnegie Corp. predicts.
Carnegie’s
“challenge
paper” urges education and policy leaders nationwide to make big,
structural
changes in high schools, even as they get ready for Common Core exams,
if they
hope to help today’s students excel.
Across
the Cincinnati area,
school officials and teachers are beginning to sense the need for
change in
other school structures and schedules because of the Common Core. But
most say
there are still many more questions than answers about how they should
revamp
schools…
A
Carnegie study
Why
Common Core may lead to
higher drop-out rates, lower graduation rates
The
basic beliefs behind
the Common Core are that today’s state standards and tests aren’t
challenging
enough or cohesive enough to prepare many students for college or a
career.
Today,
four in 10 incoming
college freshmen have to take remedial classes in math or English. And
students
going to work after high school are more likely to find that factory
jobs
require some post-high-school training.
The
Common Core, many
experts say, will push schools to reduce deficiencies in high school
education
but it will take time. Students heading to high school now or already
there
will have to catch up fast to meet the higher academic bar.
Meanwhile,
the Carnegie
study uses today’s graduation and student achievement numbers to back
up that
assertion that for the next several months graduation rates will plunge.
National
figures had 75
percent of high school freshmen in 2005 graduating in four years, while
8 percent
dropped out and an estimated 17 percent remained enrolled in high
school.
Two
years later, another 10
percent of that freshmen group graduated, taking five or six years,
instead of
four. The nation’s six-year graduation rate was 85 percent - under old
academic
standards.
With
the more challenging
Common Core tests:
*Next
year’s high school
freshmen, who have learned mostly under the old standards, must adapt
to new
ones or not graduate on time.
*This
year’s eighth graders
already behind grade level with the old standards – an estimated 34
percent –
will have to catch up fast r not graduate on time.
*And
at high schools that
do nothing differently only 53 percent of this year’s freshmen will
graduate in
four years, 14 percent will drop out. Within six years, only 70 percent
of this
year’s freshmen will graduate and 30 percent will have dropped out, the
study
predicts.
“High
school teachers face
a difficult dilemma,” the study says. “They must strive to hold all
students to
significantly higher standards for graduation, while at the same time
supporting and motivating even the most under-prepared students…
Read
the rest of the
article at the Cincinnati Enquirer
|
