Since the Common Core curriculum has been accepted and implemented throughout the State of Utah, there has been a lot of confusion about what Common Core is, how it affects Utah, who funded it and why it was implemented in the first place.
Common Core is a list of learning objectives that encourage teachers to help students find deeper meaning and engage them on more levels of learning in subjects such as mathematics, reading, and language arts.
As part of Race to the Top, the education platform of President Obama and part of the 2009 Recovery Act, Common Core must be adopted in order for a state to receive federal funding. Since Utah received funding under this Act, schools are obligated to fully implement these standards that include more advanced testing of students, more accountability for teachers and administrators, and programs to improve failing and under-performing schools.
US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, in a recent interview with CBS News, explained that Common Core is essentially raising the bar of education and creating a uniform benchmark for all states to work towards and be rated against.
"Historically states have dummied down standards; they've reduced standards," Duncan said. "Why? To make politicians look good. Raising the bar is absolutely the right thing to do."
All but four states, Texas, Nebraska, Virginia and Alaska, initially implemented these standards.
While the goals set by Common Core are important and generally accepted and reflected by most school districts, the biggest challenge in the State of Utah has been the federal strings that have come attached to it including curriculums that are a one-size-fit all solution, and the much needed additional funding for Utah schools.
The Utah State Board of Education formally adopted the Common Core as the education standard for Utah’s public schools in August of 2010 with the goal to be fully implemented throughout every school district by this upcoming 2014-2015 school year. However, as more and more federal standards and guidelines have been mandated, including the new Student Assessment for Growth and Excellence, or SAGE—end of level testing—many are beginning to feel the frustration of being stuck in a program with little room for changes on the local level that would better reflect the needs of individual student bodies.
Within the past year, 14 states have taken measures to pull out of the Common Core standards. Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindel, recently vetoed bills that were supportive of Race to the Top and Common Core stating it is similar to "Russian centralized planning."
In Utah, parents, educators, students and organizations have urged the Legislature to also pull out of Common Core by implementing policies that would give local school districts more control over the curriculum and to find funding solutions that reduces the State's dependence on Common Core funds, which currently makes up 9%, or $115 million of the overall education budget. Unfortunately, under the Utah Constitution, the Legislature has little to no power when it comes to education policies.
Under the Utah State Constitution, "the general control and supervision of the public education system shall be vested in a State Board of Education" (Article 10, Section 3). Every education policy and standard is set by the USOE. While each school district can choose to implement its own standards and curriculum, each must abide by the minimum required by the USOE. Since funding is the number one issue facing all areas of education, local schools districts have little choice but to use the materials supplied by the USOE.
In short, the USOE implemented Common Core and is the only one that can repeal it. However, this hasn't stopped legislatures from trying to find a solution within their scope of power.
Newly appointed Representative Justin Fawson (R- Ogden), is working on legislation that he believes would help ultimately repeal, or reduce the Common Core standards in the State of Utah. The first is making the SAGE test more secure.
In an online post, Mr. Fawson wrote, "The primary issue…with SAGE testing is that access to student information tracked with the testing is not currently limited by FERPA laws. I'm focused on whether state and federal entities have access to comprehensive testing that disclose information about any given student that is identifiable to that individual. If, in fact, the testing is used to statistically track student/school/teacher/district progress, I see no need to have the student's name associated with the statistical tracking of performance--just like any other 'study'. FERPA does not offer protections of that information specifically despite the fact that this act was designed to protect privacy in education."
Mr. Fawson would also like to see the State Board of Education become elected positions, rather than the current governor appointed seats. "I'm not condemning our school board, I'm simply proposing that if they are supportive of our objectives for Utah education, they would pass muster and be able to be elected to their positions," Fawson said. An election process would allow a more in depth vetting process, which he believes is a key part to making board members more accountable to parents, students and educators. "To me, it doesn't matter what the party affiliation is if they are working toward the best education possible for our children."
*Editor's Note: Nicole Tripp has been a part of a research team that has studied federal and state education policies and their implementation in local Utah school districts.
