I’m frustrated. So I’m going to vent.

‘Sup with the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics? Haven’t we had a set of standards since 1989 that are called the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards followed by the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics in 2000? Wasn’t this already done by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics?

What am I missing here?

Oh…now the standards are going to be common across all states. That’s the diff? Really?

I’ve been in education long enough to know that California and Texas are big. Okay, so I don’t need to be in education to figure that one out, but the reason it’s important here is that CA and TX are special. Textbook companies cater to them because they make lots of moolah by selling them their texts. Both CA and TX have written their standards based on the NCTM Standards. (Okay…some minor changes in recent state adoptions…but nothing too note-worthy). That means that textbooks are going to be written along the lines of the these two states because thats where most of the money is.

Believe me, textbook companies are not going to customize their texts for all 50 states. That would be too costly and business is in business for the bottom line. It does men, however, that if you’re in a state other than CA and TX, you will be choosing from texts that have been designed around the standards of these two very large states. Which means that all states are already teaching to the standards…the same standards.

I’ve looked at the CCSS. I see very little difference in the content that’s there. I say ‘that’s there’ because I actually think the NCTM Standards have more meat.

Here’s what I think. NCTM has gotten a bad wrap from the outset. They didn’t explain caluculator use very well or that they weren’t really getting rid of long division. So it was the perfect way to slam these new standards by people who like doing things the old way. NCTM’s been on the defensive from the beginning.

Now along come the govenors and state school officers who decide that to “fix” education, we need a set of national standards. Enter CCSS. So once we “implement” the standards, we will have a state-of-the-art educational system.

But…we’ve already been implementing the standards. At least, trying. It’s hard when there’s an over-emphasis on standardized tests. But it’s not the standards themselves that will make the difference. It’s relying too much on standardized tests that’s the problem. It’s ignoring professional development that’s the problem. It’s not finding ways to encourage and include parents in education that’s the problem. It’s parents who don’t step up to the plate and get involved that’s the problem. It’s poverty in our inner city schools that’s the problem.

NOT the fact that we don’t have a set of national standards. Which we do.

Will these new standards really make a difference? I’m not convinced.

And Race to the Top…the new and improved NCLB. More of the same.

Ugh.