Common Core Set to Move Forward
By Janna Stevens
In the summer of 2010, Wisconsin State Superintendent Tony Evers adopted the Common Core State Standards as the new standards for English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics. As a result, School Districts across the state of Wisconsin began to examine the Common Core Standards that are K-12 with specific expectations for every grade level.
Prior to the introduction to the Common Core, the State of Wisconsin only had standards articulated for 4th, 8th, and 10th grade.
Tony Evers
“The Common Core State Standards hold the promise to improve the achievement of Wisconsin’s students and better prepare them for ongoing education, careers, and effective citizenship,” State Superintendent Tony Evers.
The choice to move forward with the Common Core was a comprehensive process across the State of Wisconsin. For three years, the WI Department of Public Instruction convened teams and engaged stakeholders to analyze Wisconsin’s standards and the Common Core State Standards, providing thoughtful input on standards and their implementation.
Wisconsin public schools were not and are not required to adopt the Common Core standards. That determination was left up to individual school districts.
However, according to the WI Department of Public Instruction, all state districts have adopted Common Core for English/language arts and math except for the school district of Germantown, Wisconsin.
How Common Core Standards Were Created?
State education chiefs and governors in 48 states came together to develop the Common Core, a set of clear college- and career-ready standards for kindergarten through 12th grade in English language arts/literacy and mathematics.
Currently, 42 states have voluntarily adopted and are working to implement the standards, which are designed to ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to take credit bearing introductory courses in two- or four-year college programs, or to enter the workforce.
Teachers were a critical voice in the development of the standards. The Common Core State Standards drafting process relied on teachers and standards experts from across the country. They served on the Work Groups and Feedback Groups for the ELA and math standards.
Implementation of the Common Core here in Superior required the concerted effort of teachers and administrators. The process began the summer of 2010 when administrators and teacher leaders spent time ‘unpacking’ the standards. We also sent a lead team to a training to understand how the process for each standard built on the prior year.
Crystal Hintzman
“The Common Core State Standards, for both literacy and math, have allowed us to focus our professional development for teachers on providing rigorous instruction that contains specific expectations of achievement for students at each grade level. Building performance based assessments for our students to demonstrate their understanding in more authentic ways has also been a beneficial result of these standards,” comments Crystal Hintzman, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment in the Superior District.
Support & Opposition to Common Core
While there is strong support for the Common Core across the United States, there is also opposition. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker initially supported use of the standards, but in July of 2014 called for their repeal. Walker later softened his stance, saying ‘school districts shouldn’t be required to use them if they don’t want to’. This caused some confusion in the state because it was always a choice.
Governor Walker did however cut funding to the Smarter Balanced Assessment that was based on the Common Core. The state of Wisconsin is currently in the process of obtaining a new test that will be given the spring of 2016.
To review the all the academic standards in the School District of Superior for yourself, please click here.
Janna Stevens
Janna Stevens is the District Administrator of the School District of Superior
