The following appeared in a Los Angeles Times editorial:
If a sentence contains the phrases "New York state" and "Common Core," chances are that somewhere between the two is the word "botched." New York and California have taken opposite approaches to implementing the new academic standards, which have been adopted by 45 states but are now the target of a backlash.
California's approach bucked the Obama administration's rules, but as it turns out, California was right.
New York jumped feet first into the new standards, administering tests based on them — tests that, among other things, were supposed to be used in teacher evaluations. Unfortunately, the state's teachers hadn't been trained properly, and they lacked instructional materials that reflected the new curriculum. The resulting test scores were predictably abysmal.
Parents and teachers rebelled, and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan only worsened matters by dismissing the outcry as coming from "white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn't as brilliant as they thought they were."
That remark wasn't just snide. It was wrong. The new tests don't measure intelligence or even whether students are more or less advanced than they were before; rather, the tests measure a certain set of skills that are markedly different from those that have been taught for years. In some ways, that's good. Teachers can't "teach to the test" when the tests measure deeper understanding — which is the underlying principle of the new standards — rather than rote knowledge. At the same time, students, especially older ones, aren't going to make an overnight shift to a dramatically different way of thinking.
New York is now in repent-at-leisure mode, with the state Board of Regents putting off some aspects of Common Core, legislation calling for yet more delays and a panel convened by the governor to report on what went wrong.
California got into hot water with the Obama administration because, for a year or two, there will be no test results that can be used to discipline schools under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. We think that's fine. Teachers who are enthusiastic about a strong new curriculum aren't going to stop trying hard because the test scores don't count for a couple of years.
Earlier this month, the administration finally (and wisely) blinked, backing off from threats to sanction the state for its rebelliousness.
Federal education officials should worry less about rushing the new standards into schools and judging teachers and schools by early results, and more about giving schools the time to build robust new teaching methods with all the right supports in place.
A prominent researcher recently released a review of public-school textbooks concluding that none are fully aligned with Common Core, even though publishers sometimes claim otherwise. And no one should expect to see dramatic shifts in learning for the first few years.