I write in response to the June 26 story "Common Core is panned at Lake."
While the Lake Local Schools board is certainly allowed to adopt a resolution to "express its
opposition to the imposition of the common core," it was procedurally unnecessary and substantively
unwise.
Common Core is a set of standards and not curriculum. Ohio has had statewide learning standards in math
and English since 2001. Standards are simply uniform targets for what students should know, but local
districts make curriculum decisions on how best to reach them. Nothing about that structure has changed
with the adoption of Ohio’s New Learning Standards (which includes Common Core in math and ELA). In
fact, the Ohio General Assembly recently passed legislation explicitly protecting the exclusive right of
local school districts to make curriculum decisions.
So perhaps it’s just confusion on the part of the board that led them to take this action. But on the
off-chance that it’s the standards the board has a problem with, let’s be clear that the Common Core is
a huge improvement over Ohio’s previous standards. The Common Core is aimed at raising achievement for
students in math and English and better preparing them for college, career, and successful lives after
high school. This is critical as college remediation rates for students across our state are
unacceptably high. In fact, 46 percent of the Lake High School students who graduated in 2012 and went
on to an Ohio public college that fall required remediation in math or English before starting on
credit-bearing courses. Don’t believe me? Check the Ohio Board of Regents website
(https://www.ohiohighered.org/data-reports/college-readiness). The cost to those students in money and
time could derail even the most dedicated students.
Teachers and administrators have been working to ensure their students are prepared for the new standards
by developing new curricula, adapting existing resources, and purchasing new instructional materials
since the standards were adopted by the Ohio State Board of Education in 2010. Hopefully, this
resolution is a mere political statement and not indicative of a willful denying of four years of
reality.
If so, then Lake Local will have missed an opportunity to ensure many more students are prepared for the
rigors and challenges of life after high school. And all of this is more important than any
"resolution" the board could possibly pass.
Jeff Murray
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Columbus