• What is happening in your schools as they relate to the issues raised in these readings and videos?
• What are you experiencing as a teacher?
What are the reactions of parents to these issues?
Common Core Standards are replacing our older state standards. We switched to Common Core two years ago in my school. The English teachers were the first to go through all of the training, then the other departments followed. This next upcoming school year, the visual arts are going to be tied to these standards also.
The hardest part for me as a teacher is that right now there are no standards for the visual arts. They are in the process of being written. It is difficult to know what is expected when it is always changing. Literally, they are changing at this moment. Someone, somewhere is deciding what needs to be assessed and how the arts will look in regards to Common Core. After watching the videos and reading the articles, I was surprised by how many parents were in agreement that tests are taking over schooling. The youtube video with the father and daughter really made an impression on me. From the point of a teacher, I would be upset if she was my student, I would consider it as an act of defiant behavior, however, when watching that video I put myself in his shoes. He has the right to refuse to have his daughter tested. The protests and rallies against testing show that people across America are tired of all of the data and numbers. Students are just seen as test scores and the overall educational experience is shifting to just teaching to the test.