By Joyce Coronel
There’s a number Amy Storement wants you to remember in the face of ongoing political bluster over Common Core Standards: 43. “Arizona ranks 43rd in the nation in high school graduation rates. That should be alarming to parents,” Storement said. “If you can’t graduate from high school, you are not going to be able to get a job that will sustain you. You’re going to have to take a minimum-wage job.” Storement, president of the Parent-Teacher Organization at Kyrene Middle School, is a former educator who is passionate about Common Core Standards that are now in full implementation in the Kyrene School District. “Those standards are there to raise the bar for our kids. Our kids used to just compete on a state or national level once they graduated from high school and then went on to college, but now they are having to compete globally for jobs,” Storement said. Jama Nacke, principal of Kyrene Middle School, said “parents shouldn’t be alarmed” about the change in standards because “it’s raising the rigor and the analytical skills of their children.” The new standards measure students’ ability to analyze, comprehend, synthesize and apply the information they’ve been learning in school and that’s crucial to their future, Nacke said. It’s not just about rote memorization and the regurgitation of facts. It’s about depth of knowledge. “An employer wants somebody who has critical thinking skills, is creative in problem solving and who can work with a group of people,” Nacke said. “Those are all the attributes they want and that’s what Common Core is helping our kids do.” Nacke, who taught for 11 years before becoming a school administrator, said the parents she’s spoken with are supportive of the Common Core Standards because they don’t want their children to fall behind. She also pointed to what some business leaders and higher education officials have said. “What you hear from employers, the Intels and the Michael Crows, is that our kids are falling behind and they are not coming to schools prepared,” Nacke said. “They have stressed the need for increased rigor and that our kids come more prepared. That’s unquestionable.” Lorah Neville, executive director for educational services for the Kyrene School District, was equally emphatic in her support for Common Core Standards. Neville once taught at Kyrene Middle School and has spent the last eight years as a director of curriculum. She’s puzzled by the controversy surrounding the new standards. “When you look at the math standards or the English Language Arts standards, what in them would you not want your child to be able to do? They are really good standards,” Neville said. The Common Core, she said, tests students’ ability to reason through and apply what they know to solve a novel problem. “We know that’s the world our kids are going to live in,” Neville said. “They need to be continual learners and problem solvers and they need to be able to make connections across multiple areas.” Neville said the difference between what was used previously, Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards — the AIMS test — and the new AZ Merit test students will take this year, is that the new standards require proficiency, not simply a minimum competency. The bar is much higher from the get-go. “We want to make sure that when kids leave, they are able to use their math and read and comprehend and all of those things at a level that they would be prepared, without remediation, to start college or to start in the work field,” Neville said. As to those who complain that the Common Core takes away local control over education, Neville stated that “there is no loss of local control. We still pick the materials as we have always done.” Diane Douglas, who became the State Superintendent of Public Instruction last November after campaigning against Common Core, released a statement Feb. 20 regarding the new standards. “As we move away from Common Core, it is important to do so in a deliberate fashion so that we stop the pattern of creating new standards only to abolish them every few years,” Superintendent Douglas said. “This endless cycle leaves schools in a constant state of upheaval and causes undue stress for students and teachers.” Douglas has endorsed Senate Bill 1305, legislation to establish a committee that will evaluate a focused section of standards each year. Storement, the KMS PTO president, said some parents she’s talked to are nervous about Douglas’ move. After initial unease, they’d accepted that Common Core was what was best for students. Now they worry all that will be taken away. “I do think there are parents who are nervous with her threatening to say that she’s wanting to get it taken out,” Storement said. “Common Core is what these kids need in order to be successful.” Nacke said she encourages parents to speak with teachers regarding their concerns and to visit ExpectMoreArizona.org to find out more about Common Core.
