Merrill Vargo

Merrill Vargo

The new vision represented past the Mutual Core State Standards is becoming clearer, and it is exciting and rich. But as schoolhouse district leaders get clearer on the destination, the path can still be uncertain.  Like Dorothy, who knew she was headed toward Oz, local educational activity leaders are beginning to enquire, "Which way practise we go?" It'southward a good question, and state leaders need to remind themselves of some hard facts before they reel off an reply. Here are 3:

  1. Giving people a clearer and clearer picture of Oz volition non necessarily point the way to the Yellow Brick Road.
  2. There is more than one road, and the right road for i district will non exist the right route for some other.
  3. Simply as Dorothy needed some traveling companions, districts will also.

Allow me say a bit more than about each of these.

First, a picture of Oz is not the aforementioned equally a map of the road to go at that place. Correct at present, the focus of both country leaders and most support-provider organizations is on providing educators with a rich motion-picture show of how deep and broad is the change represented past Common Core. That's the flick of Oz, and that's of import. Only for a district leader with no professional development upkeep, no aligned materials or assessments, and a demoralized education force, understanding the complexity of what is involved in Common Cadre implementation is at best a first step. What district leaders need, and what state leaders demand to provide, is assistance in finding a viable path frontwards.

There are many ways that land leaders could undercut districts' efforts to find the road, but here is ane concrete example: If state leaders transport out a comprehensive planning template, or worse yet require a comprehensive plan, they transport the message that districts are supposed to practise the impossible. Districts will comply – by filling out the plan. But going through this charade undercuts what actually needs to happen, which is that districts will need to choice off a piece that is both achievable and worth doing and and then get started.

Second (and this follows from the kickoff), there is more than 1 route. It has often been noted that nobody can manage complexity in multiple dimensions at once. This goes for school districts, as well. Implementation of the Common Core is a complex, multifaceted change that ultimately involves curriculum and instruction and assessment and leadership and accountability and the list goes on.

But districts won't be able to eat the entire elephant at ane sitting. It may exist reasonable for one commune to enter the world of Common Core through work on math, while another might choose writing or the idea of "circuitous text," and a third might opt to focus on instructional practices. The choice might reflect an effort to build on strengths, shore up weak elements, leverage the most contempo initiative or textbook adoption, or respond to the need to capture the imagination of teachers. All of these tin can be worthy goals.  Of course, somewhen everybody will need to do everything… only an effort to practice everything at once will guarantee that nothing tin can exist done deeply or well.

Finally, districts will need traveling companions. The headlines nigh the impact of upkeep cuts have focused on teacher layoffs, but commune offices have also been gutted. Many of the positions that were eliminated were staff developers, curriculum specialists, instructional coaches, assessment experts, and others whose expertise will exist needed to back up work on the Common Cadre. The politics of districts are such that many of these positions cannot be refilled, so their work will need to exist washed by others. Some of these will be external partners. This means that state policy needs to support the creation of support systems for districts that are robust, flexible, and responsive. A one-size-fits-all solution will undercut the entire endeavor.

The route to the Common Core will be neither straight nor smooth, merely if nosotros do this right, if we actually appoint our teachers in thinking deeply near content and teaching again, the bear on on students and learning will be profound. And if we can all remember to bring along a little brains, heart, and courage, that probably won't hurt either.

Merrill Vargo is both an experienced academic and a practical skilful in the field of school reform. Before founding Pivot Learning Partners (and so known as the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative, or BASRC) in 1995, Dr. Vargo spent nine years education English in a diversity of settings, managed her own consulting business firm, and served equally executive director of the California Institute for School Improvement, a Sacramento-based nonprofit that provides staff development and policy assay for educators. She served as Director of Regional Programs and Special Projects for the California Department of Teaching. She is besides a member of Full Circle Fund.

To get more reports like this one, click here to sign upwards for EdSource's no-toll daily email on latest developments in instruction.