Issue link: http://hvparent.uberflip.com/i/351083
28 Hudson Valley Parent n August 2014 pressed to find any educa- tor out there who doesn't welcome having a set of guidelines to refer to for planning and teaching. However, when those guidelines are develop- mentally inappropriate; provide a gateway for mandated, scripted cur- ricula; and become the driving force behind high- stakes testing, we have to take a step back and won- der: What, exactly, are the standards really about? School reforms My mentor, the late Dr. Jean Any- on, once wrote that changing school reforms without addressing the economic needs of the schools and communities in which those reforms are being enacted "is like trying to clean the air on one side of a screen door." While much of her work was in the context of urban school reform, Dr. Anyon's ideas can teach us about reforms in just about any setting from urban to rural: we can't expect higher achievement — in school or in life — if all we do is raise the bar. Long-term benefits? It seems to me that in a society where the economy is still recover- ing from a prolonged downturn and the majority of people are strug- gling to make ends meet, education alone can't (and won't) magically prepare anyone to be college- and career-ready. As long as the cost of college Dear Kiersten, Does the Common Core benefit my children at all? The benefits of the Common Core are still up in the air, as I suspect they will be for quite a while. As with any large-scale education reform, we won't know the actual im- pact of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) until years from now. In the meantime, your question is an important one to ask! There has been a lot of talk about the CCSS this past school year, but there's still a lack of clari- ty about what they are, exactly how they affect classroom instruction, and how they'll benefit our kids (if at all). As I see it, the main problem with the CCSS is not that they exist, but how they're being implemented and used. Implementation As a former 5th-grade teacher and current teacher educator, I don't have a problem with having some sort of standards to guide instruc- tion. In fact, I think you'd be hard- continues to grow unchecked and the number of available, decent-pay- ing jobs lags behind the number of people who need them, it would take a miracle for the CCSS to have long-term benefits on our society as a whole — or on our kids as individ- uals. College years The average student graduating from college this year will face tens of thousands of dollars in student debt — and won't be able to pay it off anytime soon. Maybe it's just me, but it's hard to imagine that the CCSS will do much for our kids unless policymakers seri- ously (and perhaps, more thought- fully) consider the context(s) in which they are being implemented. Kiersten Greene, PhD, is an assistant professor of literacy educa- tion at SUNY New Paltz. Email your Common Core questions to editor@ excitingread.com. Common Core @ Home To find out more about the Common Core New York State Standards, including parent guides, videos and other resources, visit Engageny.org. On the web: "Dear Jeff, What's the 'say ten' method of count- ing?" Our math expert answers your questions about Common Core only at hvparent.com. Answers from Common Core experts Part six of a continuing series KIERSTEN GREENE English Language Arts We can't expect higher achievement — in school or in life — if all we do is raise the bar.