By Ryan Ekvall | Wisconsin Reporter
MADISON — Sure, officials with the state Department of Instruction met with higher education stakeholders in crafting programs for college and career readiness as part of Common Core State Standards, but is that spectrum wide enough?
Some educators don’t think so.
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Steffen Lempp, a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an expert in training elementary and middle-school teachers, told Wisconsin Reporter that nobody came to him for input before signing on to Common Core.
“They don’t come to the math department. They go to the school of education,” Lempp said. “They very rarely consult with the math department. They’re afraid we’ll tell them things they don’t want to here — like their tests suck.”
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Common concerns
No one claims the new standards are a panacea, but they are heralded as “rigorous” and “internationally benchmarked.” Both supporters and detractors agree that Common Core improves upon current Wisconsin Model Academic Standards.
One of Common Core’s more ambitious goals is for students to graduate with knowledge and skills that leave them prepared for entry-level, credit-bearing college courses and workforce training programs.
Due in part to the seemingly murky way in which Common Core was adopted in Wisconsin — the fact that there was never a public hearing on the standards — tea party activists have asked lawmakers to halt implementation. A similar movement populated by progressives, libertarians and conservatives is popping up in several states across the nation, including most recently Indiana, which backed out of the Common Core national assessments this week.
Bill Evers, a researcher at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said Hoosier State education officials should seek input from the state’s colleges and universities on how to improve existing academic standards, and not adopt the Common Core, according to StateImpact, a reporting project of National Public Radio.
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