CTU Common Core Meets

CTU Discusses Common Core with Teachers
By Jim Vail


The Chicago Teachers Union held a meeting last week on Jan. 24 to discuss the implications of the new Common Core curriculum which was designed and promoted by the corporations to further standardized testing and a national curriculum.

A crowd of roughly 50 teachers and activists met at Wells High School on the north side to hear a panel of five academics and teachers discuss the Common Core curriculum and then answer questions from the crowd, according to observers at the meeting.

The first speaker was DePaul professor Barbara Radner, who observers say, appeared to support the Common Core standards when she equated South Carolina's decision to reject the Common Core to its decision to be the first state to leave the union before the Civil War.

Radner had been a favorite source to quote in the Chicago Tribune and other corporate media concerning city education matters such as school closings and privatization.

The next speaker was UIC professor Tim Shanahan, who has helped develop the Close Reading that emphasizes a deeper analysis of higher-level texts. Shanahan told the participants he first did not like CC, but now thinks it is appropriate in terms of standards, but not the testing, an observer told Second City Teacher.

The next speaker was David Stovall, a UIC associate professor of educational policy studies and African-American studies. Stoval was mostly against the Common Core, noting there is no focus on special education and English language learners and asked the question what happens when the under-funded struggling city schools don't get the help they need as the rigor increases, the observer noted. Stovall said the Common Core will be used to kick people out of the teaching profession.

UIC professor Rico Gutstein and the founder of Teachers for Social Justice, was also critical of the Common Core, the observer said.  He said it is a business plan, noting the future will need about 30% of the population with a high school or higher degree for jobs.

It is interesting to note that only 30% of the students in NY passed the first round of Common Core tests.

Two teachers at Chicago Public Schools rounded out the panel.  A teacher at Uplift in Uptown said he liked some of the Common Core strategies and the inclusion of science standards, while a teacher at Morrill Elementary was mostly critical of the Common Core, noting students already struggling in the public schools are just going to do even worse, the observer said.

The crowd of teacher observers had about 30 minutes to ask questions and were mostly critical of the Common Core, the observer said.

The CTU's parent union - the American Federation of Teachers or AFT - has been very supportive of the Common Core, while Diane Ravitch, one of the leading public education historians who worked in George Bush's education department to implement the No Child Left Behind, is extremely critical.

Ravitch has noted in editorials and on her and this website that the Common Core was drafted and funded by corporate entities such as billionaire hedge funds and the Gates Foundation with little public input.

Many in New York where the dismal CC test scores came out are upset with the new curriculum because of its heavy emphasis on standardized testing and punitive measures against teachers and public schools.