Education Deform
Right-wing education deform means crushing union rights.
AMERICAN EDUCATOR,| SUMMER 2013
Concerns Amid Support for Common Core
DO TEACHERS SUPPORT the Common
Core State Standards (CCSS) for math
and English language arts, which have
been adopted by the vast majority of
states and the District of Columbia? Have
they received the training needed to
teach to them? The AFT sought answers
to these key questions by asking the
professionals who will be working with
these standards the most: educators. So
in March 2013, 800 K–12 teachers who
are also AFT members were surveyed to
gauge their support for the new stan
–
dards and to gather information on how
implementation is going.
The results confirm that teachers
overwhelmingly support the CCSS as
well as a moratorium, like the one AFT
President Randi Weingarten has called
for, on the consequences for students,
teachers, and schools on Common
Core–aligned assessments until the
standards have been well implemented
and field-tested. In the poll, 75 percent
of the teachers surveyed approve of the
CCSS, and 83 percent support a morato
–
rium on high-stakes consequences until
the CCSS and related assessments have
been in use for one year.
While 78 percent of the teachers
surveyed said they have received
professional development training
related to the CCSS, less than half said
that training adequately prepared them
to teach to the new standards. Mean
–
while, 74 percent said they worry that
new Common Core–aligned assess
–
ments will begin before everyone
understands the new standards and
before instruction has been fully aligned
with them. See the charts below for
some highlights of the survey results.
www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/summer2013/ae_summer2013.pdf
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