Closing common core for now . . .

Scott came through with a comment to my request for feedback on the Common Core that I’ll share below.

I am observing...people feeling a little anxious about a new main dish hitting the plate without any of the sides coming off.

I am thinking...that Tahoma is a great place and have no doubt that appropriate training will be given to us to take this task on.

I am feeling...a change in the wind that I am willing to take on but wondering as you stated Mike, when will we ever just get to sit in the hard work we do and relish in no changes.

I am wanting...to believe that this will be successful.

Once again the theme of apprehension and possibility emerges in the feedback.  Though we desire continuity and focus we find ourselves surrounded with changing focus and multiple demands.  Though the two comments are a very, very small data set, I appreciate the confidence that the system will support implementation of these new standards.   If we can move forward with the mental models embodied in this feedback we can be successful in creating learning experiences that position our young people for success on whatever assessments are imposed at the federal and state level.

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium released sample items and performance tasks on Tuesday.  If you are interested you can access them here.  They will give you a sense of the rigor expected in the standards.  You will need to scroll down to gain access to the released items for both English/language arts and mathematics.  Please consider sharing your thoughts on the items?

I’ll close this post by revisiting I-1240, the charter school initiative that I last posted about here.  The topic made Education week with this article.  I didn’t see anything new in the article, one person advocating for (a former Issaquah board member) and one person against.  I also saw yesterday where the League of Women Voters has come out against the initiative.  You can read about their reasons for opposing on this fact sheet.  Will this endorsement influence the outcome? Will it counter the large cash contributions for the initiative’s proponents?  We will know in the next few weeks as the campaigns become more visible whether grass roots campaigning can overcome the big advantage in dollars behind this effort.