Commissioner Edelblut, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for bringing Ian Rowe to the State Board of Education meeting on March 15th. This was a wonderful presentation that I believe highlights the importance of refocusing on literacy in the classroom.
I have been a vocal critic of the Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards for many years. It wasn’t that long ago when scores of parents spoke before the House/Senate Education Committees and the State Board of Education, denouncing the national standards.
Many of those parents pulled their children out of public schools because they wanted a better education for their children.
In Tom Loveless’s new book, “Between the State and the Schoolhouse: Understanding the Failure of Common Core,” he explains that after a decade of Common Core State Standards in English language art and mathematics, no convincing evidence exists that the standards had a significant, positive impact on student achievement.
Understanding the Failure of Common Core”—explores Common Core from the initiative’s promising beginnings to its disappointing outcomes.
Unfortunately, the Lynch and Hassan administrations were committed to keeping these standards in place, and their appointed board members even rejected your suggestion to revise and improve the science standards.
Today, we have a new board and hearing examples of districts moving into areas that divide our children only highlights the important role of the Department and State Board of Education. If we want schools to focus on literacy in the core subjects, we must set high-quality standards and align tests to those standards.
COVID certainly brought you some unexpected challenges and, we can all sympathize with having to lead through this pandemic. I hope that in the future, literacy in the core subjects will become a priority again.
What is tested is taught. Since the standardized tests must align with state standards, it’s important to put forward quality academic standards and tests in New Hampshire.
That was the prescription that brought The Massachusetts Miracle over a decade ago (pre-Common Core). Their Department of Education, led by Dr. Sandra Stotsky, focused on high-quality standards, testing and refocused teacher professional development on quality academic content. Children were served by additional tutoring if needed, and the results showed that Massachusetts children could compete with students in Singapore.
We are fortunate that our students perform better than children educated in other states, but there is room for improvement. Given the stagnant or lower proficiency scores on the NAEP since the adoption of Common Core a decade ago, it’s safe to conclude this national experiment has been a failure.
It was the funder and supporter of Common Core Bill Gates who said, “We Won’t Know for a Decade Whether Our Ideas Work.” Well, Mr. Gates, this experiment has not worked as many predicted.
It is time to show the rest of the country how to lead schools to excellence. States like Florida and Georgia are already improving their academic standards. We need you to move this agenda forward too.
I hope as children transition back into the classroom and we move out of this pandemic; we can all work towards supporting public schools by supporting the quality that parents expect and deserve for their children.
Those who call for social justice, there is no greater justice we can provide than one that is founded on providing quality academics with a focus on literacy in all public schools.
Thank you for your time and commitment to the children of New Hampshire.
Ann Marie Banfield
Advocate for parental rights and academic excellence in New Hampshire
North Hampton, NH
