Common Core Sets Tougher Benchmarks For K-12 Students

Many K-12 teachers are changing their lesson plans for the upcoming school year according to the Common Core State Standards.

A report by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (WCIJ) finds that the new set of voluntary math and English standards has educators and activists across the political spectrum crying foul.

With tests on the new benchmarks looming in 2014, many classrooms will be teaching to the standards this year. The standards are tougher than previous ones and encourage critical thinking. For example, while previously there were no math standards for kindergartners, they’re now expected to count to 100 by ones and 10s.

Emilie Amundson, a Common Core specialist with the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), says that’s a good thing. “This step is right for Wisconsin because it gives us a higher and clearer floor for our students to meet. It’s not the ceiling but it’s the floor, and it’s a higher floor.”

But others argue the new standards are not effective. Joy Pullmann is an educational policy expert with the Heartland Institute, a conservative research group. She says the standards are unproven and questionable.

“Everybody wants children to get to advanced math concepts, but the way to do that is not to ask them to be college students when they’re age six, seven and five,” says Pullmann.

All public school students in Wisconsin will be taking tests based on the Common Core, which will cost the state about $8 million more in standardized testing in 2014.

Public hearings on the curriculum will be scheduled by the DPI later this fall.

A full version of this story will be published Sunday in newspapers across the state and on the WCIJ’s website.