We are all about Common Core these days. We are learning, training, exploring, exchanging ideas and finding resources for the program’s implementation.
I applaud the foundational principal behind the adoption of Common Core. The governors of our nation recognized the need for a consistency in education that would allow anyone, especially transitioning families, to feel confident that their children would receive the same quality education in Montana that they would in Florida, or any other state. We all know that our population is not static and that many people face transfers and relocations every year.
Yesterday someone made a comment about the inevitable adoption of a state “pacing calendar”. For those of you who may be outside of education, a pacing calendar is a timeline for teaching the adopted curriculum standards.
That is where I may have to draw a line.
If we adopt a state pacing calendar then wouldn’t it have to match all the other states in order to be really, really fair to those students who move around?
And wouldn’t our students have to learn at the same pace as all the other students in the state so they don’t fall behind?
And wouldn’t that pacing have to match the skills of the middle group so as not the rush the slower students or bore the gifted too much?
And if we teach the same things during the same week, then wouldn’t a natural progression be to teach the same daily schedule as well? We could all have the same lunch hour and the same recess and the same…
Doesn’t that sound a bit like a “fast food education”?
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