“Race to the Top” in Education Meaningless for Missouri
As Sarah Brodsky pointed out in her post on Friday, Missouri is one of four states so far that have opted not to join the “Race to the Top” education initiative that requires conforming to a national standard. While the governor may be only postponing the decision until a new commissioner of the state’s Department of Education can be consulted, Missouri would do well to avoid participating in this program entirely.
Missouri has higher education standards than do many other states as it is; adopting national standards would simply entail an increased use of standardized tests, resulting in more wasted classroom time. Getting the program started would also require a great deal of additional funding: Texas estimates that it will cost $3 billion to implement.
Adopting a federal standard would be the first step toward relinquishing the state’s constitutionally granted control of its public education system.
Missourians already know what their students should be learning, and have thus far created a fairly rigorous set of statewide standards. And, as it is, fewer than half of Missouri’s students are meeting or exceeding the MAP standards Adopting lower national standards instead would only provide a misleading inflation of achievement metrics.
Why should Missouri surrender its authority to meeet the educational needs of its children simply in order to conform to a national standard that would provide no measurable benefit?
Missouri DOES NOT have high MATH standards.
Please review the information available at the Missouri Math Coalition’s website: http://missourimath.webs.com/index.htm
or review what Missouri’s math professor’s have to say about our math standards at: http://missourimath.org/
California and Massachusetts definitely have the best math standards in the nation. Missouri cannot even pretend to compete.
Missouri math standards have received an “F” from the Fordham Foundation: http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/Missouri.pdf
and a “D” from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
PLEASE WRITE A FOLLOW-UP POST.
Comment by Lisa Jones — June 22, 2009 @ 6:35 p.m.
I forgot to include the link for the U.S. Chamber grade of “D”
http://www.uschamber.com/assets/icw/07reportcard/state_reports/state_report_MO.pdf
Comment by Lisa Jones — June 22, 2009 @ 6:36 p.m.
Suspending the issue of whether or not Missouri education standards overall are good or bad, the real question here is whether they should be decided upon by a national organization. If you believe that the standards aren’t high enough, then the issue should be addressed with the state board that implements the standards.
A national standard doesn’t necessarily improve the state standards- it will just be different. A national standard also takes into account the needs and learning models of at least 46 other states– who is to say that would be an improvement for Missouri? It is far easier to make the appropriate changes to a state standards (that adjust for issues within the state system) than to make changes to a national one, especially since one has to collaborate with 46 (or more) other states.
Comment by Caitlin Hartsell — June 23, 2009 @ 12:57 p.m.
Check out the United STATES Coalition for World Class Math Standards
http://usworldclassmath.webs.com/
Regarding National Standards:
Mathematics education in the United States is at a pivotal moment. The participation of 46 states in the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) is based on hope that the outcome will improve mathematics and English-language education in our public schools. However, we fear that this initiative may actually make the situation worse; if the math standards that result from the Common Core Initiative are mediocre – or worse – it will reignite the math wars and create a national crisis in mathematics education. This possibility cannot be ignored.
Accordingly, the US Coalition for World Class Math worked in concert with our national affiliates to create the World Class Math Design Principles for K-12 Mathematics Standards. The Design Principles are intended to address the major deficiencies and defects that currently plague far too many of our state mathematics standards. Our Coalition will use these Principles in evaluating the work of the CCSSI; we offer them for consideration to help inform those who represent us, our children, and our public schools at this critical time.
Comment by Lisa Jones — June 23, 2009 @ 9:48 p.m.
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