Common Core Not That Common

I decided to interview my daughters English high school teacher. Mrs. Jessica Guidry teaches at Westgate High School in New Iberia, LA. Staff, students, and parents think highly of her and value her point of view. I asked her, “What is Common Core and have you received the proper training on Common Core to teach your students? She replied, “Common core is a set of standards that were created to "even the playing field" for all students. The standards should prepare student for college or career after high school. Proper training- no, teachers were thrown into it.” Mrs. Guidry’s second statement shocked me. How can teachers not receive the proper training to apply this new system to our children. She honestly in theory likes the standards and believes that there is nothing wrong with rigor and high expectations. However, Mrs. Guidry also believes that the disadvantage to the standards is it focuses on complex text at grade level and not every student is reading at the appropriate grade level. I also wanted to know what she thought on the standards tests. Mrs. Guidry does not believe in them. She thinks the standards are fairly new and the expectations for most students are unrealistic. Common Core was first integrated in Kindergarten four years ago and now those students are currently in the 3rd grade. By the time those students get into middle and high school Mrs. Guidry imagines those students will be able to meet and exceed those standards, but not now. I asked her, “What or how do you think, the government can do to help teachers and students to better education? Her finally reply was, “I think government needs to leave education to those qualified to make decisions. Govt. is wasting students time with the common core standards. It has sucked all the "fun" and creativity out of education.” This makes me so disappointed in our government for I still have fond memories of my education.

Works Cited
Guidry, Jessica. “Common Core Standards.” E-mail interview. 12 Oct. 2015.