Common Core Georgia Performance Standards and Special Education

Format

Poster Presentation

First Presenter's Institution

Georgia Southern University

Second Presenter's Institution

N/A

Third Presenter's Institution

N/A

Fourth Presenter's Institution

N/A

Fifth Presenter's Institution

N/A

Location

Harborside East Center

Strand #1

Academic Achievement & School Leadership

Relevance

This presentation is relevant to Strand 1 Academic Achievement and directly links Common Core standards and its influence to how teachers work with and evaluate their students in Special Education.

Brief Program Description

The purpose of this study is to highlight how Common Core has influenced special education teachers’ efforts to meet the needs of their students, and the teachers’ perceptions of the Common Core standards. This study also explores possible benefits Common Core has for teachers and students, how the teachers have adjusted, and if there are any noticeable differences in student achievement.

Summary

The Common Core Standards has been hotly debated. Common Core Standards were released in 2010 and were developed by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. The Common Core State Standards Initiative developed these standards as a state-led effort to establish consensus in expectations for student knowledge and skills that should be developed in Grades K-12 (Porter et al., 2011). The Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) includes descriptions of the content and cognitive skills for each grade level and tests that can be used to assess if students have mastered the skills and content for the respective grade level (Boslaugh, 2015). Although CCSSI is not a national curriculum, Porter et al.(2011) points out four benefits that a national curriculum would bring are: shared expectations, focus, efficiency, and quality of assessment. According to Boslaugh (2015), the goal of Common Core Standards is to make sure that all the students in the US graduate from high school ready to succeed in higher education, a vocational education program, or immediate employment. More discussion explains whether or not Common Core Standards are an improvement to the current state standards and if they will benefit the students. The study conducted by Porter et al. (2011) found that “some state standards are much more focused and some much less focused than is the Common Core, and this is true for both subjects [mathematics and English language arts]” (p. 115). Very little details are shared on how these changes effect teachers who work with children who receive special education services and how does it influence their evaluation of student learning. I interviewed special education teachers in rural Georgia to identify concerns and changes they have made when working with their students based on common core standards.

Evidence

To many researchers, teachers, and even parents the Common Core Standards are deeply flawed. In Tinken’s article entitled “Common Core Standards: The Emperor Has No Clothes, or Evidence” he goes through in detail several ways he believes Common Core to be flawed, this includes lack of evidence, “economic realities”, “data-less decision making”, “centralized curriculum planning”, “oversimplification”, “curriculum research”, and “dead ends with questionable means” (2011, p. 58-61). Tinken also found that “of the 138 cited pieces of evidence, four could be considered empirical studies related directly to the topic of national standards and student achievement” and the rest of the evidence came from newspaper and magazine articles, book chapters, phone interviews, and tangential studies (2011, p. 59). Tinken believes that the US is too diverse for a nationally adopted standards program to effectively teach all the students, a point that many individuals may agree with (2011, p. 60). Many individuals may agree with Tinken because they realize that “one size fits all” does not work when it comes to education. Tinken also points out a study by Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1993) that found the closer the curriculum is designed, deliberated, and created near the student, the greater influence it has on learning, this supports the idea that “one size fits all” does not work for education.

Tinken, C. H. (2011). Common Core Standards: The emperor has no clothes, or evidence. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 58-62.

Wang, M. Hertel, G. Walberg, H. (1993). Toward a knowledge base for school learning. Review of Educational Research, 63, 3, 249-294.

Biographical Sketch

Megan Fromme is a senior and honor student attending Georgia Southern University. In May 2018 Megan will be complete her degree in Special Education.

Keyword Descriptors

Special Education, Common Core, Undergraduate Research

Presentation Year

2018

Start Date

3-6-2018 4:00 PM

End Date

3-6-2018 5:30 PM

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Mar 6th, 4:00 PM Mar 6th, 5:30 PM

Common Core Georgia Performance Standards and Special Education

Harborside East Center

The purpose of this study is to highlight how Common Core has influenced special education teachers’ efforts to meet the needs of their students, and the teachers’ perceptions of the Common Core standards. This study also explores possible benefits Common Core has for teachers and students, how the teachers have adjusted, and if there are any noticeable differences in student achievement.