The front page of the Examiner on Aug. 25 featured an article headlined, “Are state’s tougher school standards in jeopardy?” Although the article presented arguments from both sides, the headline sent a message that Common Core standards are “tougher.” Janet Barresi, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, is fond of saying that Common Core has raised the bar for education in Oklahoma. But are Common Core education standards for math and English really tougher or more rigorous than the standards Oklahoma was using before Common Core? The evidence says no.
In 2010, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a private foundation whose mission is the renewal and reform of primary/secondary education in the United States, reviewed the standards in place for English-Language Arts (ELA) and math in every state in the nation and compared those reviews with their review of the Common Core Standards. Based on their criteria Fordham found that Common Core Standards were clearly superior to those standards in use in thirty-nine states in math and thirty-seven states in English. However Oklahoma was in neither list of states.
Regarding math standards Fordham found that, “Eleven states plus the District of Columbia have math standards in the ‘too close to call’ category, meaning that, overall they are at least as clear and rigorous as the Common Core standards.” For the English standards Fordham found “Another eleven states have ELA standards in the same league as the Common Core (or ‘too close to call’).” Oklahoma is in the group of eleven states listed by the Fordham Institute as having English and math standards at least as good as Common Core.
The summary of the Fordham review of the Oklahoma English standards states:
Oklahoma’s standards are better organized and more clearly presented than Common Core. The objectives are generally free of jargon, describe measurable expectations, and clearly illustrate the growth and progression of rigor expected through the grades. Oklahoma uses more standard-specific examples to help clarify expectations and treats literary genres and their characteristics in more detail. The Oklahoma standards also prioritize essential writing genres by grade spans, which Common Core does not. On the other hand, Oklahoma fails to include any expectations for Kindergarten, while those presented in the Common Core are generally strong. In addition, the Common Core addresses the analysis of informational text in more detail than the Oklahoma standards. Common Core also includes a list specifying the quality and complexity of student reading as well as sample student writing.
Elsewhere Fordham states:
The biggest drawback of the (Oklahoma ELA 2010) standards is their failure to delineate any expectations for Kindergarten, let alone Pre-K (though Oklahoma famously has a ‘universal’ Pre-K program attached to its public schools.)
In actuality Oklahoma had a separate Kindergarten standard that was not included in the Fordham review. So the “biggest drawback” to the Oklahoma English standard really did not exist.
By any objective measure Common Core has NOT raised the bar for education in Oklahoma.