Harvard Study Shows Educator Support for Common Core

“I firmly believe that the Common Core State Standards provide a strong foundation for a high quality STEM education,” Revere High School math teacher Will Schwartz, also a recipient of the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Teaching Fellowship, told the Joint Committee on Education at a Public Hearing on March 7^th.

A new study from Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy Research that examined educators’ perspectives on Common Core in five states including Massachusetts found that 73% of teachers have embraced the standards.   Teaching Higher: Educators’ Perspective on Common Core Implementation also found “Teachers aren’t the only ones who have embraced the Common Core; more than two thirds of principals believe that the new standards will lead to improved student learning.”

At the Joint Education Committee hearing, teachers testified that a ballot initiative that would repeal the state’s adoption of the Common Core standards “would be a terrible move backwards for Massachusetts students and teachers alike” and “disruptive and demoralizing for educators.”

Cambridge Rindge and Latin School English teacher Ariel Maloney said, “In many ways, the Common Core has revolutionized my teaching,” and stated concern about the “instructional limbo” teachers would be left in should the standards be repealed.

In written testimony, Excel Academy teacher Krista Finke wrote, “In my five years at Excel, we have seen each new batch of 5^th graders come in more prepared to tackle complex, conceptual math problems.  We believe this is directly attributed to the Common Core.”

Superintendents also spoke against the ballot measure.  Superintendent Roy Belson from Medford said the common core standards are an “important response to the new realities of our economy.”

The Harvard research shows teachers have made “large adjustments to their instruction to meet these new demands.  In fact, four out of five mathematics teachers (82%) and three out of four English teachers (72%) reported that they have changed more than half of their instructional materials in response to new standards.”    Efforts that would be wasted if the ballot measure to end the common core passes.

Click here to read MBAE Board member Joe Esposito’s testimony.