I will like to address the April 9th editorial from The Amboy Guardian. The main point of the article is that there is a widespread opposition from education advocates and stakeholders to the Core Curriculum Standardized Testing. The strongest opposition comes from those who believe that Standardized Testing is not an accurate measure for educational achievement, therefore, it is not fair to evaluate teachers or schools based on student’s performance on a national standardized test.

While there are political and monetary incentives to join a nationwide effort to somehow standardize the efforts in all states, I cannot imagine that all the educational, political, and business leaders of 46 states that are participating in CCST are spending years on this venture for their own benefit. We need to take into consideration that almost 50% of most states budgets is spent on education, and given the downsizing of the economy there is a corresponding pressure on establishing priorities and accountability. Also, there are concerns that U.S. students under-perform their counterparts in the developed world, which usually have a nationwide agenda for education.

I am not defending the CCST or its designers; however, we can all agree that dropout rates are increasing, while education is getting more complicated since the knowledge economy supplanted the industrial age. The problem here lies on the misconception that the teacher is the main actor in the classroom. Knowledge based education in the information age is essentially skills-based and not so much content-based. The mismatch comes from trying to evaluate a 21st century school using 20th century learning methodology.

I find it hard to believe that NJ has joined CCST standards in 2010 while still promoting a 20th century teacher-centered education. Some schools in Colorado, Hawaii, and Massachusetts, to name just a few, have established student-centered education since the late 1990’s. Harvard Graduate School of Education and MIT have announced that by 2023, most of their learning environments will be blended, which combine the benefits of traditional and online learning.

Everybody agrees that in these difficult financial circumstances that we are all facing, an effective education is one of the main components of the solutions. The problem here is why the decisions that education leaders make are not supported by teachers, principals, parents, and especially students. I guarantee you all that if opposition to CCST was instead focused towards student-centered learning, common sense would prevail. Once we help students become active learners and critical thinkers rather than passive dependents on teacher performance, they can take charge of their own learning and teachers will be able to guide instruction, differentiate learning, and help develop material that can address those Common Core Standards more effectively.

Prof. Anibal Nieves, Ed. S.

Educational Specialist