Ask Roxann - "Can Lakewood Take On The State Of Ohio?"

LO: If the state of Ohio requires something from our school district, like using the CORE, or like trying to meet the State Report Card requirements, even the ones that seem absurd, like asking students who are already getting the equivalent of an A+ to do better each year or risk getting an F in the Value Added category, does Lakewood HAVE TO COMPLY? We have heard of other Districts, and other school systems who have rejected following the CORE. The State Report Cards seem not well thought-out, confusing, and unfair. The requirements are so new that it's clear that the schools are guinea pigs having these new formulas tested out on them.

Do we have to follow these guidelines or is there a way to appeal to our representatives on the State School Board and let them know that we find these things harmful to a good and reasonable education? We know that we can act independently, or as a group, as parents, the corollary to the "Do we have to comply?" question is, "Can Lakewood, as a District, appeal some of these requirements, rather than blindly accepting and following them, even if they know that some of them make very little sense?"

RR:

Common Core State Standards: Not the Enemy 

A short time ago, I wrote about homework and how Lakewood City Schools is striving to have students actively engaged in challenging, rigorous and relevant work that interests them, where they can persevere and complete the work in a meaningful way for their understanding and use in life. After extensive discussion as a school district, we have committed ourselves to this mission as part of the Common Core, as evaluated on the revised State Report Card, which includes value added. Our Lakewood City Schools Board of Education, the Superintendent and administrative team, the Department of Teaching and Learning and of course, our teaching staff have committed to fulfilling this mission. Use of the Common Core Standards and compliance with the requirements of the new State Report Card are not a choice. This is State law in Ohio. As a District, we agree with the increased expectations, so rather than fighting these changes we have chosen to embrace them.

In August of 2014, Superintendent Patterson gave testimony at the State House of Representatives regarding House Bill 597. Below are some excerpts from that testimony.

"During my forty year career, I have often reflected on education in the United States compared to the rest of the world. I know that our students in Ohio rank right up there with the very best students in the world, and yet the PISA (Program for International Assessment) results typically do not reflect this. PISA has assessed fifteen year old students every three years since 2000 in math, science and reading literacy. I believe one reason that China, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Finland typically rank higher than the United States is because of the consistent, stable and unified courses of study in these countries. Fifty fragmented sets of state curricula in our country make it difficult for us to compete on these tests internationally."

"Our Department of Teaching and Learning in Lakewood has been working on preparation for the Common Core standards and the PARRC assessments for close to four years now......The Common Core and PARRC have given us standards and assessments that we can rally around and point to for augmented expectations and student performance. Units have been developed, lessons planned, outlines plotted out and assessments created. The Common Core also allows for local control in a State where we have always taken pride in that way of doing business." (85 % of the CORE is required and 15% is able to be tweaked, allowing for national continuity with some local control.)

The Common Core and the revised State Report Card are intended to raise expectations for our students and help them be more competitive in an increasingly globally competitive and interdependent workplace, marketplace and economy. Within the report card is the indicator of "value added." Simply stated, this is a measure first developed by Dr. Bill Sanders at the University of Tennessee that looks for at least a year's growth in student achievement in a year's time. During my entire career here in Lakewood this has been a goal of both Superintendent Patterson and the Lakewood City Schools Board of Education. In recent years as a school district, our students have typically exceeded a year's growth on the report card, a statistic where we take great pride.

Rather than fight the Common Core and the State Report Card accountability system, we have embraced the changes. We believe the CORE is based on the newest educational thinking with international benchmarks. Needless repetition of material is removed and each year in school students will build upon the last year, as was always intended. Essential twenty-first century evidence-based skills are embedded in the content with an emphasis on helping students to think critically. The CORE is geared for student college- and career- readiness and to help prepare them to be citizens of the world.

Know that we, in Lakewood City Schools, take our charge of educating our community's students very seriously.  Parents send us their best, and we want to provide our very best. Parents have hopes and dreams for their children and want to give them every advantage as they venture into the world. We believe that the programs we are putting in place as a school district aligned with the Common Core and the new State Report Card fulfill the expectations of parents by more adequately preparing students to compete and be productive members of the global economy.