Brookfield/Elm Grove Monthly
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/202308
NOVEMBER 2013 Page 8A/Freeman Brookfield & Elm Grove NEWSMAKER Q&A: State Sen. Paul Farrow Inside the Common Core By Arthur Thomas Freeman Staff WAUKESHA – State Sen. Paul Farrow, RPewaukee, was tasked in October with heading up the Senate's Special Select Committee on Common Core Standards. The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers developed the standards and 46 states have adopted them. President Barack Obama and his administration have also gotten behind them. Wisconsin adopted the standards in 2010. Proponents of the standards argue they are more rigorous and will prepare students to compete globally Critics argue . they will destroy local control of education and question how Wisconsin came to adopt them. Farrow's committee and its Assembly took hours of public testimony during a public hearing Oct. 3 in Madison. Three more hearings are scheduled around the state. Farrow sat down with The Freeman to discuss his thoughts on the hearing and the Common Core. THE FREEMAN: What did you take away from the first hearing your select committee held on the Common Core standards? STATE SEN. PAUL FARROW: I think what we got in the first hearing is there's still some questions as to the process. People understand now, a little bit more, that (state Superintendent Tony Evers) did have, as part of his charge, the ability to enter into an agreement on the Common Core standards and adopt those. They're still kind of upset that there wasn't as much public input as they felt there should have been in the previous times we've adopted new standards. I think that's one of the things that we're looking at is by statute there is no requirement that the Department of Public Instruction has to review their standards in a certain period of time. I think that's one of the things that we saw coming, though. FREEMAN: There were a lot of concerns raised during the hearing. What are some of the ones that came out that the state should address and which ones seem like they aren't really an issue? FARROW: I think, going back to it, is the process, trying to get a little more transparency in how the criteria, the standards are going to be done. I think that's the key . People want to make sure that they have some positive input. I think one of the things we're hearing is a lot of the school districts, especially in the Waukesha County area, are looking to surpass what the standards are. They look at them as a base point and are setting up their curriculum to be far superior for what they're teaching the kids. So I think that's a positive outlook that we're looking at. I would say a couple of things we're see- I think one of the things we're hearing is a lot of the school districts, especially in the Waukesha County area, are looking to surpass what the standards are. ing is there's still a lot of information that's out there, especially with people going on the Internet to see what's true, what's not true. And we're hearing some rumors, some innuendo, that this is going to have to be taught as part of the standards, but it's actually part of a curriculum. I think that's what we're still trying to get people to flush through is to see that there is going to be these two areas that we've got to look at. The standards are separate from the curriculum. FREEMAN: There were a number of districts that spoke and talked about how the Common Core is helping them. What supporting testimony stuck out in your mind? FARROW: I think it was the districts themselves. They realize, in talking with the districts on a number of occasions, they look at the Common Core standards as just what that is, a set of standards. They are allowed, the way our law in Wisconsin is, to set their own curriculum. Now, they have to set up the kids so they're successful on the testing. The WKCE (Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations) we have currently will end this year and the Smarter Balanced consortium test will start next year. So they do have to make sure that they are covering the knowledge that the kids will have to have to be successful on those tests, but it gives them the freedom to really push the limits and challenge the kids. I think one of the things we're seeing is they're getting ready to challenge them, they're giving the kids the opportunity of success. I hope we can continue that. That's one of the concerns that I have. As I look at the standards at the different levels, they're going to problem solving, critical thinking, at an earlier age. I do have some questions. Are the kids really prepared to start doing critical thinking in second, third, fourth grade? How are they setting up, especially in math? One of the questions we heard was we're asking them how are they solving the problem. They may not get the answer right, but if we can start searching as to how they're solving the problem, we might be able to help them with how they can get to the solution. FREEMAN: When many public school leaders have expressed a lot of support for the standards and gone to great lengths to implement them in a lot of districts, why are they becoming so contentious right now? FARROW: I think it's, and Superintendent Evers put it (this way) too, it's a hotbutton item. I think what's happening right now is you're seeing a lot of pushback on federal control and the federal government and how it's entering into our private lives more and more. When these were adopted, we were the first state to adopt the Common Core standards back in 2010, I've stated it before, it's one of those where they were just hot off the presses, do we really know everything that was in it, or is it more like the Affordable Care Act, where let's just pass it and then we'll find out what's in it? I think that's what is happening right now. In 2010, people were coming out of a recession, they were struggling to make ends meet and be financially successful and get out of the recession, so this wasn't as high on their block. FREEMAN: There was some talk that why hadn't more pilot testing been done, or, bits and pieces of this tried or tried as a whole. Is that realistic for (the Department of Public Instruction) to do with these standards? FARROW: I would think that it would have been difficult for a pilot test of the standards. Again, as we've pointed out, the standards are a set of criteria that we want the kids to achieve. It's the curriculum that drives to those standards. What I think is happening, and we've seen a couple of the districts in Waukesha County are doing it, they're piloting the Smarter Balanced consortium test. So they're starting to see, we've got this new mindset of how we want to do things. Is it effective? We're starting to look at the test to see. I don't know if a pilot program would have worked for the standards implementation. I think more information that was readily available to everyone as we were moving along would have been more effective. FREEMAN: Districts feel like the standards are more rigorous, they feel like they retain local control, but critics question the influence of the federal government and describe them as a one-size-fits-all approach. Which do you think is a more realistic description? FARROW: The concept of the Common Core standards was a neat idea. When you had a number of states saying 'My gosh, we are all failing as a country compared to the world, we need to get ourselves back on our feet.' The last time that standards were adopted in Wisconsin, it took a number of years to get it done. So now, they're feeling, we brought as many intelligent people about education together to solve this problem and we're figuring out best practices. A lot of time we share models of legislation from state to state with other legislators, so we look at that collaboration. But then it goes to say is what's happening in Wisconsin and Wisconsin's economy, the same thing that's happening in Louisiana, the same thing that's happening in Florida. Are our economies, our structure, similar enough that our education should be equal? I think that's where we're starting to get back to where, you know what, we have a Wisconsin way, we have a Wisconsin BRING YOUR NIGHT TO LIFE. MILWAUKEE'S BEST DINING, BARS, LIVE MUSIC AND HIGH-ENERGY GAMING ALL UNDER ONE ROOF. BRING YOUR NIGHT TO LIFE AT POTAWATOMI. PAYSBIG.COM • MILWAUKEE • 1-800-PAYSBIG • MAKE A SURE BET—KNOW YOUR LIMIT. Charles Auer/Enterprise Staff State Sen. Paul Farrow, R-Pewaukee, talks about education issues facing Wisconsin with the implementation of Common Core. Idea that was fostered in our universities. Education is local, as local of control as possible. The federal government really shouldn't have any control or say in what we're doing and that's the other half of it. If we use these standards for financing on the Race to the Top legislation or waivers from No Child Left Behind, then there could be influence from the federal government as to how far you can adjust, what can you do and they're telling us what we need to do. That's not how it should work. We should set up our standards, we should set up our curriculums, so that we make sure kids in Wisconsin are going to be successful as they go through the K-12 system. FREEMAN: If you could make three changes to the Common Core, to the standards themselves, what would they be? FARROW: Still looking at it. That's one of the things we've got three more hearings to go through to find. One of the things I do see is probably more flexibility There is a certain rigor, . again because of the federal money and the federal standard that is there for the waivers, we can only adjust the Common Core standards by 15 percent. Well, what is 15 percent of documents that are ... about 350-400 pages, it's a lot. It's one of those where what is 15 percent. The other issue that I have is as we see the Smarter Balanced test come out, are we teaching effectively? Is it working? What are we doing? Are the kids learning? And that flexibility has to be in there. I think the other side of it is the accountability Is DPI doing its best as the regulato. ry commission for education to ensure that if there are adjustments that need to be done, we can fulfill them moving forward?