Op-Ed: Common Core / Smarter Balanced - Opt to be Constructive

Marianne Stephens is a Shoreline parent, longtime school volunteer, tutor, and former college writing instructor.

By Marianne Deal Stephens

I set out to be Switzerland on the Common Core/ Smarter Balanced matter. From the time I attended the OSPI's presentation at the Shoreline Center in 2010, I have tried to see the positives and withhold judgment. My perspective was pretty close to what the recent Seattle Times Editorial encourages.

Then, I saw the test materials. I am no longer neutral, but neither am I outraged.

As I see it, there is a spectrum of possible reactions, with passive acceptance on one end and outright rejection at the other.

My student will take the tests, and I will continue to educate myself. My perspective will continue to develop, but right now I think that, while the Common Core itself is a decent idea, the Smarter Balanced tests have major pedagogical problems.

I predict that the controversy stirring in other parts of the country -- and boiling up in Seattle -- will surface here in Shoreline in the next few weeks as our kids take the tests. However, the last thing I want to do is incite outrage. 

First, even though people might know them by now, some definitions.

The Common Core State Standards were brought about by a group of states wanting to provide commonality among the 50 states' educational standards. 

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) refers to the testing system that Washington State adopted. About half of the states that have adopted Common Core use Smarter Balanced (see SBAC Member States), and about half use the PARCC assessment, Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. 

And, some clarifications about my perspective. 

The Shoreline School District and our teachers are not to blame. 

Local educators are administering a set of standards and an assessment system that have been passed to them. Their task -- local delivery of education -- is infinitely more complex than delivering a physical product.

Teachers I know care so much about their students' success that they have done extensive research of the Common Core Standards, taken the SBAC practice tests, altered their approach, and lost plenty of sleep worrying on their students' behalf.

Teachers are in a difficult place: with student outcomes dependent on the tests, teachers will to what they can to help students succeed even though many would privately express professional dissatisfaction with the tests. 

Opting out may not be the best reaction.

While I share parents' concerns about testing and see problems with the Smarter Balanced tests, I am not convinced that opting out is the best way to protest. Much of the current angst over testing centers on the opting out issue rather than the merits or demerits of the tests.

Let's test the test. If all of our kids take the tests and the tests are a complete flop, then we have useful data and can possibly throw the darn things out. If large numbers of families opt out, test results will be piecemeal, and any problems may be attributed to insufficient data. 

Any criticism we parents have of the Smarter Balanced tests -- and I anticipate that we will have plenty -- will be more credible if we have experience with the tests.

The next few weeks will be a big experiment in our school district. Let's support our students and our teachers since they are playing difficult central roles in this experiment. We can probably all agree on the importance of critical thinking skills in this day and age; perhaps we can demonstrate those skills ourselves in constructive discussions about the Common Core and Smarter Balanced Tests. 

In my next column, I will look at the Smarter Balanced Fourth Grade English Language Assessment. It's a doozy. 

For more information:

• Tough new exams in state test students' math, reading skills. Seattle Times 3.14.15. 
• Ready WA Common Core FAQ 
• Read the Common Core State Standards
• OSPI Hot Topic Common Core State Standards
• Widespread Misperceptions about the Common Core Standards Washington Post 2.20.15 
• Why I once liked Common Core but changed my mind--one principal's view (The first of a series of letters between two principals with different views on the Core.) Washington Post 1.6.15
• Revolt against high-stakes standardized testing growing--and so does its impact. Washington Post 3.19.15.