TN Student Addresses School Board on Common Core

Farragut High School senior Ethan Young received a standing ovation after addressing the Knox County School Board on November 6, 2013.  He said the Common Core State Standards are causing the school district to wrongfully and narrowly focus on test score data instead of the more vital impact teachers have on students and a broader assessment of the actual learning taking place which cannot be reduced to a score or a standard.

A long line of teachers also addressed the Board for two hours.  Important note, teachers are generally supportive of opportunities to improve their craft through professional development and more frequent evaluations.  However, they are opposed to standardized test scores driving their professional fate,  teaching to a national curriculum rather than to the particular group of students in their charge and to terminating teachers based on a new evaluation system before the teachers have been properly trained on the new expectations and have sufficient time to adjust their practice accordingly.  See article here.