Two articles I've recently read discuss, respectively, how teachers are unprepared for the "Common Core," and how behavior management in high school can be a problem even for seasoned teachers, taking time away from teaching and learning.
Both articles are from Education Week, and I'm including them both because these issues are connected. First, if Common Core is implemented, it will require more teacher training, and there is a lack of time and money to provide it adequately. And if teachers are still struggling with classroom management, what makes administrators think they will have time to implement Common Core on top of the regular pressures of classroom teaching? If teachers are still learning how to implement the Common Core in addition to managing behavior, the classroom will be nothing but chaos. Policy makers should, at the very least, ask teachers what they want (or provide training) before putting anything else on their already overflowing plates.
The article discusses that, as usual, it is the at-risk students, such as those with disabilities, ELLs, and low-SES students, who will be the most affected by teachers' unpreparedness with implementation of the Common Core. Am I crazy, or shouldn't we close the achievement gap first before moving on to implementing a new policy? The Common Core, therefore, will probably have the opposite effect of its intention due to teachers' uncomfortableness with its implementation.
Again, seems to be a case of policy makers trying to do too much at once. Teachers are already doing too much at once. Trying, for example, to manage their classrooms basically on their own, and disciplining when they should be teaching, through no fault of their own, as the above article suggests. It's also noteworthy that most discipline problems come from at-risk students, and these students will be even more of a disruption under the Common Core, especially if teacher training is not provided.
It seems to me that most policies that are set on the state and federal levels seem to be detrimental to both students and teachers. Where do policy makers come up with these things? Do they ask students and teachers about them? Perhaps that should be their first step.
