William H. Waxman: Common Core - A total bore for some students

California is about to implement the so-called Common Core standards, which by definition are standards that describe what students should know and be able to do in each subject in each grade. Before moving ahead in their studies of English and math, students should be able to demonstrate mastery of these standards.

The assumption is that standard mastery will be demonstrated in the classroom, where mastery equates to a grade that allows a student to matriculate from grade to grade and school to school. Demonstrating mastery for a grade has, for the student, some semblance of consequence, since failure to demonstrate standard mastery might result in repeating a class.

In most school districts, there is no remedy for this, other than having the student repeat the same subject, sometimes with the same teacher, with curriculum delivered in the same manner that contributed to the student's failure in the first place.

But even assuming that the student does demonstrate mastery in the classroom, there is little reason to assume students will care enough to demonstrate mastery on standardized tests that measure whether or not the school, the district, and the state are moving students forward.

There is absolutely nothing at stake for the student in taking these tests. Passing a standardized test is not linked to the attainment of a diploma or to college entrance. What we are left with is a yearly gamble that may, or may not, accurately reflect how good a job a school, district or state is doing in delivering the Common Core or any set of adopted standards.

Across the state, schools have no prescribed systemic way to equate standard mastery to grades. How many mastered standards equal an "A" grade? If the standards are the measure and means of what students should know and be able to do in each subject in each grade, then why have grades at all?

Why shouldn't students, having demonstrated mastery for a standard, not be able to move on immediately to the next standard until they have completed mastery in a specific subject area?

The implementation of the Common Core necessitates a revamping of the way curriculum is delivered, the rate at which it is delivered, the support available for students who need assistance with content and the ability for students to accelerate their own progress.

Changing the definition of student success to a truly standards-based system would take a willingness to invest in immense change, something that the institution of education has traditionally refused to embrace. The promotion of a student from one grade to another would be dependent upon standard mastery, not on completing a grade level based solely on the traditional school calendar of 180 days.

Athletics, where participation is predicated on letter-grade achievement, would have to completely change its definitions of who gets to play and who does not.

Colleges would have to completely change their criterion for college admission. This would call for colleges to link their freshman curriculum with that of the state curriculum, something colleges have been notoriously loath to do.

Alfie Kohn, a leading figure in progressive education, states: "Standardized tests tend to measure the temporary acquisition of facts and skills, including the skill of test-taking itself, more than genuine understanding."

If Kohn is correct, then the only winners in the Common Core movement are the companies that produce the tests, eager to profit by selling test-prep materials and services.

The most tragic assumption in the standards movement is that all students will be able to master the concepts without regard to their maturational intellectual level. If children do not learn to crawl, talk or walk at the same age, how can we delude ourselves that all children will master the Common Core at a specific age level?

This is not to say that students won't or can't master the standards, but merely that learning readiness cannot be arbitrarily forced.

For students, the Common Core will become a total bore, unless they are fortunate enough to find themselves at the intersection of where teaching excellence meets content that resonates with real-world application.

The educational think tanks responsible for standards and standardized testing would do well to remember this admonishment from Albert Einstein: "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid."