Common Core Tougher for Parents: School Official

San Diego schools have been in the process of implementing the Common Core standards for a couple years now, and many parents are still finding it difficult to adjust to the new standards.

Music Watson from the County’s Office of Education says Common Core is here to stay, so parents should get used to it.

“What Common Core is, is higher expectations for kids. You really can’t argue with kids wanting to come out of school not just knowing two plus two is four, but understanding the concept behind how to get there.”

But some parents find it frustrating, saying homework takes too long, particularly in math.

They’re especially disgruntled because recently released Common Core-aligned test scores were lower than parents are used to seeing.

Less than half of all California students passed new math and English tests aligned with the Common Core standards, according to results released in September. In San Diego County, the majority of students (51 percent) met or exceeded the language-arts assessment buy only 40 percent of students met or exceeded the mathematics standards.

Music Watson argues, the new standards are much more rigorous, asking kids to do much harder work. “It’s a new assessment, we’re teaching completely different things, you can’t compare them to the old tests,” she says.

Watson says parents may be having a harder time shifting to Common Core standards, than their children.

“If you look at social media you’d think that the world is coming to an end because of Common Core. But kids are really excited about it and appreciate it,” she says.

The County has a variety of resources on their website designed specifically to help parents struggling with Common Core, to get some answers. The website has links from different resources at the State Department of Education, the PTA, and San Diego County. There are also videos in Spanish.

Watson says the most important tool for success however, is access to your child’s teacher and school.

“We all want to see students succeed. The real key is making sure that parents are involved and have the opportunity to ask questions and figure out how to meet their individual student’s needs,” she says.
 

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