Common Core: Is it Good or Bad?

Must read for the parents of all school age children

 

I received an article, excerpts of which appear below in my condensation of the article, from Oak Norton of Utah County, who heads the movement to restore Utah’s educational integrity. Common Core, a movement sweeping the states, has backers and detractors galore.

 

Read below as Dr Gary Thompson, Doctor of Clinical Psychology, share his concerns over unproven, invasive testing in the schools, the worrisome use of test results, and the privacy issues surrounding them.

 

In an ever-increasing regulatory state where freedoms are rapidly vanishing, the results of these tests could be used to the detriment of families, parents and children in a wide variety of situations: economic, occupational, educational, political, and social.

Common Core: A Mental Health Professional & Parent’s Perspective

Dr. Gary Thompson

Director of Clinical Training & Community Advocacy Services

Early Life Child Psychology & Education Center, Inc.

 

I am writing to address issues concerning the Common Core State Standards Act (CCSS) that is currently in the process of being implemented in the vast majority of our public school systems in the country.

 

By way of background, I’m an African American Doctor of Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.) currently serving as Director of Clinical Training & Community Advocacy at a private child psychology clinic in South Jordan, Utah. I completed undergraduate education at both the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. In addition to my personal experiences involving my four children in public schools, I have completed multiple thousands of hours in training/therapy/assessment/legal advocacy work with children in both the private and public school settings in multiple western states. I am also the author of a award winning doctoral project/dissertation which tackled the ago old problem of why many African American school aged children underperform in public schools titled, “Cracking the Da Vince Code of Cognitive Assessment of African American School Aged Children: A Guide for Parents, Clinicians & Educators” (Thompson, G. 2008).

 

I have an ethical obligation to our community at large to provide unbiased opinions regarding issues that affect education experiences I have devoted many hours reading commentaries and studies, both pro and con, regarding the overall efficacy of Common Core standards.

 

In a nutshell, the (mostly) progressive public education community speaks highly of Common Core standards; the (mostly) conservative opponents of Common Core claim that involvement in public school education should be primarily a local/statewide process, and that federal intrusion into public school education is not effective. Both sides cite multiple sources of research claiming their point.

 

There are many issues raising alarm about Common Core: the curriculum, its implementation, federal financing and involvement, the political ramifications, ect., which I cannot address. I am, however, an expert in psychological and educational assessment/testing, as well as privacy issues surrounding the use of these tests. My comments will focus on these two issues as they are addressed by Common Core.

 

Educational Testing

 

According to the U.S. Department of Education, CCSS will authorize the use of testing instruments that will measure the “attributes, dispositions, social skills, attitudes and intra personal resources” of public school students. In a nutshell, CCSS simply states that it will develop highly effective assessments that measures….well….almost ”everything.”

 

Our clinic performs these comprehensive tests, which measure “attributes”, “dispositions”, “social skills”, “attitudes” and “intra personal resources”, as well as state of the art neuro-cogitive tests that measure the informational process functioning of children in school. The level of information provided about a particular child is both highly sensitive and extremely personal in nature. They are also extremely accurate. In a private clinic such as ours, we follow strict guidelines regarding patient privacy. If a client’s records get into the hands of anyone besides the parents without their written consent, or a court order, our clinic would be shut down and the clinicians who released unauthorized information would lose their licenses or be immediately dismissed from graduate schools or internships or residencies.

 

The accuracy of psychological testing has grown in the past 10 years to astonishing levels. The same tests used in our clinic for assessments, are used in part by federal law enforcement agencies, the military, local police departments, and the Central Intelligence Agency. (These agencies are also interested in finding out about alleged terrorists, serial killers, or airline pilots “attributes, dispositions, social skills, attitudes and intra personal resources”). When placed in the “right” hands of trained mental health professionals, psychological testing can save lives. Placed in the “wrong” hands, psychological testing can ruin lives or cause psychological trauma to people if they have knowledge that their results were used for nefarious purposes.

 

There are many issues regarding “testing” policies that have not been addressed by Common Core.:

 

What types of tests will be used on our children?

Who is developing these tests?

Will the tests be subjected to the rigorous peer review process so necessary for testing instruments used in the private sector? Will parents be able to review the tests?

Who will administer or interpret these tests? They must be done by experienced, trained professionals.

Will the tests take into account cultural differences in ethnic groups?

Who will have access to records obtained by this national/state database?

For what exact purpose will this sensitive data be utilized?

Why is identifiable information (race, age, gender and geographic location) accessible for test results?

Why were changes made to exempt educational privacy rights?

Common Core DOES address the privacy issue and it is the subject of the next section.

 

Privacy

 

I mentioned above that our private clinic is subjected to multiple federal, state, and professional association regulations when it comes to protecting and releasing mental health records. Records do not leave our clinic unless the guardians of the children instruct us, or a District Court judge orders the release of the records. In some cases, we are even ethically obligated to fight court orders that request private mental health records.

 

Common Core State Standards radically changes this game.

 

Prior to CCSS, public school districts were required to adhere to the same rules and regulations regarding private records as our clinic: how and where to store records and who to release them to. Educational testing records are highly sensitive and it makes sense to protect these sensitive records.

 

Buried in all of the fine print of the CCSS is a provision that allows participating school districts to ignore previous government privacy protections. The newly revised laws grant school districts and states privacy waivers. This “information” may be distributed to “organizations conducting studies for, or on behalf of, educational agencies or institutions to develop, validate, or administer predictive testing.” (CCSS (6)(i).

 

In summary CCSS allows the following by law:

1. Grants school districts a waiver from deleting identifying information on their records.
2. Allows school districts to give these identifiable records to anyone who they deem to have a viable interest.
3. Ignores ethical procedures, guidelines, or institutional controls.
4. There is no provision for written parental consent.

 

I spent two hours pouring over this Act to see if there were any further guidelines to Federal or State officials on privacy issues. None could be found.

 

Proponents state that our children’s data will be private and protected. Because CCSS does not specify who can have access to their records, or for what specific purposes this sensitive data will be utilized there are no guarantees. The CCSS contains abundant, generalized, non-binding “legal speak”.

 

Conclusion

 

I would implore every Governor, state Superintendent, and state School Board member in the country to honestly and openly explore the issues cited above and provide accurate answers to these issues to the public in “plain speak”.

 

Given the gravity of these issues, I cannot professionally endorse the Common Core State Standards as currently written until pointed clarification is provided by politicians and educators from both parties endorsing CCSS. Nor in good conscience can I enroll my toddler in a public school system that utilizes CCSS until these issues are clarified to my satisfaction.

 

These issues should be of concern to every parent with a child enrolled in public school. The power granted federal and state education administrators via the regulations of CCSS are unprecedented in nature. Parents deserve to be clearly informed about these and other issues surrounding CCSS in a clear and straightforward manner so that they can make educated choices regarding their children’s educations.

 

On a final note, I wish to publically show my support to the underpaid and overworked public school teachers nationwide. If I had the power, I would elevate their status to that of a medical doctor in terms of pay and prestige. What they do with the limited resources available, and with the burden of bureaucracy following their every professional move is simply nothing short of amazing.

 

There are answers to most of the perplexing questions facing public school officials. I believe these answers can be readily found in multiple peer-reviewed journals in neuropsychology, clinical psychology, education and public policy. Answers can also be found by mining the experiences, wants and needs of our hardworking public school teachers on the local and statewide ground level, as well as local parenting organization of various stripes. Once science and cultural based solution are found and implemented, I believe even cynical conservative lawmakers nationwide would be more willing to pony up additional tax payer money when presented with imaginative, science based educational models in public school systems. On the other hand, simply adding billions of dollars towards a 150-year old foundational system of education in crisis without implementing massive changes is irresponsible, unimaginative, and most likely politically and monetarily motivated.

When politics and money are taken out of the public school education policy arena and replaced with common sense and culturally sensitive science, mixed in with local value systems, I believe we, as a nation will make great strides in the goal of educating our children.

 

Until that time comes, it is my wish that regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation and political affiliations, our country will join together at the grass roots to amicably reach “common core” grounds of restoring our once proud public education system.

 

Best regards,

Dr. Gary Thompson

Director of Clinical Training & Community Advocacy Services

Early Life Child Psychology & Education Center, Inc.

www.earlylifepsych.com

 

Dr Thompson can be reached for comment at drgary@earlylifepsych.com