In a recent talk for education journalists, William Schmidt, a researcher and education professor at Michigan State University, in East Lansing, laid out what he sees as the four major problems with how the Common Core State Standards for math are being implemented in schools.
Schmidt鈥檚 critique, delivered this spring at the Education Writers Association鈥檚 conference in Nashville, Tenn., was not about the standards themselves, but about how they鈥檙e trickling down to classrooms. Here鈥檚 the run-down:
鈥� Instructional time is not well-allocated. Teachers are spending too much time on some topics and not enough on others. For example, Mr. Schmidt鈥檚 research shows that 3rd and 4th grade teachers are allocating about half the time on fractions that experts say the common standards necessitate.
鈥� Teacher knowledge is 鈥渘ot where it needs to be.鈥� Mr. Schmidt found that just half of middle school teachers self-reported that they are prepared to teach linear equations, 鈥渢he dominant theme in those grades.鈥� And less than 40 percent of 4th and 5th grade teachers said they鈥檙e ready to teach 鈥渘umber sets and concepts,鈥� which Schmidt said form the background for the all-important topic of fractions.
鈥� Teacher preparation is substandard. Mr. Schmidt鈥檚 research team found that, in the highest-performing teacher-preparation programs outside the U.S., there are nine math-related courses that virtually all teacher-candidates take. Yet just one-third of pre-service teachers in the U.S. take equivalent courses. At the bottom-performing U.S. preparation programs, that percentage goes down to 10, he said. U.S. teachers 鈥渟imply are not getting an adequate background in mathematics to be able to teach the common core,鈥� Mr. Schmidt said.
鈥� Textbooks don鈥檛 cover the standards. In examining one popular (but unnamed) math textbook series, Mr. Schmidt found that 30 percent of the common-core standards were not being covered. Mr. Schmidt鈥檚 recent research has focused on publisher鈥檚 claims that their instructional materials are aligned with the common core, which he has called largely a 鈥渟ham.鈥�
