National PTA and Scholastic Develop Parent Support Resource

SEPTEMBER 10, 2016

National PTA and Scholastic Develop Parent Support Resource Learning Heroes, in conjunction with The National Parent Teacher Association and Scholastic, have released "The Super 5," an interactive checklist designed to help parents foster a deeper understanding of what their child is learning at school and how to best assist them at any grade level. The checklist features nearly 20 links to resources focusing on a wide arrange of communications issues, including the best ways for parents to define what "success" is for their child in the upcoming school year; how to have a highly effective parent-teacher conversation; and, detailed information on the standardized tests in each state. The checklist also features guides for parents to identify if their child is being bullied at school, and to help them better understand the social challenges that their kids face as they grow up in a highly connected and tech-savvy world.  The checklist and guidelines also contain links to learning tools that are aligned to the curricula of specific grades in each state. The learning tools, also developed and compiled by Learning Heroes, don't just focus on mathematics and English language arts; there are also dozens of resources focusing on state-specific assessments, college-readiness measurements, along with the development of social and critical-thinking skills. Studies Show Wide Support for High-Quality Education Standards According to two studies released last month, a strong majority of respondents to both surveys said they support high-quality educational standards and complementary assessments that allow results to be compared across districts and states. In PDK Research's study, Critical Issues in Public Education, nearly 90 percent of respondents said current educational standards were either appropriate or not rigorous enough. Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed also opposed allowing "opt outs" of state standardized tests. A recently released study fromEducationNext found similar results, with more than 60 percent opposing opt-out provisions, and 70 percent of respondents supporting the federal government's requirement that all students be tested in math and reading each year between grades 3-8, and at least once in high school.   In that same EducationNext study, roughly two-thirds of respondents supported a requirement to use the same standardized tests in every state, while 73 percent of those surveyed want states to use assessments whose results are comparable across state lines. In addition, EducationNext found that when the term "Common Core" isn't used, support for the concept of high-quality, consistent standards nationwide increases by more than 15 percentage points. State Teacher of the Year Pushes Back on 'Common Core Myths' Jemelleh Coes, who was honored at the 2014 Georgia Teacher of the Year, recently published an op-ed in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  that defended Common Core State Standards, saying that "high standards set kids up for success." Coes writes that the standards in English are "at once specific and flexible," noting that the standards strike a balance between delineating a set of basic concepts that every student should know in order to be prepared for the next grade, while also affording teachers the ability to individually tailor their instruction to the skillsets of the specific students they teach.   Coes says the Common Core standards allow teachers like her to embrace the work of noted authors like Emily Dickinson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, but not simply to do rote copying or basic analysis. Rather, she writes, the standards allow teachers to "help kids develop skills, like close reading, analysis, and argumentation, that will support their success no matter what college major or career they choose." The standards are designed to build off work from previous grades, no matter which school students attended in years prior, while providing teachers with data that helps them better understand which concepts need more reinforcing. "High standards in reading, writing, language, speaking and listening give kids the opportunity to acquire skills and knowledge early in life, and deepen them over the course of their time in school," Coes adds. "They provide opportunities for deeper learning and achievement than any previous set of standards."