Board starts grappling with Common Core

SANDPOINT — With a new school year months away, the board is preparing for the adoption of new state standards.

  Trustees took a look at some of the biggest changes coming toward the district Tuesday, including the adoption of Common Core State Standards. According to Superintendent Shawn Woodward, the new standards represent a major escalation in expectations of local students.

The reaction to Common Core State Standards from officials in other states has created some confusion in the district, Woodward said. Educators in some states believe that Common Core is actually less rigorous than their existing standards. However, Woodward said experts have established fairly conclusively that Common Core outperforms Idaho’s established standards. He cited a study by the Fordham Foundation, which initially gave Idaho standards an F grade until the state instituted changes that boosted it to a C.

For comparison, the study ranks Common Core State Standards at a B-plus.

In response to some local concerns, Woodward emphasized that the new standards do not dictate the curriculum — those decisions are still made on a local level by the school board. Instead, the standards merely set the bar for acceptable student achievement.

However, he cautioned that the were quite a bit more rigorous, and helping students transition to the changes would take some work.

“(These standards) are actually asking us to do radically different things than we’re doing right now,” he said.

Anticipating the coming school year’s challenges, Woodward put together a list of four primary goals to work toward. The first is improved coaching, feedback, support and evaluation for teachers throughout the district. Second is completing the transition to Common Core State Standards. Identifying key practices that work on a general basis in every classroom and implementing them gradually is the third goal.

Finally, Woodward wants to see students start thinking about post-secondary education or training earlier and more seriously. The final goal is especially key in light of statistics that indicate 70 percent of jobs in 2018 will require some kind of post-high school training, Woodward said.

The meeting also served as the ceremonial reconstituting of the board following elections earlier this year. Incumbents Joan Fish, Zone 3, and Steve Youngdahl, Zone 5, were sworn in to new terms.  Barbara Oler, Zone 2, began her first term as a trustee, taking over the seat previously occupied by Vickie Pfeifer. The board members swore their oath of service and nominated their officers, with Youngdahl returning to his position as chairperson and Fish taking on the role of vice chairperson.