State Representative Candidates Talk About National Educational Standards on the Local Level

This is a series asking the six state representative candidates, running for the 10th Suffolk District seat, about issues like education, helping seniors citizens and how to help local businesses. The primary election is on Sept. 14. There are no other candidates besides the six in the Democratic primary.

Question: The MA Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education recently voted to replace current state educational guidelines with a national standard. Specifically, the new guidelines would call specific material be taught in English and math across the board.

Do you believe it is necessary for Boston, and specifically West Roxbury, to be brought up to a national standard or do you believe these school systems were doing just fine and should be left to their own merits?

Pamela Julian: The elementary schools in West Roxbury are some of the best in the city, but it is no secret that on the high school and middle school levels, we need to see changes. I don't believe that the Common Core national standards are the solution. To quote William Mathis, managing director of the Education and the Public Interest Center, "Without addressing both the in-school and out-of-school influences on test scores, common core standards are not likely to improve the quality and equity of America's public schools." National standards do not affect the day-to-day socioeconomic conditions that have strong ramifications on a student's ability to succeed. Instead of solving problems, national standards encourage teach-to-the-test mentalities and focus on the results rather than the learning process, which is ultimately more important.

Our schools need help, but the national standards are not the panacea that some people see them to be. There is no easy solution for the problems that plague our education system. It is going to take time, research, energy, and creativity to address this issue, because it is not only one issue. We need to help make sure our students are having their needs met at home in order to meet their needs in the classroom.

Ed Coppinger: I am proud of the fact that Massachusetts and its landmark 1993 education reform legislation has achieved significant success and has served as a model for other states as well as the federal government.

However, there is always room for improvement, especially when Boston has a persistent high school dropout crisis and our students with language barriers and special needs continue to struggle to access quality instruction.  I understand and even share the concerns that the Common Core standards are not as rigorous as Massachusetts current standards and that the state's adoption of these federal standards could potentially undermine the progress the state has made over the last 17 years.

That is why when the State Legislature debates education reform in the new session, I will be a strong voice for maintaining - and even raising - the academic rigor or our schools. As State Representative of a district that is home to many school-aged children, I will pursue every opportunity to ensure that the $250 million the state has been awarded by the Obama Administration will be spent in the classroom, and not on some new inefficient government entity.

Kelly Tynan: While I fully support having National Standards, we need to ensure that the highest of standards remain as Massachusetts adapts the Common Core State Standards to fit the needs of our students. Stakeholders need to come together so that local curricula are fully aligned with the standards that are in the best interest for all our students in Boston and throughout the Commonwealth. Objectives and assessment tools to measure whether a student mastered the objective are the bread and butter of a lesson plan.

As a fourth-grade teacher in Boston, I commonly refer to the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks when creating lesson plans. I keep both a digital copy on my laptop and hard copy in my classroom to assist with my short- and long-term planning, as well as common planning with peers. Common Core standards must be adapted carefully so that the objective of high quality standards is met. Additionally, professional development sessions must be offered to ensure all teaching professionals are ready to implement the new standards by 2012.

Massachusetts has always been a leader nationally in education. Students across our great nation deserve great National Standards – it is about time! However, we must ensure that all stakeholders, including administrators, teachers, students and parents have a voice so that Common Core State Standards are enacted to the benefit of Massachusetts' students, not at their expense.

Bob Joyce: I do not believe it was wise for Massachusetts to yield sovereignty in education for the sake of an amount of federal money which sounds large but is really just a small fraction of our overall education budget. Massachusetts will receive $250 million from the federal government, over a four-year period, as a result of the decision to adopt national standards. However, we spend approximately $9 billion of state and local funds per year on K-12 education. The "new money" is small, and its costs are large.

Since the 1993 Massachusetts educational reform, we have spent $90 billion – that's "billion" – to improve education for our youth. Thankfully, it has worked. Despite some underperforming areas, our Commonwealth's students are performing remarkably better than those in other states. The common sense expression, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" comes to mind. Why should we tamper with success, especially when we have to surrender important aspects of control to do so?

Another common sense expression comes to mind, "If you have a complex answer to a problem, you still have a problem." A lot of adjusting will be necessary to accommodate the new standards, and much of the "new money" will be eaten up with transitional costs (teacher training, new textbooks, adjusting to new standards, etc.). Without a reliable prognosis of success for the change, I support sticking with a proven program and not taking unnecessary risks.

Matt Benedetti: I certainly think teachers have a very difficult job, their role is very different than before. They're much more an active part of student's lives. They often have to teach to the MCAS tests, but certain kids will have strong areas or weaker areas so it's hard to fine tune the stronger areas. You don't want to be in a position to teach for the tests, you should be able to teach what's good for the students and teachers. I don't know if you need a hard and fast rule. Teaching to the test is not the most successful way. Having standards is good, but not as rigid requirements.

Paul Sullivan: I'm not a firm believer in MCAS being the be all end all of being a future success. I do support the guidelines in hoping to bring Massachusetts up to par in math and English. As a brother of a teacher and other family members in the BPS system, we talk about how teaching to the MCAS is somewhat detrimental to our kids, if we can streamline a little bit, I'm on board with those types of standards.