Why Teachers Need to Take Ownership of Implementing the Common Core

How schools will go about implementing Common Core Standards is a huge topic within education  today.  Stephanie Hirsh has written an impassioned discussion of what will be required of our school communities in order to move forward.  It made me stop and think.

Teacher leaders will be critical to the successful implementation of Common Core Standards (CCS). Sounds like a no-brainer, but teacher leaders are most often the missing piece of education reform. Effective teamwork and sustainable implementation of such a large change depends on teachers leading the effort forward and co-designing professional development. 

I've been lucky to work with an amazing set of 22 NBCTs from North Carolina and Kentucky that who have spent the last six months piloting curriculum tools developed by the Math Design Collaborative (MDC) and the Literacy Design Collaboartive (LDC) at the Center for Teaching Quality.  It makes so much sense to capitalize on all the knowledge these teachers have gained from their working with the MDC and the LDC in a real classroom situation.

Alignment between states, districts, and teachers depends on teacher leaders. Even the Department of Education blog acknowledges that this implementation needs to be different: “Neither students nor teachers are served by a structure that treats some teachers like interchangeable cogs in a machine. We long to lead our own profession because when we drive our craft, we will see huge shifts in the responsibility, leadership, pay and respect.” 

As states begin to blend CCS with their own standards, district administration may be ready to move ahead without teacher input. They realize teachers have no choice in whether to implement. But the choice isn’t to implement or not to implement; the choice is in how to implement.  With a strong base of teacher leaders in place and leading the effort, other teachers will find inspiration and success.

Time and again, top-down implementation stalls as teachers fail to hear workable plans that reflect the realities of their classrooms. One must only look as far as the top-down force-feeding of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to see how negative side effects may outweigh any benefits. Ask any teacher how she felt about the implementation of NCLB and you’re likely to get an earful about how things could and should have been done better.  

With the implementation of CSS, educators and administrators have a chance to find a better model for rolling out widespread change. According to the MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, more than 90 percent of teachers believe that other teachers contribute to their success.Teacher leaders can help build a climate that draws on their colleagues’ expertise and wisdom to improve the CSS implementation. Teacher-designed and teacher-defined professional development is the other critical element in aligning CCS.  

Critical to a successful launch of CSS in schools is establishing credibility for that change.  Teachers are often wary of anything they had no part in creating. This attitude is even more pronounced toward CSS, since the standards come from a political movement started by governors to “fix” education.
 
There is no force that is more adaptable, nimble, or capable of calling to action every one of the 3.2 million classroom teachers than genuine teacher leaders. These are leaders who work in classrooms every day. They have lived through NCLB and can apply the best and worst of that initiative. They have the respect of their peers, and can therefore call into action the legions of teachers who simply want to make tomorrow better for their 49.4 million students.

Image licensed under CC with attribution http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/625205010/sizes/m/in/photostream/

 

Comments

[Anne Jolly]

You got it right, Marsha! In my corner of the world, not only will teacher leaders be critical to the common core implementation, they will be the MOST critical factor.

Teacher leaders have a variety of knowledge and skills http://www.teacherleaderstandards.org/the_standards_domain_3. They are generally the school "speedboats" and are the first to sign onto initiatives that they think will make life and learning better for their students.

I, for one, agree that the common core will make learning more powerful for the students in my state, and I welcome the idea of teacher leaders playing a leading role in this statewide, district wide, and in their respective schools.

[Anne Jolly]

Wow - I lOVE the picture you used, Marsha! That says it all. You speak with a clear and commanding voice (virtually speaking) for the common core.

I am concerned in our area about the credibility for change that you addressed. Teachers haven't been involved in any of the changes, and at this point I doubt if they even know the rationale. This is an old, old story. Teachers often are not the creators and builders. Their job is to take things that are built by others and try to readjust them on the fly so that they can implement them in their classrooms. I hope we can collectively figure out how to help teachers with buy-in and implementation from a virtual platform.