The standards are a common-sense approach

By Sherry L. Copeland

Last week the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education scheduled statewide forums to explain Common Core State Standards. Top-notch educators from the southeast region served as table facilitators and reporters. These educators, experts in the fields of curriculum and instruction, have worked countless hours in research, alignment and adoption of new curricula aligned to CCSS.

My passion, and those of my colleagues, is to do what is right for students and to provide them with the best educational opportunities possible. We do this after careful thought and planning. We have been researching and planning for the transition to the Common Core standards for the past three-plus years.

I feel a good common-sense approach to education to help prepare our students for a global society is being undermined by conspiracy theorists, anti-public school groups, political extremists and otherwise uninformed groups.

My calming factor was reading an article by conservative radio host Phil Valentine titled Common Core -- Good or Evil. (http://philvalentineblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/common-core-good-or-evil.html) His thoughtful analysis of Common Core takes the emotion out of a very emotional topic. Valentine explained Common Core as follows: "Common Core appears to be what the name implies; a common core of knowledge that the states can agree on to prepare students for college, if the student so chooses, or for a career after high school. How the schools impart that knowledge is largely left to them and the curriculum and materials are left exclusively to them."

No one is telling us what curriculum to adopt or what textbooks to buy, if any.

The transition to Common Core alignment has not been a waste of time. There has been no cost to this move for Cape Public Schools and no extraneous policy motivations. Simply put: It's what is best for children.

Dr. Sherry L. Copeland is the assistant superintendent for the Cape Girardeau Public Schools.