Changing from No Child Left Behind to Common Core will benefit teachers and students, according to incoming Director of Schools Bobby Cox, who is serving on the board which will implement the new statewide system.
“We’ve always said if something would get taken off the plate we could finally get something done. Well, Common Core does this,” Cox told the School Board during its recent meeting. “Common Core takes redundancy off the plate and allows teachers to be more in-depth.”
Tennessee was among the states which were allowed to opt out of No Child Left Behind due to what was found to be nearly impossible goals set by the educational initiative.
“These goals are all attainable,” Cox said. “The threats from No Child Left Behind are removed.”
Cox admitted the No Child Left Behind system plagued educators with too many standards.
“We always said Tennessee never met a standard it didn’t like,” Cox said, saying the goals in Common Core are to reduce the gaps between groups by a certain time.
Cox pointed to an example of the new system where the math focus would be to teach addition and subtraction in grades K-2, multiplication and division in grades 3-5, and algebra in grades 6-8.
Cox pointed out a website to familiarize teachers with Common Core is being constructed and that over 20,000 teachers will be trained in the system over the summer.
“It’s an exciting time and a challenging time,” Cox concluded, saying he will be working with the Common Core board closely during its implementation.