Will Michigan toss out Common Core?

Information and Talking Points Regarding:  Senate Bill 0826 (SB 0826)

Opposed by Leaders from Several Michigan Mathematics Education Organizations

DACTM ~ MCTM ~ M²C² ~ MI-AMTE

Leaders of several Michigan mathematics education organizations met during the week of April 24, 2016, to discuss the potential ramifications of Michigan Senate Bill 0826 (SB 0826). Many of the proposed actions from that bill are presented below as they are stated in the Senate fiscal analysis document. 

“The bill would amend the Revised School Code to do the following:

·       Terminate all plans, programs, efforts, and expenditures relating to the implementation

of Common Core standards.

·       Prohibit the State Board of Education and the Department of Education from adopting or implementing any other national or multistate consortium standard, or the use of any assessments aligned with such a standard, that would cede control of Michigan educational standards.

·       Require the State Board and the Department to adopt for all grades State academic content standards in English language arts, math, and social science, and require the standards to be substantially the same as those used in Massachusetts during the 2008 - 2009 school year.

·       Require the State Board to develop academic content standards independently, instead of as part of a multistate consortium.”

*We ask that you take action today and contact your state representative and state senator to express your thoughts and any concerns you may have regarding this proposed action. And, please share this information, your thoughts, and your concerns with colleagues in other content areas.  Ultimately, ALL content areas are likely to be affected by this bill, should it pass.

Find your Michigan senator: http://www.senate.michigan.gov/fysbyaddress.html

Find your Michigan representative: http://www.house.mi.gov/mhrpublic/

In addition, Representative Amanda Price is the Chair of the House Education Committee.  Her contact information is:

Email:  AmandaPrice@house.mi.gov       
Phone: (517) 373-0838  or   
Toll Free: (888) 238-1008
http://www.corestandards.org/other-resources/statements-of-support/


Other initiatives and programs would also be affected:  MTSS, School Improvement, educator evaluation, STEM courses and grants, K-3 early literacy efforts, and more!
Kathy Berry, President, Michigan Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MCTM)
Karen Reister, President, Michigan Mathematics Consultants and Coordinators (M²C²)
Dr. Shari Stockero, President, Michigan Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (MI-AMTE)

Key talking points you may wish to consider addressing:

1.        The high quality of our Michigan Academic Standards, including the ELA and Mathematics standards adopted in 2010 and the K-12 Science Standards adopted just this year (2016), has already been established. These standards have been supported by a number of respected professional organizations.  See a listing of many diverse organizations supporting the 2010 Michigan Academic Standards for ELA and Mathematics at:

2.       The 2010 Michigan Academic Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics are just now reaching the full-implementation stage.  Very limited data is available from state assessments from spring 2015, and the structure of the spring 2016 assessment has been altered from that 2015 version, complicating any attempts to try to draw conclusions about the standards, their implementation, and students’ performance and growth.  Change to another set of standards would be highly disruptive to teaching and learning, curriculum, and assessment.

3.       Aside from state assessment, many local schools and districts have only recently created or purchased resources designed to align to these state standards.  Across the state, this cost is likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars. These costs include software supports and tools, textbooks, revised and redesigned courses and units of study, collaborative efforts to connect Career and Technical Education with the core academic standards, teacher and administrator training, and more. The MAISA ELA and Mathematics units across K-12 are excellent examples of thousands of hours of collaborative work by hundreds of educators across Michigan. You are likely to be able to readily name several other examples of expenses – including time - your school and district have incurred to be able to best support teachers and students in learning the content in our state standard.

We thank you for considering these urgent issues.  Please know that – on past advice from state representatives and senators – direct communication with constituents via telephone or email truly does affect how these legislators think about and ultimately act upon proposed legislation.  Your voice does have power to effect change to move mathematics education forward in Michigan.  Please take just a very few minutes of your time to call or email your state legislator elected officials.

Sincerely,

Scot Acre, President, Detroit Area Council of Teachers of Mathematics (DACTM)

With support from Valerie Mills, Past-President, National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM)

Full text of SB 0826 as well as its associated fiscal analysis may be found at:

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(z2exw1ebm5eg2ziebxhaexhd))/mileg.aspx?page=getobject&objectname=2016-SB-0826

A Fact Sheet from the Michigan Department of Education regarding the 2010 ELA and Mathematics Standards:

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/FAQ_4.10.13_418299_7.pdf

Help support the Common Core in Michigan

The Michigan Council of Teachers of Mathematics asks for your support in fighting a battle forged in the Michigan Congress.  We need your voice more than ever to sound off about efforts to turn back the adoption of the Common Core in this state.  MCTM has adopted a position paper on this very issue.  We have distributed our position to Michigan policy makers with plans for a more wide range distribution.  We have continued to articulate a stance of higher standards and equity for all children in our great state. 

The Michigan House of Representatives has passed a bill that can turn back the clock for Michigan students.  Every child deserves the right to a high quality education that provides opportunities to be prepared for the world of work and to be college ready.  MCTM knows that this readiness does not begin in grade 9 but begins in kindergarten.  All K-12 educators must work together to get students ready starting in the early grades and building across to grade 12.  The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics provides rigorous standards that are coherent and well articulated across the grades. 

Standards are academic goals or targets.  They are essential so that all schools no matter how they choose to reach those targets are aiming for the same student outcomes.  Schools and districts determine the curriculum which is a plan for instruction consisting of differentiated instructional strategies and activities that best meet the needs of their diverse student population.  A curriculum is customized and is not one size fits all. 

MCTM President Irene Nordé, Ph.D.

House Bill 4276 has passed sponsored by republican Tom McMillin and is waiting for a vote that may be held as soon as Tuesday in the Senate.  We are asking for your help by writing a letter to your senator to express support for the Common Core.  There are many misconceptions that have been shared with congressmen/women including the Common Core State Standards represent a national curriculum and not a state led effort. Both are not truthful statements.  To learn more on the status in the Michigan Legislature visit the link below.

Michigan House Approves Budget Stripping Common Core Funds 

A few talking points have been provided and a link to the Michigan legislature website for contacting your State Senators below.  Please share this communication with as many supporters as possible – both MCTM members and colleagues.  Thank you in advance for your efforts and support provided on behalf of Michigan students.

Main speaking points for grassroots messages to State Senators.. to be personalized to the Senator, using any locally-relevant details:

• The language in the state budget that will prohibit the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and computer-adaptive Smarter Balanced Assessment will be detrimental to schools and students in your district and across Michigan.
• This will cause us to reverse the course we all have been on for the past three years
• It will cause Michigan to lose its flexibility waiver to the federal No Child Left Behind Act – which means that every school in Michigan will be accountable to having 100 percent of its students proficient in math and reading by next year.
• Every school in your district will not be making AYP – and will have to begin the federal No Child Left Behind sanctions, like providing our students with choice and transportation to other school districts; costly tutoring services; and possibly the entire disruption of how we run our own schools.
• It also will mean that you will be changing learning standards again for the teachers and students in your district; having the valuable teacher evaluations be based upon the old MEAP and Michigan Merit Exam; and having less federal Title I funds for the lowest-performing schools in your district.
• The Common Core State Standards are high-quality standards that your school districts have spent great time and effort over the past three years to align curricula and begin implementing.
• These Common Core standards are strongly supported by business leaders and education leaders in Michigan, including those leaders in your district.
• Please don’t drag our schools back three years, and put us further behind the other states that are going forward with the Common Core and Smarter Balanced Assessments. These already have been vetted through extensive public comment three years ago, before the State Board of Education adopted them.
• Please trust your local educators that the Common Core State Standards and Smarter Balanced Assessments are the right course our schools are on. These new standards will help the students in your district be career- and college-ready and help drive greater economic development in Michigan and in your district.
• If this detrimental provision in the budget bill is adopted, and we are prohibited from continuing the implementation of the Common Core and Smarter Balanced Assessments, you will leave your local school boards, administrators, teachers, and parents with no place to go but backwards.

To find your State Senator, scroll down to the “Related Sites” at the bottom of the webpage.

Public Policy Committee 

Michigan Council of Teachers of Mathematics