Member of the Board, Community Members, Parents, Teachers, My name is Steve Slates, and Ive been a teacher in District

200 since 2001. Currently, I serve as a reading specialist in two elementary buildings. Im here to express my concerns about implementation of the Common Core English Language Arts standards, which will take effect this upcoming school year. The New York Times published an article last fall entitled Whos Minding Our Schools. In it the author, Claudia Dreifus states: The anxiety that drives criticism of the Common Core comes from the fact that a radical curriculum one that has the potential to affect more than 50 million children and their parents was introduced with hardly any public discussion. Americans know more about the events in Benghazi than they do about the Common Core. Sadly, I think Ms. Dreifus is correct. Most citizens of our country have no idea what the Common Core is much less its impact on teachers, students, and families. Our legislators never saw the Core. Neither did teachers. It was never voted on in our state, at least by law makers. We as citizens concerned about our childrens futures never even could preview it until it was already being implemented across the country. For time sake, I wont go into any more detail, but do encourage everyone to investigate the core further. To read more about why the entire NY state teachers union pulled their endorsement of Core in January and why a bill is passing through the Georgia legislature to leave common core altogether. Thats not the main reason Im here tonight however. Although the Core is being labeled as simply standards and districts have freedom to make decisions in regards to specific text and curriculum to use, there is already disconcerting reports of whats going on in classrooms within the states that are further ahead in the process as compared to Illinois. I hope everyone takes the time to view the English Language Arts Common Core Appendices. The appendices contain whats called exemplar texts or samples of text that are both appropriate and rigorous for each grade level. In words directly from the Core, The choices should serve as useful guideposts in helping educators select texts. In other words, these are just examples and dont have to be used, but you can understand why teachers and districts have purchased materials from these lists when they know full well that tests, including the ACT and now the SAT, will be directly aligned with the Common Core in the near future. My main concern is the explicit content that is in some of the exemplar texts. Take The Bluest Eye by Toni Morison for instance, which is on the exemplar list for Juniors. Commonsensemedia.coms has this take on The Bluest Eye: Sexual behavior is very complicated in this novel from 1970. Sex acts and feelings between adults are described, and more than one grown man behaves inappropriately with young girls. There is also incest and domestic violence, including a sexual assault on an 11-year-old girl. Whats a text like this doing in the Common Core appendices? What character traits or values are our students supposed to glean from this story? A second example comes from the 10th grade exemplar text list. Its called Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia. The text was read aloud in classrooms throughout California and Arizona until parents complained about its graphic descriptions of the protagonists sexual exploits including references to sexual positions and bondage techniques. There have been news reports of schools that have introduced texts such as these to students without every even previewing under the assumption they were appropriate.

Im assuming many of us in this community are thinking that could never happen here. Not in Wheaton, which is exactly what I thought until I was shocked and disappointed to hear that a similar text is being piloted currently in one of our high schools. I was recently asked by a parent in our community to peruse the Junior English syllabus from Wheaton Warrenville North High School. Amongst familiar classic texts like Raisin in the Son and The Great Gatsby is the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Anyone whos aware of whats been going on in our surrounding communities should know that this is the book that was heavily debated in Glen Ellyn as to whether or not students should even be able to read it as a free choice. But at our high school, its not just a free choice, its in the curriculum. Ill spare you the details, but Perks is graphically explicit. The protagonist is a voyeur in a sense, and draws you as the reader in to become, a voyeur with him as he witnesses criminal sexual behavior, rape, lewd and graphic sexual deviance. The treatment of women by young men in the book is enraging. Its content makes me, as a father of four girls, feel sick to my stomach. And yet, its being used in one of the classrooms here in our district. Its being given to young men whos characters are being molded and shaped by discussions surrounding this book with their peers and teachers. As a reading specialist I question the choice of such lewd material, even if just portions are lifted from the text to be read. There are other pieces of literature that can certainly be used to teach the same ideas or themes as what we find in Perks? The idea of character development at the high school level was broached by the administration at the February Engage session. How does one justify the inclusion of Perks when attempting to help students develop their character? How does this fit with our mission of Inspiring in Everyone a passion to excel? So, what does this have to do with the core? Sadly, I think its an example of how text and material can slip into curriculum without every being questioned. I think parents assume that whats being assigned in school as reading is appropriate for their children. Just like teachers in New York, Arizona, and Missouri assumed that texts in the Common Core Appendices are fully appropriate for all students to read in school. My fear is that with the implementation of Common Core, our autonomy as a local district is and will be seriously diminished. You as parents. We as teachers, board members will have less and less control over whats being taught in classrooms. In conclusion, I urge us all to learn more about the Common Core, to investigate further whats really driving this new curriculum. In New York, parents and teachers have rallied together calling for a moratorium on the Core. For a critical review of texts that were not necessary chosen by educators nor are appropriate for school reading. Other states as well have called for a slowing down of implementation of standards that no one has had time to really review and test. I urge us all to contact our legislators to express our concerns about diminishing autonomy. They need to hear from us. As board members, I urge you to make the community aware of whats going on. Most people simply lack knowledge of where the core came from or why we are being mandated as a state to follow it. Most parents trust that we, as the professionals, are screening text to ensure their appropriateness for the classroom setting. May we continue to work together to make District 200 not just a place where students are passionate about excelling academically but also passionate about developing ethical behavior, character, and a sense of decency.