Gaita releases official

position and plan on

Common Core State
Standards

Leaders, the great ones that we
all remember, have something in
common that is elemental to their
legacy. They surround themselves
with experts in various fields so
factual information can be
articulated in a way that creates
actionable and measurable results
for those with whom they are
tasked to serve. In short, the great
leaders are aware that their
preconceptions on any given
subject may be exactly wrong. This is a character trait of leadership that requires
great humility and a desire to learn that with which they do not yet know. Todays
elected leaders, in large part, are void of this trait and it is wreaking havoc on our
education system.

At times throughout our history, we tend to notice generations of elected officials
that bestow upon themselves a self-awarded sense of positional legitimacy on
subjects and issues whereby he/she has no base of knowledge. I feel strongly that
we are now governed, in large part, by a generation of such personalities and the
result is never good as it tends to create a misled citizenry that reacts irrationally
due to misinformation and leadership negligence. Such is the case with many of the
major party candidates and their confused positions on Common Core State
Standards. (CCSS)


Common
Core State
Standards (CCSS)
are being utilized
by political
hopefuls as a tool to
garner support and
votes. Yet these
politicians regularly confuse it with the Common Curriculum yet the two are not
the same thing. To educators, these people look like idiots because they dont get it.
Yet they (the politicians) spew off misinformation, make it sound appealing and
then get elected:

Here is one such example of a politician confusing CCSS with poorly written
curriculum:
My 5
th
grade child is being taught that the 2nd amendment was written
so that people could hunt for food

This is not related to CCSS but is actually an example of special-interest, politically
motivated, and directly impacted curriculum in one district. Yet this one egregious
example has been used to improperly scare the national voting pubic away from
CCSS as though it was the Ebola virus.

As your Governor, I shall seek information on subjects, which are outside my
expertise, from the experts in their respective fields, and do so at each level On
this matter that would be the student, the teacher, the administrator, the legislator,
the collective bargaining unit and the professional bureaucrat.

From the Administrative Level:

Here is one perspective (that I
hear echoed) from a High School
Principal whom has been
employed in both urban and non-
urban school districts in
Connecticut.

CCSS has been tough for some
districts because of the
implementation. The most
important aspect was/is for
districts to embed the standards
into their curriculum. Some CT
districts are way ahead of the
curve on this...other districts have been slow to do anything or have been lucky
enough to get millions from GE to oversee implementation...I think the crux of
the issue is that people are confusing the CCSS with so-called "common
curriculum." They are not the same. I've personally seen some examples of
poorly written curriculum on social media. The ones related to U.S. History
being the most egregious. One worksheet for 5th grade stated that the 2nd
amendment was written so that people could hunt for food. Factual errors like
this should not be a reflection of the CCSS. These errors are a reflection of
poorly written curriculum. The CCSS are standards of skill mastery, not of
content knowledge. The fact is that more and more students are entering
college needing remedial instruction in math and English. I think the latest
data from Columbia Univ. is that something like 20% of college freshman needs
remediation. Something needs to be done to restructure schools. If not the
CCSS, then what? There are many other changes that should occur and we
need to start somewhere. My opinion is that the debate over state
implementation should have been more public and subject to legislative
oversight and it wasn't. Professional bureaucrats handed it down.
Former assistant secretary of the USDE, Diane Ravitch has spoken out against
the CCSS. Take a look: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-
sheet/wp/2013/02/26/why-i-oppose-common-core-standards-ravitch/

From the Teaching Level:

Next we have the perspective of a CT 2
nd

Grade teacher:

As a whole, the idea behind the Common
Core is a good thing. Having continuity across
grade levels means theres a supported set of
skills that link and build each year. For
teachers, this means we know where students
should be when coming into our classroom and
we understand exactly where students should
be when moving to third. It allows for a
teacher to spend time on complex texts and
builds critical thinking with higher-level
vocabulary. Also, if I have a student coming in
from another state, I know where he or she
ought to be within the standards. I believe it
builds students ability to critically argue a
point and support their ideas with
evidence. In short, it gets students thinking a good thing!
The problem with the CCSS lies in the implementation. First of all, as with
any new initiative, the process takes time. We cannot expect teachers to be
given everything at once and presume they will implement it all with
proficiency. Many districts made the change all at once and it caused teachers
to experience burnout and many have looked for other careers. The standards
should be unpacked in subject areas or stages to properly understand them.
Again, too many districts got ahead of themselves and caused panic and stress
while trying to unload everything at once. The standards themselves are
vague and offer very little in the way of guiding teachers in the proper
way to effectively teach to the standards.
We need resources and lessons detailing whats expected. None are given. The
standards are just that, a set of standards without a secure plan on how to
address them. For me its like telling someone theyre supposed to play
basketball like LeBron and then offering no instructions on how to
dribble, shoot, train, eat, etc
An elementary teacher has to implement about 6 lessons a day. Thats 30
lessons a week. Teachers are given a highlight reel (CCSS) and told to come up
with a plan to achieve that success without proper resources.
Also, because academic rigor starts earlier (Kindergarten), there leaves little
time for social development. Teachers dont have time to address social and
emotional needs of the students because the academic demands are so
high and theyre afraid theyll receive a less than stellar write up on their
teacher evaluation. We spend so much time tracking and recording
academic data and not enough time being human with the children.



From the Collective
Bargaining Perspective:

And finally the perspective presented by
a High School teacher and union officer.

In theory, we are in favor of the
Common Core. We support the idea that
there should be a common set of goals for
all states rather than the mish mosh that
we have now. Educational expectations
across the U.S. should be relatively
consistent.

We support the emphasis of literature standards across the curriculum and the
need for increased ability for our students to be able to read and write
(communicate) not just socially (reading novels, for example) but also
technical, scientific and advanced writings. This is necessary for better student
success in both the college and work force arenas.

A second intended goal of the Common Core is to move away from
memorization of concepts to their application for problem solving. The union
could not be in any greater agreement with this goal. The result of the high
stakes testing resulting from NO Child Left Behind has been a focus on drill and
skill work.

While supporting these basic goals of the Common Core, the union recognizes
that in theory it is what education should be. Implementation is what will
determine if this is a political statement or a reality. The Common Core can
only reach its potential if districts provide the resources, tools and time to
properly help teachers adjust and adapt their practices to meet the Common
Core goals.

This will require not only funds (which must not only come from local taxes,
but from both the state and federal coffers), but also time for teachers to meet
to develop and then evaluate either new curricula or adaptation of the existing
curricula. It is not necessary to throw away everything we are currently doing,
but it does take time to do this correctly.

The public needs to be made aware of what the Common Core is. There is a
great deal of confusion; primarily only broad political statements are being
offered. This cannot come from the teachers as we have been demonized lately
as the source of all economic woes.

The Boards of Education, State Ed and Federal committees must be explaining
how the teachers are supporting the Common Core, but that the community
must stop looking at test scores as to the only measure of a school districts
success if they want the district to move away from a high stakes testing
mentality.


Politics and Education:

As we can see, the information herein,
obtained from differing levels within our
educational establishments provide an
inside look at the challenges our schools
ACTUALLY face with CCSS. Much of this
information is quite different from the
misinformation the candidates seeking
your votes have been spreading and most
of the talking points memos that Mr.
Foley and Malloy regurgitate really have
no relation to the subject of either CT
education curriculum or CCSS as a whole.

Forward thinking:

So where do we go from here? Well,
elect me as your next Governor of CT
and well get to work on the following
forward thinking objectives.



1. For the Administrators
a. Create and Provide CCSS Sample Lesson plans that incorporate
common curriculum.
b. Create/Provide feedback channels between bureaucrats, legislators
and administration officials to categorize elements for further
development and correction.
c. Implement an aggressive after-action briefing plan to incorporate the
viewpoints from the teachers.
d. Do not connect student performance to teacher evaluations, especially
during the roll out of the CCSS.

2. For the Teachers
a. Attain and Implement CCSS Sample Lesson Plans.
b. Articulate effective ways to implement CCSS in the classroom.
c. Continue to articulate the challenges with your Administration and
Union leadership.

3. For the Legislators
a. Stop changing the laws/rules of the game before engaging in effective
debate and dialogue.
b. Provide legislative oversight for duration of implementation of CCSS
c. Take the politics out of our
education system and do your
damn job.

4. For the Parents
a. Think before you react politicians
are using your emotions to garner
votes and will continue to
misinform you regardless of impact
on your children or your schools.
b. Look up from your phone, get off
Facebook for 10 minutes, put down
your Ipad for 30 minutes and look
your child in the eyes. (a reminder
we all need from time to time)
c. Do homework with your children.
d. Read to your children.
e. Know what subject matter is being taught to your children and have
your child teach you what he/she learns at school.
f. Write-in Dan Gaita for Governor on the November election ballot.

Learn more about our plan for CT here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/235626867/THE-GAITA-PLAN-FOR-CT

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Paid for and approved by Daniel R. Gaita