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Nov. 2, 2009 I think the refusal of Alaska to join the National Curriculum movement is based in knee jerk reaction to interference by the Federal Government. It has long been a part of the Republican agenda to avoid regulation by the very government that keeps this state alive. After reading the standards, which do not require a single specific text, I can’t see what interference the Feds will impose. I agree that the 1200 page No Child Left Behind law is fraught with problems. However, I can’t see anything in the standards that smacks of real interference, and I hate the fact that we have no representation at the table in Washington. Our adopted state performance and content standards certainly adhere to the standards 48 states have proposed. If we had a representative at the table for this national curriculum, we could be heard in terms of making sure states were allowed to choose their texts and materials. Without a voice at the table we’ll most likely have to go along with whatever the majority decides without any input. Perhaps our state leadership thinks we are already ahead of the game and don’t need to be part of the conversation. Being left out of the conversation limits our options. Kathy Alton

The article was poorly written. I do not understand where the seventh paragraph fits into the article. I hope this writer was not a graduate of our district. Paragraph nine made some big claims but offered no evidence to support the claims made. When the United States compares its scores to the rest of the world, are we subtracting the scores of children who will become artisans? Many of the countries we are being compared to do not educate every child for college prep. How do the countries’ compare scores? Is there some standard curriculum for all the countries of the world that the US does not use? Once I got past my issues with the poorly written article, I went to the web address for the English Language Arts Standards attached to the article. The website offered some interesting links. Under each posted standard there is an evidence link. This evidence link answered some of the questions I had from paragraph nine of the article. The links will let you see the standards other countries have written that are addressing the same academic skill. These standards appear to be a prototype for what nationalized standards would look like. I found it interesting that in the evidence section supporting the posted standards, Canada does not have national standards. Under one link there were two references for Canada. Alberta and BC, neighboring providences, have different standards. I’m not sure that adoption of national standards are in anyone’s best interest. -Amber

Palin opts out of test standard for education

Palin’s decision to not be included in the nationwide education standards in reading and math is a tricky issue to think about. On the one hand, I do believe that Alaska needs to be cautious about signing on to this because our needs are different than the rest of the nation. On the other hand, I agree with Superintendent Comeau who thinks that being part of the conversations now will benefit Alaska so that we don’t have to “accept what the other states dictate.” I suppose I am a fence rider at this point. The issues involved in education are large and the answers are complex given the cultural and varying backgrounds of people across the nation. One thing that I am tired of is that education gets blamed for many things that are wrong with society. Educators are tasked with educating all children from many backgrounds. We do have an enormous task of trying to impose the idea that education is important on children even when their families are not believers of this or don’t support it. It is a huge task. -Ronda

I feel that Palin was right to keep Alaska out of efforts to write nationwide education standards in reading and math. At first glance, it is easy to feel that she made a mistake and is hurting Alaska and its students. However, there are a few things in the article that really bothered me and after a lot of consideration made me feel that the governor made the right choice for Alaska. On the one hand, I believe national standards would be a very good idea for urban and suburban areas. I think about military transfer students at Lathrop that are completely unprepared for the rigor of some of our classes. If each grade, across the country was held to the same standards, this wouldn’t – or shouldn’t – occur (John Pile). On the other hand, there is no doubt that conditions in Alaska’s bush communities have no counter-part in the Lower 48. Consequently, test or standards for these communities could totally throw off Alaska’s numbers and open our education system up to unfounded ridicule. (Thinking back to Lathrop’s being called a “dropout factory”.) Who cares if a student in Beaver, Alaska can’t define the word sidewalk. If the test asked him or her to define a snare or the best way to skin a muskrat he or she would have no problem. For this reason, I agree with Palin’s decision to “monitor. . . . [and] spend our time and public resources to improve instruction in the classroom and to form productive relationships between schools and the communities they serve.” (Why our Founding Fathers left education to the states.) One comment that really stood out to me is was when LeDoux said, “We’re being asked to jump on a bandwagon.” To me, this made complete sense. Alaska has such a unique situation that any input we would make to somehow level the playing field for our rural students would seem ridiculous to everyone else. So it would be better for Alaska to let the other states hash out all the details and come up a workable document, and then we could see if it would fit our unique situation before agreeing to implement it across the board. Besides, the federal government always has strings attached. Sometimes they are REALLY hard to see, but they’re always there. Jennifer Stugart

I could agree with Sarah Palin’s decision to opt out of a national effort to standardize educational curriculum. Especially if it is a project that has already been in the works by a couple dozen other states(the American Diploma Project). By entering into the development at such a late part in the process it would seem unwise to just join the initiative now, just to be required to adopt the practices later. Also, if this is a project that has been developing for years, there must be key states that have the majority of the shared input. Considering Alaska’s challenges are varied and often much different than in other states, it would seem in the best interest of the state of Alaska to evaluate the end product and see if it would truly be able to comparably assess our students on a national scale. I would however, encourage Alaska to continue to monitor the process of this project. If we were missing out on a substantial amount of federal funds attached with this project, that would be something to take into consideration. If this project’s end result was a tool that Alaskan educators felt could adequately and fairly assess our students, then I do think it would be a good decision to get on board. I think that product would be very difficult to achieve, but if you could, it would be nice to be able to know how we rate nationally. It would be beneficial to have this information attached to transfer students. It would be nice to have one more tool to use to direct our instruction to the greatest needs of the student, and state. -Shane

“Paling opts out of…” Birds sing and flowers bloom when we hear that our leaders take a stance and proudly proclaim, “No! We’re not going to take it! No, not gonna take it anymore!” Okay, so I was elated to hear that other states are opting out of the testing too, especially ‘big’ and testing states such as Texas. Comparing ourselves to other states will only cause the, “We are better than…” that our society lives by today. Many of those states that profess these harmful claims have advantages that help them advance in all areas. Parents in Anchorage have complained about Carol Comoeau’s choices, so I wasn’t surprised with her choice. We do need to be ‘wary’, because we have had a difficult time attempting to make our tests understandable for all of our people. Years ago, maybe ten (twenty or more☺) I took tests with questions about farms, and/or how many blocks did I live from the post office. Having no clue about what a block was made me feel very ignorant. Many of my peers and I decided to play dot to dot on the Terra Nova tests. We hear these stories all the time, and Alaska has changed this with its standardized tests. I am afraid that if we choose to ‘jump on the bandwagon,’ we will be back at square one again. Gracia Denny, from Texas, ten years ago warned our school that we would be teaching to the test. I feel that we are doing so today. If we change what we have so that outsiders can compare themselves to us, will we have to change what we teach again. Will I have to learn about the cows, chickens, and/or pigs on a farm? La Verne

After reading the article, about Sarah Palin I had more questions. I wanted to know more about the specifics. Before I make an opinionated statement, I would like to understand the specifics. I can see where reservation about jumping on the bandwagon is justified but I ponder whether reservation shows our unwillingness to participate. I don’t want the rest of the country to think we are behind and not teaching a rigorous program. I do feel Alaskans would benefit greatly from being a part process being developed to create these standards for all our children. It will be easier to help create the standards instead of just accepting it later on down the road. Alaska has a tendency to get mislabeled and I don’t want this to happen.
 * Karen Kay Mobley

Sarah Palin’s decision to opt out of the national education standards concerns me. I realize that Alaska chooses to be an independent thinking state and that they are concerned with big government, but I think that the national standards in Education is a good idea, especially since there seems to be such a large gap in what each state thinks is important criteria to cover. I think that a national standard would be a good basis to go by when developing curriculum for Math and Language Arts. When there is no guildline to go by, I think that there are certain things that could be missed when developing a curriculum base that would cover the basic skills that students need. On the other hand, I don’t believe that the national standards should inhibit creative thinking or the freedom for states and school districts to make decisions about their students.
 * Nicki Haroldson

I think all the responses so far have been appropriate, whether for or against the national standards. It's tricky. I think eventually all the US will follow a national curriculum. Our state has GLEs that everyone in Alaska is supposed to follow. Districts are allowed and encouraged to write their district's curriculum with local "flavor" but...but...but aligned with the GLE's. Eventually that will broaden and become national standards that we all have to follow (my opinion). What bothers me is that states are compared to each other based on their state tests. However, every state writes their own test; how can comparisons truly be made when the test isn't the same? So if a national curriculum is adopted, will a national test be adopted? Then it won't be comparing apples to oranges. I would need more information on why the proponents of the national standards feel that this is necessary and how it will help students. The state of Alaska is seriously looking at the HSQE and its usefulness. It does not appear to be informative to parents, teachers, or employees. So why the push towards national standards, high stakes testing and all that goes with it, when we can't even prove it works? -Sue McIntosh

Palin opts out While I strongly support high standards, I have grave reservations about being part of a national effort to have a "one size fits all" cookie cutter standards. With all due respect to the people who have devoted considerable time and effort in crafting the core standards, I don't think that a nationalized curriculum (which would be the end result) is in Alaska's best interest. I certainly would support looking at the standards and making a decision later, but we don't need to jump on every bandwagon that comes along. The biggest concerns I have are that the resulting tests may not be appropriate for our rural communities and that the standards may not be as high as what we would develop. I think the biggest winners would be the test publishing companies. I'd prefer that we wait and see if the standards meet our needs and what the overall implementation costs are before we decide to join in the national plan. ~Trish Yocum

Response for 10/26 L & L homework assignment – The article “Palin Opts Out of Test Standard for Education” by Megan Holland, certainly left me with a multitude of unanswered questions. It was hard to follow. Was Palin opting out of national standards or national standardized testing? What would “opting in” entail? Does it cost money? Does it involve time (and thus money) on the part of our Department of Education to ‘participate’? If so how much? Jumping on a bandwagon for yet another test is one thing. Participating in an effort to see how our state standards stack up against what colleges think students need upon graduation and what employers see as necessary upon entering the workplace is another. My impression of the “core standards,” as opposed to the IRA/NCTE 12 Standards for the English Language Arts, is that they are very prescriptive, little change over standards of the past and do not address the need to adapt for 21st Century learners. While the ‘core standards’ don’t preclude a teacher from adapting to 21st century applications by not formally recognizing the call to embrace “the needs and demands of society and the workplace” outlined in the IRA/NCTE Standards, some teachers will continue on with old resources and styles of teaching, which will not appeal nor be pertinent to youth in today’s world much less future cultures. Neither do these “core standards” address the need to differentiate for various kinds of learners. In fact the NCTE says in their official response to the ‘core standards’ that “the draft of the Common Core State Standards, which, with a few exceptions, could apply as well to the schools of 1950 as to the schools of this decade and the realities the nation and the world face today.” IF we are truly missing an opportunity to contribute to the national discussion on standards, yes that is a shame, but IF most of the discussion has already taken place then lets not get derailed and instead focus our time and resources on what is best for Alaskan students. Katie Sanders

Although this is an article from last week, I would still like to comment on it. The wait and see approach may be a wise one but there may be some negative aspects as well. Many of our high school graduates continue their education outside the state of Alaska or continue their future endeavors in one of the other fifty states. There needs to be some commonality from one area of the county to the other. Educators belong to professional organizations that endorse standards in specific fields. Alaskans must be prepared to be competitive in the global work force. The state education system is responsible to offer learning opportunities to be prepare our future work force to be successful and meet the demands that they will face in their chosen careers. Cindy

The idea of national standards for all students at a certain grade level be able to perform certain tasks is good in theory, but like any "benchmark" or "exit exam" it fails to take into account the inescapable fact that we are dealing with a wide range of human beings, dynamic in their development rates, aptitudes, environmental influences and innate talents. Alaska is unique in that a huge number of it's public education students are not destined for the "college track". (Amber poses a good question: these countries were are being compared to, are their test scores for all students, or just those on the college / academic track? Do these other countries have identical educational systems and public support / lack of support for public education? Too many variables...) We have a higher number of sudents growing up in and focused on rural or labor-minded lifestyles. What is practical for downtown Seattle is absurd in Tok, Delta, Tanana, Minto, etc... and vice versa. I remember when the state standards for Alaska were published, and teachers had to keep them in mind for planning and instruction. Specifically, math teachers at the middle school level, one who had participated on the standards development, were adamant that many of the skills were NOT necessary for the majority of people living and working in society; that they existed for upper - level, college - bound populations. In short, even in our own state, at the state level, our standards are a source of criticism with relevancy being called to question. Will this be any less of a risk at the national level? Nope. Usually, people live in Alaska because it isn't the "lower 48". Alaska is unique in too many respects from the rest of the United States, and Sarah Palin rightfully recognized and honored this fact, with its children in mind, that we never have, and never will be the perfect round peg that fits into Washington D.C.'s perfect round hole. As for this trend towards testing, testing, and more testing? I think its no different from weighing a cow more often to monitor its weight; making it get on the scale more often doesn't make it grow or fatten up any faster. Sarah Voorhees

Response: Palin Opts out of test standard for education. By Megan Holland

I believe Governor Palin was correct in opting out of this initiative. She recognizes Alaska’s unique communities and circumstances other states may not have. I can only imagine that she also has some insight in how the current administration would dictate how and what the standards should be regardless of being able to meet those standards.

Commissioner LeDouz also stated if adopted “. . . there is an implied consent to adopt the standards later.” This statement indicates input would not be necessary or used and the initiative would be adopted.

I think standards are necessary however as Commissioner LeDoux stated the national standards have already been written and that Alaska would be “jumping on a bandwagon.” Alaska’s standards may not be recognized because they may not correspond to other states and may be considered insignificant to the whole.

By opting out Palin has put Alaska on record that we would rather monitor a possibly more intrusive initiative that we may not have any control over. Dave