SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A state Department of Education open house for citizens to address concerns with the Common Core Standards was held Thursday night at BridgeValley Community and Technical College in South Charleston.
“We’re asking community members if they have questions or want points of clarity,” that they can come here and get those answers,” said Executive Director of Communication for the State Department of Education Kristin Anderson.
The Common Core standards have created controversy not only because many believe that students in West Virginia aren’t learning enough, but also because of the data released during standardized testing.
“It has to do a lot with data collection. The privacy, the sharing of records from kindergarten through your first career job,” said Putnam County Delegate Michael Moffat who opposes Common Core. “There’s no need for these big databases. We see how federal databases are insecure. How can the State Department of Education be any more secure?”
Anderson said that that the controversy surrounding data processing is overblown.
“Some people are upset. They feel like it’s federal intrusion. We’ve heard the argument of data privacy,” she said. “Some of these things though there’s a lot of misinformation out there. And when you get down to brass tacks and look at the standards, they are very high standards.”
Data from the Smarter Balanced assessment released last month showed that most West Virginia students have a long way to go in being as proficient in math as the rest of the country. Anderson acknowledged there’s work to be done in that area, but patience is needed.
“The assessment scores in math especially weren’t where we want them to be. However, the standards have only been in place for all students for one year,” she explained. “Now that the standards are in place and we have these high standards, we hope to see student achievement increase.”
Moffat, who would like to see Common Core repealed along with many state representatives, felt that having standards in West Virginia similar to other states is a mistake.
“We’re trying to implement a system that is the same as everyone else, and yet we have to do a lot more to get to where everybody else is,” Moffat said. “We have to do major changes. This Common Core/Next Generation system does not make major changes.”
Anderson also encouraged concerned residents to go online and provide feedback on the Academic Spotlight website before Sept 30. to review the standards to have their opinions heard.