The rhetoric of "freedom" for teachers comes from the ignorance of what Common Core & standards are. Parents & non-teachers see the number of tests the kids have to take mixed with talk of Common Core and create a sense of imprisonment for teacher's creativity.
Testing: Students take standardized testing as a way to gauge progress. This is done for funding, marketing or a combination of the two. Some schools do it 3x's a year, some 2, some more. It depends on the school.
Tests gauge either proficiency or growth, depending on the test and the school. Proficiency show how a student is doing against grade level (is a 5th grader reading at a 5th grade reading level?) or growth (is the child/class improving through a year - from a 3.1 level to a 4.1 or better?)
Common Core: Common Core is a series of standards for what to teach at each grade level. It's a framework for the school year. It is not specific lessons or textbooks, but just age-appropriate topics to touch on in language arts & math. Here are examples of C.C. standards for 5th grade:
These are not pointing to specific lessons or texts but just giving the teacher guidelines on what a class should cover in the course of a year. Common Core does not hold a teacher back. In fact, it informs a teacher on how to construct a year-long instructional sequence.
Innovation in the classroom is a vague concept. Betsy DeVos hasn't been clear, but educators have expressed what they feel like it means:
It requires teachers be able to really focus on their kids and create interesting, fun and relevant lessons for their students. To be able to have time, resources and support to do exciting projects or create engaging units that speak to their specific students.
This is done with collaboration between teachers (requires time), professional development (require money) or small groups (requires extra staff).
What doesn't hinder teachers is standards. These are the guideposts for classroom teaching. A good teacher creates a lesson to engage their students that meet the standard. The innovation comes in that creative process.
For example, to teach this standard, a teacher can do many things. She can do have the students draw or illustrate similes. They can write their own. She can have them make videos. She can show a slideshow. They could play a game. They could do make a poem or a song. They could read a story and underline examples. They could watch a video and write down all the examples.
A standard is a launching point. It gives a purpose to a lesson. It is up to the teacher to innovate in her classroom. Beyond that, what a teacher needs to be better is moral/emotional support, more staff, access to supplies and time.
Excellent!
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