Leadership magazine Sept/Oct 2015 V45 No 1 | Page 14

Common Core:
A TOOL FOR EQUITY

If California educators
pair new instructional
approaches with the new
standards, the Common
Core could become a tool
for bringing about greater
educational equity.

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Leadership

A

lthough California has made
progress on the percentage of
students demonstrating proficiency on state standards in
recent years, much work remains. Only 56
percent of all students were proficient on the
California Standards Test in English language arts in 2013, the last time the assessment was administered.
The percentages among Hispanic and
African American students were substantially lower – 45 percent and 43 percent respectively. In math, the pattern was roughly
similar. Although California made gains
of more than 20 percentage points in ten
years, clearly the progress has not been fast
enough.
Most educators agree that the Common
Core standards adopted by California are
even more rigorous than the previous standards. The Common Core asks students to
collaborate, persevere, evaluate, reflect, ana-

lyze and communicate orally and in writing
through a variety of media. If the instructional approaches of the past are continued,
we will likely see performance differentials
among ethnic groups widen, as has already
happened in Illinois, Kentucky and New
York.
Disengagement among low-income students of color – already a problem because of
a lack of perceived relevance between classroom learning and life, frequently having
teachers of a different ethnicity and culture,
and being marginalized generally – could
worsen. However, if educators in California
pair new instructional approaches with the
new standards, the Common Core could become a tool for bringing about greater educational equity.
Providing more engaging instruction that
By Brian Edwards and Jesse Hinueber