A dull faded white light hits your face from the computer in front of you. Your mind is racing as you read question after question, freaking out if you got the right answer or not but knowing that you do not have time to go back and check. Your mind is screaming for a break from the same thing you have done in class for the past three days. Your heart thumps in your chest as your eyes lose focus on the screen in front of you. You chance a look at the clock. Only 5 minutes have gone by since you last looked at it. You feel your spirits drop as you notice that you have been staring at the same screen for an hour and a half. Finally, the bell rings and all the students race out of the classroom. You are relieved that you are done but you know that you still have at least 4 more hours to go the next 4 days. “Halfway there,” you try to tell yourself to get your spirits up. Why should anyone have to take a test for 8 hours? In Oregon, many parents, teachers, and students push back as the school administrators and the government push forward for a new common standard. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) came to Oregon in 2010 and have been thrust upon districts for the past 5 school years. With the standards came the 8 hour test for reading and writing, given the name Smarter Balanced. The goal of Common Core was to create shared standards to receive a high school diploma, starting from Kindergarten and to make students more achieved readers and writers all over America (“OCCS For History/Social Studies,” Hammond). Although some people don’t know about the CCSS from 2008, they are a big conflict in today’s education system because of its content, prior events, reactions on the national and local level, and the creators and supporters going against the parents, teachers, and students. To understand the impact of Common Core, we first need to understand why and how these standards were created and the level that children are expected to reach for.

The standards of Common Core were created to promote the academics of students in America and give equality to each state. Before these new standards, education was a very under researched and under developed field in comparison to medicine and computer science. Gene Wilhoit, the director of the National Group of State Schools Chiefs and David Coleman, a new supporter of the standards movement thought that a high school diploma lost its meaning because all the states had different standards (Layton). Funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the CCSS became, in the beginning a $2 million dollar investment for a common system of standards. Over the course of Common Core’s early years, an additional $8.2 million was given to the state of Oregon and Foundation for Excellence in Education received $5.2 million (Moore, Layton). Education has used million of dollars in the past few years with Gates devoting much of his wealth to the advancement of education (Layton). According to the Oregon Department of Education (ODE), the standards will bring the country together, prepare students to enter college or a workplace, and will help them advance in all subjects (Smarter Balanced). The standards are meant to guide the learning, not be the curriculum. The states can create their own standards if the public universities confirmed that they would prepare a student (Layton). In these new standards, Algebra 1 was a high school math class but now they are requiring it to pass middle school and Kindergarteners are expected to call corners vertices and angles (Hammond). In freshman and sophomore year, they are suppose to be able to write a whole essay in one or two sittings (“OCCS For History/Social Studies and Science and Technical”). Going along with the standards, the ODE says that Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) tests will give the student the “opportunity to show what they know and can do,” “measure high level skill” and “showcase the student’s thoughts”. The test goes beyond looking for the ability to “fill in multiple choice bubbles” and will not include trying to memorize information and is able to do this because it is more challenging, gives questions in multiple forms, and allows students that need visual, auditory or physical access assistance to still take the test. The test will mold to each of the students’ skill level and include “Performance tasks” that will be like real life problems in the workforce (Smarter Balanced). This shows that a lot of money and hope has been spent on trying to complete research and implement these standards. Like many things in life, money can cause some confrontations and bad beginnings.

On a national and local viewpoint, there have been some rocky starts and reactions. On the bigger scale, liberals from the Center of American Progress and conservatives from the American Legislative Exchange usually disagree on topics but both accepted Gate’s money and the CCSS. Later in 2010, Gates had been accused by the public of supporting CCSS for the money and businesses and had no intention of helping the students. Gates said in an interview that he contributed to Common Core because he wanted to support the research and tools for education and the low-income students and it was totally up to the government to use that money in a way that they saw fit. In 2014, Gate’s was still getting backlash for donating to a cause that liberal and conservative critics say would not have any positive impacts. Still, just in 2 years of the CCSS coming out, 45 states and the District of Columbia had fully adopted the standards without one vote from a lawmaker. The education leaders in Kentucky had even unanimously voted to use the standards before the final draft of CCSS had even come out. The states adopted CCSS very quickly making a past average of 5 years into a few months, so fast that opposition had trouble even getting started (Hammond, Layton). Oregon was one of the first states to adopt the CCSS but the ODE gave districts 4 years to fully implement them (Hammond). Locally, Portland has had many protests against Common Core, and in 2015 even lead the standards to be delayed in effect. Last year, by March 19th (about a month before they were scheduled to take the test) 483 intended SBAC takers opted out. When Oregon moved to asking students to take a sample SBAC test they feared that it would be viewed by the U.S. Department of Education as refusing to follow demands to implement Common Core. If Oregon had refused, we could have been refused the Federal fund of $325.5 million and reported as failing the No Child Left Behind requirements (Moore). In Beaverton, they started implementing the CCSS in the 2012-13 school year by changing its elementary writing curriculum. Beaverton continued their changes in the 2013-14 so that math was more discussed and skill levels were taught at a younger age. In the Portland Public School (PPS) District in 2012-13, changes were made in Kindergarten through 2nd grade, middle school and Algebra 1. In 2013-14 they made the rest of the switches in English, social studies and science except in fourth and fifth grades which came in the following year (Hammond). This shows that responses on a national and local level were similar. Both levels had trouble and uprisings, either in the process of funding or implementing them. This means that CCSS has not gone as smoothly as some people would like to have claimed. Though, all around the nation there are still people that think that Common Core will be the step in the right direction for our education program.

   Many people believe that Common Core will be the advancement of the education system. The idea of all the states having the same standards and pupils becoming more prepared for college also came from the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers (Hammond). This idea is supported by some education groups and teacher unions, the nation’s top politicians and education leaders and once battling American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and multiple business organizations, and Gates himself (Hammond, Layton). A 2009 study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institution with $959,116 of Gate’s money said that the standards, made by researchers and academic experts were “very, very strong” and “clearly superior” to other state’s standards. Professors and consultants at a college in Kentucky looked over the CCSS and said that they very much approved of them (Layton). Studies show that the uncontrolled standards in Oregon and nationwide before the switch were not getting students on track for college, and were leaving the US in the dust in comparison to our international opponents (Hammond, Layton). In the past, textbook and software companies were so spread out that they were not able to do research on how students learn while trying to cater to many different standards around the states (Layton). In the Beaverton school district, they have had one of the best times getting teachers on track to help students. Allyson Dubuque, a teacher from the Beaverton school district says that, "We've enjoyed this feeling that we're all on the same page" and that students felt like “they had a voice and had something to contribute to this world” (qtd in Hammond). After parents learned more about the CCSS they usually backed off, said PPS communication director Crystal Greene (Hammond). A former principal in Portland says, “Common Core represents what our kids can and should do and teaching them that way should create the critical thinkings that we want” and Gates said that, “I believe in Common Core because of its substance and what it will do to improve education,” and “This is about giving money away,” “This is philanthropy. This is trying to make sure students have the kind of opportunity I had… and it’s almost outrageous to say otherwise, in my view” (qtd in Hammond, qtd in Layton). Some people think that Common Core will make the education system more advanced and help students achieve more than they do now. Even though there is a great number of people that believe in Common Core, some think that it will create destruction and havoc in the education system.

On the flip side, Common Core’s criticizers think that this will be the end of the education. Common Core was created because governors, state schools chiefs, corporations, and state hired researchers/experts thought that we needed higher standards equivalent across the states that many groups and even our own PPS board member claims to be a “common belief system supported by widespread investments” and “a market-state education reform,” that was “built on a shaky theory” (Hammond, qtd in Layton). Some thought that this was just another sneaky way the government was getting into something that legally they have no control over. Gates gave money that went to influence policymakers, civic leaders and to scholars from both political sides to create Common Core. Usually there is a pilot test of standards before they are forced upon any larger body of schools, but this time the administration under President Obama designed a “special contest,” Arne Duncan developed Race to the Top and the National Education Association gave grants, all of them resulting in awards up to the size of $5 million dollars to local non-profit organizations and other CCSS advocates to support Common Core. People say that the creators of Common Core included technology in the standards and SBAC to benefit companies like Microsoft. Kentucky’s Chamber of Commerce and the Hunt Institution made videos and fact sheets that could be pushed to employees and citizens to teach them about Common Core, the benefits, facts and how to convince others to join the movement (Layton). Critics say that the SBAC tests delivered online have language and cultural inequalities, bring 7 to 8 hours of test time, estimate potential of 60-70% are not going to pass the test on the first time and endanger people’s security of their data. Hyung Nam, a teacher from Wilson High School said that he even found positions to grade Common Core State tests on Craigslist (Moore). Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise said, “You had dozens of states adopting before the standards even existing, with little or no discussion, coverage or controversy,” “People weren’t paying attention,” “and the states saw a chance to have a crack at a couple million bucks if they made some promises.” Jay Greene, the head of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas said that, “really rich guys can come up with ideas that they think are great, but there is a danger that everyone will tell them they’re great, even if they’re not” (qtd from Layton). There is much fear going around that these standards are a way to hypnotize organizations and states that need money and confusion about if they will even make a difference. Protesters could lose all control on how they teach students and how Common Core will only dictate what students must learn, making it impossible for students to be prepared, think for themselves and to reach for the stars (Layton, Hammond). There are 2 major sides of this issue that are diffused but sometimes fueled into battle.

From its ideas, some prior feelings, emotions across the US and Oregon level, the synthesizers and cheerleaders taking on the citizens, educators and pupils, the Common Core State Standards, created in 2008 have made a challenge in the education departments of today, even if some people have not even heard of it before. Oregon contacted the rush of rules in 2010 and have let districts put these rules in place for the past 5 years. Now it is your turn to decide if Common Core is right for the hard working students in schools all around you. Will Common Core hit the game winning home run or will they strike out and make the worst fear for parents, community members and teachers come true. Will they throw the last touchdown to win the super bowl or will they throw an interception in the last 15 seconds? Let’s relieve that stress off pupils, educators and the community and take care of business today. Are we going to let them, the future inventors of tomorrow sit in front of a dull white screen to get over stressed over taking a test for 8 hours? Only you can create that image for them.