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Catholic schools and Common Core questions

Published: November 7, 2014   

Common Core State Standards have been debated among educators and parents since it was first adopted for public schools in 2010.

Vernell Bowen, superintendent for Catholic schools, said the Diocese of Little Rock has not adopted Common Core for its 28 schools but has reviewed them in light of updates to the diocese’s math and English curricula.

“Common Core has been adopted in certain Catholic dioceses, but not ours,” assistant superintendent Theresa Hall said.

Bowen and Hall said some dioceses have chosen to adopt the standards because they are more closely tied to public schools with testing or funding for textbooks.

The U.S. bishops’ Secretariat of Catholic Education issued answers to these frequently asked questions in April. Here are some excerpts.

Background

Teachers in more than 6,594 Catholic elementary and high schools in the United States do an excellent job preparing more than 1.9 million young people for the challenges of higher education in a competitive world. Ninety-nine percent of Catholic school students graduate from high school on time, and 85 percent of Catholic school graduates attend college.

Because the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were not developed specifically for Catholic schools, there are growing concerns about the effect of these standards on Catholic schools in our country.

The CCSS are a set of K-12 public school standards developed in English language arts and mathematics. There has been a great deal of local, state and national debate about the origin, quality, purpose and effect of CCSS. There appears to be wide disagreement over the CCSS. Proponents believe that CCSS provide a set of common, career-ready internationally benchmarked standards. Opponents believe that CCSS have resulted in federal overreach into schools, loss of parental choice and a loss of academic rigor. The disparity of these views has created confusion, misinformation and misunderstanding and has made meaningful dialogue about CCSS difficult.

• What role do standards play in Catholic schools, and who is responsible for their development?

Standards are not new to Catholic schools in this country. The Catholic educational community in the United States has been in dialogue about standards in education at the state level for many years. Dioceses have reviewed, adapted, adopted or rejected state standards when creating and implementing diocesan guidelines. Each diocese has responded to state standards in light of the needs and common good of the schools in the diocesan area.

At the diocesan level, the Office of Catholic Education, in consultation with the diocesan bishop, pastors, teachers and parents, is responsible for guidelines and standards for curriculum implementation in the Catholic schools. Superintendents or directors of Catholic schools are to take care that the instruction given in Catholic schools is “at least as academically distinguished as that in the other schools of the area.” Superintendents and administrators are often in the position of balancing the mission of the Catholic school with the expectations of the parent community that our schools be academically superior to the area public and private schools. This requires knowledge of academic standards surrounding our Catholic schools.

• Are Catholic schools required to use the Common Core State Standards?

Because Catholic schools are private schools, they are not required to use CCSS. If a Catholic school at the local level has chosen to implement the standards in whole or in part, it is because it has judged them to be of assistance to the academic quality of the Catholic school without detriment to its mission and purpose. If, by contrast, a Catholic school at the local level has chosen not to implement those standards, it is because it has judged them, for a variety of reasons, not to be of such assistance.

The CCSS should be neither adopted nor rejected without review, study, consultation, discussion and caution. Catholic schools must take into consideration the horizon of the local, state and national education landscape and the influence and application of the CCSS. To ignore this would place our students at a significant disadvantage for their post-secondary education, which is not an acceptable option for our families. For example, the SAT and ACT assessments, as well as other standardized tests, will be geared to the CCSS. Such realities are among the factors that must be taken in to account when judging whether it is best to adopt, adapt or reject the CCSS. In preparing our students for the future, Catholic schools must constantly emphasize creativity, critical and analytical thinking, and real-world application in light of Catholic culture and teaching, and be always intent on guiding our students to academic success. 

• Does participation in CCSS require Catholic school students to participate in student data collections, assessments or mandated textbooks?

Catholic schools decide which assessment they will use. Many Catholic schools have used a variety of nationally normed tests to measure and assess student progress. Standardized tests are beneficial because they provide parents, teachers, principals and other administrators with important information about the effectiveness of instruction in our schools and student preparation for success in high school and college. Participation in the CCSS does not require Catholic schools to participate in longitudinal data base collections or assessment. Participation in standardized test­ing does not require that our schools collect data on children or their families. In keeping with privacy acts, Catholic schools never share or publish individual test scores without parental permission and report scores only in the aggregate.

Some of our Catholic schools have voluntarily participated in state and national assessments such as National Assessment Education Progress (NAEP). The performance of our students on these assessments often positively impacts the perception by parents and community stakeholders of how well our schools perform. Catholic schools have consistently performed well on these national assessments. In addition Catholic schools carefully monitor textbook and resource materials. 

• Why is this discussion so important?

The Church recognizes that the civil government has the responsibility to assist parents in fulfilling their obligation and right to educate their children. The Church applauds any effort by the state and federal government to ensure that an excellent education is available for all children in the United States. The CCSS was developed for a public school audience. But the CCSS is of its nature incomplete as it pertains to the Catholic school. Our schools have resisted the need to adopt educational trends while addressing the ever-changing needs of children in education. We have tried to integrate the best in education while leaving behind what is not appropriate to the Church’s educational mission. As our world becomes increasingly secularized, it will be a task of the Church through an appropriate education to help parents and families sift through the realities and difficulties of the culture and provide a solid foundation and basis for living as disciples of Jesus Christ. 

Click for the Catholic Schools Herald, November 2014 index 

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