WASHINGTON – The Common Core State Standards are the new fact of life for schools in 45 states — including Maryland — as well as in the District.
So what do parents think?
At Largo High School in Maryland, some recently expressed how puzzled they are over the assignments their kids are bringing home each night. Largo High School Principal Angelique Marcus worked to help parents understand what’s happening in their classrooms.
Melody Spuil, a parent of a third-grader, says she loves and respects her son’s teachers but is not impressed with the implementation of Common Core.
“And I’m looking at it, I’m like, ‘It’s grammatically wrong, it’s scientifically wrong and it’s mathematically wrong,'” she says.
Spuil feels like her son needs to leave the system.
“I feel like they’re Dr. Frankenstein and he’s an experiment,” she says.
“What I’m getting here is jargon.”
Rob Malone, father of four and a mentor to a high school student, had lots of questions.
“The words that we’re hearing to describe Common Core probably aren’t helpful unless you are a teacher,” he says.
But he came away with a different sense after the meeting, saying he now has a better understanding.
“People need to define and show examples of this and then parents would go, ‘Oh now I get it,'” he says.
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WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report. Follow @KateRyanWTOP and @WTOP on Twitter.
