This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Needham Channel shows Education Reform Lecture

The Needham Republican Town Committee hosted a lecture featuring Mr. Jamie Gass, Director of the Center for School Reform at the Pioneer Institute, at the Needham Public Library on Monday night. The Needham Channel taped this presentation, and it will be available for viewing starting this Thursday Oct. 31st at 5:30pm
It will repeat in various time slots over the next few weeks on The Education Channel   (Comcast - ch 8)  (RCN - ch 3)   (Verizon - ch 31)    For schedule listings:
http://greisnet.com/tnc.nsf/Main?Openpage 

Mr Gass explained that federally mandated Common Core standards have significantly lower academic standards than many states including #1 ranked Massachusetts. It is a "race to the middle", and there are also serious concerns regarding the cost and legality of implementing these standards.

He said that in the 20 years since Massachusetts made sweeping education reforms, research has shown that the dramatic increase in test scores is a result on a focus on fundamentals, and inclusion of classic literature.  This classical knowledge is considered a building block for building vocabulary and comprehension of our language and literature.  With the elimination of these classics from the Common Core Curriculum, we will lose the ground gained over the last 2 decades.  Also there is a far lower standard for math - bringing back "fuzzy math", delaying the introduction of Algebra !, and as a result limiting access to higher level math.  This is counter to the needs of a technologically advanced workplace which considers STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning as the key for career advancement.

Mr. Gass also identified the impediments to considering these standards as a "floor", and addressed concerns about the collection of personal data in the evaluation process.  Please tune in to get more information on these significant issues facing our education system.  For additional resources on the topic:
www.pioneerinstitute.org  

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?