Teachers lectured on not teaching Common Core with lectures

The Common Core marks a stark change in what American public schools will expect students -- and teachers -- to do in the classroom, writes Alexandra Neason for The Hechinger Report. Students will need to use critical thinking, and no longer will educators teach that there's one right answer or one right path to an answer. Teachers will be held to new expectations in the way they instruct students, yet for the most part, on-the-job teacher training, which has long been criticized for its ineffectiveness, hasn't changed much in response to the demands of the Common Core. Despite research that says onetime workshops and short-term training sessions have poor track records for changing teacher practices, they continue to be the most common form of professional development. A 2009 report from Learning Forward on professional development found that while 90 percent of teachers participated in short-term training, just 22 percent observed classrooms in other schools. The same study found that fewer than half of participating teachers considered training useful. Yet districts continue to spend considerable money on professional development, receiving federal money for this purpose; more than $1 billion in federal funds went to such training in 2012-2013. Experts argue that if the Common Core is to live up to expectations, teacher training must change, and fast. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

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