Teachers Assess Common Core Writing

Teachers feel that the Common Core standards can help students with their writing, however they also find  great  deficiencies  with the standards, as well.  A national survey by Michigan State University scholar, Gary Troia, is the first study of its kind.  The study took into account teachers’ perceptions of writing and language standards portion of Common Core.  Forty-four out of the fifty states have adopted Common Core.  There have been  482 teachers from grades 3 through 8 who were surveyed on writing practices and attitudes of Common Core Standards.

Gary Troia, who is an associate professor of special education, argues that teaching writing deserves more attention in the classrooms.  He also states the “Writing performance across the nation is generally poor and writing is key to success in multiple areas of the curriculum, as well as postsecondary academic achievement and employment outcomes.”He feels it is essential to master writing skills across disciplines.

Troia and Steve Graham of Arizona State University reported in the Journal of Reading and Writing that the majority of teachers believed that the newly adopted Common Core standards in writing were more rigorous than prior standards.  In addition to this, they also provide clear expectations for all students.  The standards also are instrumental in pushing to teach writing more often.

On the flip side, the teachers also felt that the new standards took too much time, leave out key aspects of writing development and do not accommodate the needs of all students.  Teachers also felt they have not received sufficient training to implement the standards.  They felt they needed more training to understand and make good use of the assessments in their own states.