Common Core Curriculum and Its Support of Students with Disabilities

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. I've written about Common Core Curriculum before, and I do tend to believe that it is a step in the right direction. The Core Curriculum that is used in states today stratifies it's standards according to socio-economical standings of each district. It would seem in the right: setting standards based on what is believed to be the academic capacities of each district. But what does this do for our future? It stratifies it as well, offering an uneven playing field for students to play the game of life on. It's simply cause and effect: the students in wealthy districts grow up learning to be leaders while the students in the middle class learn to take on middle class jobs. Do some research into academic stratification and you'll find suggestions of such a slant. Additionally, Core Curriculum standards are set by large corporations and government. The Common Core State standards, on the contrary, are developed by a collaboration of parents, teachers, school administrators, and other experts, providing a clear and concise framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce (Spivey 1). I've written on this distinction before, but I may have left something out.

Common Core Standards do not tell teachers how to teach; rather, they tell students what to teach, giving them the opportunity to create the best lesson plans for their students, focusing individually on how students best learn. This allows teachers air for creativity in the classroom, room to recognize and capitalize on each student's or group of students' learning patterns as opposed to implementing teaching plans handed down by the state. With Common Core Standards, students with disabilities are given special care, more vigorous and in depth, to help them reach these new standards and achieve their highest potentials. In order for students with learning disabilities to meet these academic standards and fully display their skills in math, reading, writing, speaking and listening, their instruction must include and support certain accommodations, including:

• Full support and related services to meet their unique needs in order enable their access to general education curriculum
• An Individualized Education Program (IEP) which includes annual goals aligned with and chosen to facilitate their achievement of grade-level standards
• Specialized instructors prepared and qualified to deliver evidence-based, individualized instruction and support (Spivey 1). 

Students with disabilities may be provided with additional support and services such as:

• Instructional supports for learning based on the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) which fosters student engagement by presenting information in multiple ways and allowing for multiple avenues of action and expression. *The UDL is a scientifically valid framework for guiding educational practice that values diversity through proactive design of an inclusive curriculum, thereby eliminating or reducing barriers to academic success. Initially proposed as a means for including students with disabilities in the general-education classroom, it is now better understood as a general education initiative that improves outcomes for all learners, including students with limited English proficiency.
• Instructional accommodations, or changes in material or procedures which do not change the standards, but allow students to learn within the framework of the Common Core. Children with learning disabilities can sometimes be rephrased for certain children. Some children just tend ot learn differently than most others; it may take them more time, less distraction, a heavier lean on conceptualizing a lesson as a whole rather than a sum of individual parts (in other words, being taught first as opposed to challenged to learn...in some cases this is helpful). Point is, children with learning disabilities will be accommodated for regardless of changes in curricula. Standards are not the same as procedures in school. 
• Assistive technology devices and services, which ensure access to general education curriculum and the Common Core Standards by helping children who have difficulty paying attention, retaining information, etc., take notes in class and learn on a different platform. A friend of mine has a smart pen that records lectures. 

Some students with more severe learning and cognitive disabilities may requires substantial supports and accommodations. These should ensure these students access to multiple means of learning opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge and capabilities, and retain the rigor and high expectations of the Common Core State Standards at the same time. The Common Core State Standards attempt is to advantage the disadvantage, to even the playing field which is so crucial in life. One could argue that socio-economical factors could disadvantage some, but it is the aim of the Common Core committee to lesson these direct disadvantages. 

As with every opposing force, a number of advocates determines the outcome. Do you believe the Common Core Curricula can improve our educational systems, leaving no individual behind in its endeavor, or do you believe we should conserve the system as it is now? If your children are in school, this is something you should truly obtain a passionate answer for, through thorough research and a continued awareness of current debate. You can get all of this from Suffolk Speech's Facebook and bloggers, devoted to learning and writing about everything parenthood. 

Resources

Spivey, Beckly L M.Ed., Super Duper Publications © 2010 Handy Handouts, "Students with Disabilities and the Common Core State Standard"