April 6, 2014
Dear St. Raphael School Families and Parishioners,
Spring is finally here (at least at this writing!), and our students are enjoying lots of sunshine and fresh air at recess and during PE class. This is a great time of year to get the whole family outside and get moving – don’t forget to log those miles and turn them in for our
SRA On The Move program
!
I hope that many of you read the article in last week’s “Our Sunday Visitor” entitled
Getting To The Core: Common Core State Standards have made headlines across the country. How do they affect Catholic schools? I read this article with great interest, and I’d like to share just a few brief take-aways, as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) continue to be a hot topic for discussion here at St. Raphael.
First, it’s important to note that both public and private schools have long relied on educational standards to help with the writing of curriculum and assessment of student learning. Catholic schools have been using national, state, and subject area standards to design their academic programs for many years. We are in the fortunate position of being able to pick and choose which standards we use, and the CCSS has not changed that.
As the article states, “Supporters of the Common Core say that the standards are challenging, built on a coherent philosophy of how students learn and retain information, and that they represent a shift from rote memorization and fill-in-the-bubble test taking toward an educational system based on solid writing and reasoning skills, also marked by an understanding of abstract mathematical and English language concepts.” Some Archdioceses around the country have taken an official position on the CCSS for their schools, with some requiring adoption of the standards, and others not. Here in Saint Louis, our Archdiocese is
recommending that we use the CCSS, along with other valuable national, state, and subject area standards to create our own individual curriculum in each school.
At St. Raphael, teachers are using the CCSS as a starting point for curriculum writing, and incorporating other pertinent educational standards as well. Of course, the overarching standard for us in any subject area is our Catholic faith. The CCSS obviously do not address our faith, so we must infuse Catholic teachings into our curriculum at all levels.
One of the worries about the CCSS is that they are “…a thinly-veiled national takeover of education that will erode local control from parents and teachers.” There are concerns in the public schools about mandated testing and resulting data collection as part of the CCSS implementation. Fortunately for us, we will continue to be in charge of our own decisions about testing and standards implementation. So while this may be a national concern for public education, it is not our own local Catholic school issue.
Another criticism of the CCSS is that they are a “…pragmatic, bottom-line approach (to education) focused more on providing a baseline of basic knowledge and skills necessary for beginning college or entering the job market, rather than on educating the entire person, which is part of the unique mission of Catholic schools.” Again, this would be a concern for us if we had to adopt the CCSS and nothing else. But this is not the case. Our Catholic schools remain committed to educating the whole person, including faith formation. Remember that the Motto of St. Raphael the Archangel School is
“Formed in Faith, Prepared for Life.” And that is the order in which we operate!
As the article states, there is more emphasis on informational text in the CCSS than we have seen in previous educational standards. This is often interpreted to mean that students will read more informational text and less literary text. However, a closer reading of the standards shows that the standards applying to informational text can be applied to the informational texts that students are already reading, like textbooks, and informational articles. The CCSS demand that we teach students better strategies for reading these kinds of texts, and for analyzing the information found therein. Students will continue to read just as much literary text as they have before, if not more. The CCSS do not require any particular texts, although there is an Appendix to the standards where they
suggest certain texts. Schools are
under no obligation to use those suggestions, and will continue to have local control over the content of their curriculum.
So for St. Raphael, and for other Catholic schools, I believe the best plan is to use the best parts of all educational standards available, including the CCSS. We continue to work towards that goal, and I invite you to keep asking questions and conversing about this important educational topic.
As part of our efforts to enrich our curriculum, you have received information about a pilot program we are introducing through a non-profit educational group called Springboard. Springboard uses cross-curricular techniques to offer enriching educational programs to students in elementary schools. If our first program, offered for two weeks at the end of April and start of May, is successful, we hope to expand the offerings next school year for more ages and more variety of classes offered. Please consider registering for this first program with Springboard and see what you and your kids think!
And finally, best wishes to our 2
nd Grade students as they receive their 1
st Communion Bows this Sunday at 10am Mass. These beautiful bows will adorn the front doors of all of our 2
nd Grade students as a reminder for us to pray for them
while they prepare for the Sacrament of First Holy Communion. Please keep these special children and their families in your prayers.