Newark City Schools sides with Common Core

• Newark City Schools superintendent Doug Ute says the district backs Common Core standards.
• Ute argues there%27s not enough time to shift gears now%2C with school starting Wednesday.
• Ute says the standards will better prepare students for college and the workforce.

NEWARK – The Common Core debate rages on, but Newark City Schools has picked a side: in support of the standards.

In late July, Ohio House leaders announced a bill that, if passed, will repeal Common Core in the state. In response, district Superintendent Doug Ute wrote a letter to Ohio legislators, backing the standards and urging leaders to consider the effect a repeal would have.

Hearings on the repeal start this week, and Ute said if called on to testify, he will.

Ute sent the letter to Reps. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, and Bill Hayes, R-Pataskala; Sen. Tim Schaffer, R-Lancaster; and State Board of Education member Stephanie Dodd, of Hebron. It states the district spent more than two years and thousands of dollars preparing for Common Core, that the standards will better prepare students for college and careers, and that to do away with the standards with no Plan B would be a "travesty."

"There is neither time nor resources for such a drastic change in standards." Ute wrote, speaking on behalf of the district. "To repeal the standards, without a clear track for replacement and particularly after using the Common Core standards for one year, will lead to major confusion in our schools over the short-term."

To be clear, Ute is arguing in favor of the standards themselves — not about testing or teacher accountability tied to student test scores. Those, he argues, are separate issues and should be treated as such.

Ohio adopted Common Core in June 2010. Newark City Schools was part of a pilot program, but statewide, Common Core takes full effect for the first time this fall, meaning its true effect on students' education is still hypothetical.

For teachers heading into the first week of the year, though, seeing headlines about a possible repeal is unsettling, Ute said.

"OK, what are we going to go to?" he asked. "I just think it puts people in our profession in a state of, 'Why?' ... It's not a positive note to start the school year on."

Even if the bill clears the House, there are questions about whether a repeal would make it through the senate or a potential veto from Republican Gov. John Kasich, who has supported Common Core in the past.

Hottinger expressed concerns about what would replace Common Core, and Licking Valley High School Principal Wes Weaver called the repeal effort a "political trick" detracting from real issues.

Newark teachers have worked hard getting ready for the Common Core transition — using waiver days, two-hour delays and the like for the necessary professional development training, Ute said. Education is constantly changing, and the Common Core standards likely will, too, he said, but for now, without a viable alternative, Common Core should stand.

"Why would you change this without any type of plan in place?" he said. "Until I see that plan, I'm saying, 'Don't change a thing.'"

hsparling@newarkadvocate.com

740-328-8822

Twitter: @hksparling