Jason Arndt, jarndt@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Jason Arndt Duke Pesta discusses Common Core education standards with about 60 people Thursday in the Bonduel High School commons.
Common Core education standards place undue pressure on teachers and students, according to Duke Pesta, an assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
Pesta, who has made more than 100 presentations nationwide on the Common Core standards, spoke to about 60 people at the Bonduel High School commons Thursday.
He was invited by three area residents: Nate Burton, Joanne Fink and Bonduel School Board member Kara Skarlupka.
“We were talking about the Common Core, all three of us, and decided to find an expert member in Common Core,” said Burton, noting the presentation did not reflect an endorsement by the school board or district officials.
“Everybody needs to be aware of what is going on with our education,” Skarlupka said. “I think everything should be done at the school board level. Not at the federal level.”
Common Core is a set of national standards that attempt to define the knowledge and skills that students from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade need to master each year in math and English to be prepared for the next grade and, ultimately, college or work.
Wisconsin is one of the 44 states that have adopted the standards.
Critics, such as Pesta, argue the new standards create additional costs for school districts, leave parents and local school boards out of the process, are being dictated by test companies and federal agendas, and place too great an emphasis on tests.
“The teachers are judged on tests they never get to see,” said Pesta, who noted the standards also stifle creativity in the classroom. “The only way we will be able to evaluate teachers is based on whether they adhere to (Common Core) standards.
“And (Common Core) is not going to help students, it is going to lead to their deathbed. … We don’t need high stakes tests for kids; it hurts them.”
Pesta said states that opt out of Common Core are punished by the federal government. He said Indiana could lose up to $228 million in federal funds after its state board of education voted to replace the standards with new math and English benchmarks.
He also said some school districts will have difficulty paying for the technology upgrades necessitated by computer-based tests and initiatives to replace textbooks with laptops.
Pesta also is academic director of FreedomProject Education, which is an online school that offers a “Common Core-free education built on Judeo-Christian values.”