Standing room only for CEPTA 'Common Core' Meeting

On Tuesday August 20th CEPTA presented an informational meeting on the new federally mandated educational standards called “Common Core”. It was standing room only as over 100 people, including school directors, local government leaders, and the public were all in attendance to hear Dr. Peg Luksik explain this new education standard. Common Core is the new federally mandated program that is replacing the previously failed federally mandated “No Child Left Behind” program. The “No Child Left Behind” standards mandated by Federal law required that all schools must meet 100% proficiency by 2014 in order not to be labeled a failed school. Is this new “Common Core” program destined to follow its predecessor? Dr. Luksik used the filings made by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to the U.S. Department of Education to explain what will be expected of local school districts to comply with the new standards. There is a great deal of information circulating about Common Core, some true and some untrue. Dr. Luksik addressed many of these points, for example: Pennsylvania has stated that they will not implement Common Core; however they will implement Pennsylvania Core Standards. Upon examination of the reports the Pennsylvania Department of Education filed with the U.S. Department of Education Dr. Luksik showed that the Pennsylvania Core Standards are identical to the Federal Common Core standards. She also showed that based on these filings local curriculum would have to change to match the Federal Common Core curriculum.

The audience came prepared to ask plenty of questions and Dr. Luksik didn’t disappoint. She was well prepared and had a wealth of knowledge on this subject. Dr. Luksik’s main premise is that learning cannot be mandated. Every child is different, with varying interests that impact how and what they learn. To expect a uniform outcome by mandating that everyone will learn a subject on and at the same level is unreasonable.

Our second Presenter was our 134th district House Representative, Honorable Ryan Mackenzie. He spoke about what has been happening at our state Capitol on this topic. Representative Mackenzie also fielded many questions from the audience with lots of information being exchanged on this hot topic.

We at C.E.P.T.A. hope to see you at our next event

You can watch a video of the presentation and view photos of the event on our website, www.ceptapa.wordpress.com