Education Week - December 4, 2013 - 32

LETTERS to
the EDITOR
Vermont Secretary of Education:
Common Standards Make Sense
To the Editor:
Vermont, along with a majority of other
states, has already adopted a common set
of educational standards that outline what
we expect our students to know and do in
grades pre-K-12.
The Common Core State Standards
provide a consistent framework upon which
local districts and teachers can build their
curricula. The common core represents an
evolution of our current standards and our
best, collective thinking on the math and
literacy skills our students will need to be
prepared for their future.
I never understood why as a nation we had
50 sets of educational standards, each with
different sets of goals for students. I support
the concept of states' rights, but having such
a wide array of benchmarks no longer makes
sense in our mobile society. In order to create
consistency and equity for our students,
regardless of where they live, we need to
agree on common standards.
Some will argue that these standards
are not needed, or are being driven by
foundations or corporations. To be clear,
teachers and state education personnel
played an active role in writing them. They
are not federal standards.
Many national organizations have
supported the writing of these standards,
but they did not drive the decision to adopt
them. The standards were written by states,
for states, to meet our country's needs. And,
nothing in the common core prohibits us
from addressing additional locally developed
standards that reflect our own priorities.
Vermont, along with New Hampshire,
Maine, and Rhode Island, modeled how
states can work together as a consortium to
create common standards (on grade-level
expectations) and assessments. Partnerships
among states provide richer opportunities for
our students and our teachers.
I applaud our legislators, state boards,
governors, and state chiefs for supporting
and adopting these new standards when
our political process in Washington seems
paralyzed by partisan gridlock.
Armando Vilaseca
Vermont Secretary of Education
Montpelier, Vt.
Reader Decries 'Scapegoating'
In Common-Core Commentary
To the Editor:
I was sadly disappointed by Thomas Toch's
recent Commentary, "Common Core's Power
for Disadvantaged Students" (Oct. 23, 2013).
Mr. Toch simply trotted out common-core
advocates' litany of criticisms of public
school teachers. He decries "the simplistic
sharing of feelings" when writing is taught.
He claims that "educators define their
expectations in terms of students' race and
class." He concludes that we are wrong
in placing trust in teachers to have high
standards. He thinks this trust is a "ticket
back to second-class educational status for
many students."
So what is Mr. Toch's theory of action-
other than shouting "higher standards"?
Instead of demeaning teachers, he might
review the research about the proven power
in actually removing poverty's well-known
barriers to learning. Those barriers occur
mostly outside the classroom. (See reports
of best practices from the Learning First
Alliance and the Broader Bolder Approach.)
In the same issue, Brian Cleary put it best
in his Commentary, "Changing the World,
One Student at a Time": "I don't really
understand the psychology that makes
teachers and parents the scapegoats for so
many problems."
Scapegoating leads us nowhere. Neither
does shouting simplistic clichés like "raise
the bar."
Tom Olson
Canby, Ore.
The author is a retired educator and a co-founder
of the education advocacy group Oregon Save Our
Schools. An unedited version of this letter first
appeared as on online comment on edweek.org.
Schools Should Weigh Issues
Of Privacy in Military Test
To the Editor:
We agree with Cameron Evans, who
advocates more-stringent policies to
protect the privacy of student data in his
recent Commentary, "Five Steps to Reboot
American Schools" (Oct. 30, 2013).
We feel it is a mistake, however, to
limit this discussion to digital learning
technologies. Last year, more than 600,000
high school students participated in the
Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery
Career Exploration Program (ASVAB-CEP),
a test created by the U.S. Department of
Defense.
The primary purpose of the program,
according to military manuals, is to provide
leads for recruiters. Even though most
students take the test on school grounds,
student test results fall outside the bounds
of the Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act, or FERPA. SAT-like results, along
with a student's vocational capabilities and
Social Security numbers are provided to
military recruiters, often without parental
knowledge or consent.
The Rutgers School of Law recently
released a memo advising counselors at
the 14,000 schools where the ASVAB is
administered to take steps to protect student
privacy. Otherwise, the memo argues,
these schools will be violating the ethical
guidelines of the American School Counselor
Association. Fortunately, the ASVAB program
has an easy fix, according to the memo.
Military regulations identify several
possibilities for schools regarding the release
of ASVAB test information, including selecting
a "no recruiter contact" option that enables
schools to prevent test results from being
used for recruiting purposes.
If schools do not actively select this
option to protect their students' privacy,
the military can access their students' test
results for recruiting purposes.
Seth Kershner
Lee, Mass.
Pat Elder
Director, National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy
St. Mary's City, Md.
COMMENTARY POLICY
Education Week takes no editorial positions,
but publishes opinion essays and letters from
outside contributors in its Commentary section.
For information about submitting an essay or
letter for review, visit
www.edweek.org/go/guidelines.
32 | EDUCATION WEEK | December 4, 2013 | www.edweek.org/go/commentary
The Higher Education Imperative:
A Crucial Investment
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31
I know that institutions of higher education
must strive to strengthen the Native culture
of students once they enter college. At Fort
Lewis College, programs and classes offer students
the ability to learn or strengthen their
collective Native culture through the Native
American Center, the Native American Honor
Society, American Indian Business Leaders, as
well as other programs, such as our elder-inresidence
program, where Mrs. Lucille Echohawk
(Pawnee) encourages students to stay
strong in their Native traditions as they progress
through college and career. We believe
it is this emphasis on academic and cultural
support that makes Fort Lewis College one of
the top public institutions in the country for
Native students to excel and graduate.
Similar to elementary and secondary educa-
tion, it is critical that higher education institutions
partner and collaborate with local tribes
and Native education stakeholders to support
cultural and linguistic initiatives before Native
students enroll, as well as after their arrival
at college.
Tribes understand their children best and
can help higher education address the cultural
needs of students to ensure that a collegiate
education is not only respectful to
Native students, but also engages them. By
strengthening these partnerships, the disparity
in college graduation between Native and
non-Native students will diminish.
Unfortunately, higher education is often
hindered by external factors that reduce the
ability of the institution to support such initiatives.

Institutional partnerships and programs
need expanded resources, such as Indian education
professional development and other
grant opportunities, to instruct Native educators
to teach in higher education and schools
that serve reservations and Native communities.

Further, federal education programs such as
TRIO are invaluable resources for low-income
Native students on college campuses. They
provide critical academic and student-support
services in higher education to help disadvantaged
students stay in school and graduate at
higher rates.
With budget reductions in recent years
funding for TRIO initiatives such as Student
Support Services, Upward Bound, and Talent
Search have been greatly reduced. These
services are critical for Native students who
need remedial education services to succeed
and close the collegiate-preparation gap for
Native students.
Similarly, financial-aid programs make
valuable investments in Native students'
Brent Greenwood
for the federal government to ignore its trust
responsibility-a moral obligation to Indian
tribes-to educate Native students and to instead
defund higher education programs that
could improve the lives of young people and
their communities.
As education stakeholders increasingly
work together to ensure that culture and language
are included and our students' needs
are addressed, there must be support from all
levels-tribal, local, state, and federal.
As a higher education leader who works
with Native students on a daily basis, I know
the best practices for increasing student collegiate
achievement. Therefore, I implore the
federal government, states, schools, universities,
and Native communities to work together
to reverse discouraging trends and employ
methods that instill in our Native students
the pride that will make them the leaders of
tomorrow. n
futures and provide assistance for them to
succeed in higher education and enter the
workforce.
Such need-based aid should be adequately
funded and expanded to provide year-round
assistance to help ensure that Native students
graduate in four years. Unfortunately, as the
federal government tackles fiscal issues in
Washington, budget reductions are decreasing
investment in the education initiatives
that could otherwise bridge the gap for Native
students.
Political arguments must end so that the
United States can invest in its most vulnerable
student populations. It is unacceptable
ABOUT THE COLLABORATORS
The National Indian Education Association has served as the convening organization for
education stakeholders who work with Native students since its incorporation in 1970. Through
advocacy and capacity-building, the Washington-based NIEA seeks to advance comprehensive
educational opportunities for American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. It works
to achieve educational equity and excellence for Native students, as well as to ensure that all
students receive a high-quality academic and cultural education.
www.niea.org
Brent Greenwood (Chickasaw/Ponca) is an award-winning Edmond, Okla.-based artist whose
work has been exhibited from the American Southwest to Europe. He has received commissions
from various tribes and state government agencies in Oklahoma.
www.brentgreenwood.com

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Education Week - December 4, 2013

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