Fariña proclaims herself a ‘firm believer in Common Core’

New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña praised Common Core as a pathway toward the jobs of the future during an education forum hosted by City & State this morning.

Fariña described the education standards being phased in across most of the country as a mechanism for ensuring students of all backgrounds are learning the analytical and presentational skills necessary to thrive in the future job market.

“I am a firm believer in Common Core,” she said.  “Our students cannot learn by skill or by rote memorization. It doesn’t work. There’s no jobs in the future that expect that.”

“Our kids need to be analytical thinkers; they need to be researchers; they need to be able to talk in front of an office,” Fariña added. “Our kids need to have that skill, and it’s not just kids in middle-class neighborhoods, who would be able to talk ad nauseam about anything. It’s all our kids.”

The Common Core standards have proved controversial. Some educators contend they were not given adequate training or teaching materials before pupils began taking state exams based on the standards, which are used to measure educators’ and students’ progress. Others say Common Core’s more word-heavy math problems are more difficult for English language learners and students with special needs.

Fariña called the lack of teacher preparation one of the biggest mistakes of the Common Core rollout. As a remedy, she said the city Department of Education worked with the United Federation of Teachers to add 80 minutes a week of professional development for school staff.

Similarly, schools are adding 40 minutes of parent engagement a week. Fariña said she has instructed educators to target parents of children learning English or with special needs.

“We need to let these parents know they have a special place at the table,” she said. “Without that expectation … we’re also saying to parents, ‘Oh well, if you don’t speak English, you’re really not good at this.’ My mother never learned to speak English well. And I thought she was an excellent parent, and even more importantly she made sure that we valued education, and that has to be something we make sure we respect.”

Fariña glossed over a debate in the state Legislature about whether mayoral control of city public schools should be the long-term school governance structure, saying the education reform movement is focused too much on structure and not enough on classroom technique. She described several initiatives underway to improve what transpires in the classroom, including her one-on-one meetings with an “army” of hand-picked superintendents this summer; compensating educators for collaborating with their peers on teaching techniques; the School Renewal Program, which will pour more resources into and add learning time at struggling schools; and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s signature universal prekindergarten expansion, which she called a gift to those learning English.

 “They need to be successful academically so they have choices in life,” Fariña said. “I stand before you as a first-generation American – first in my family to go to college, someone who takes pride in being not only bilingual, but bicultural. And I want that opportunity for every single student in New York City.”