Schools

Survey: Hundreds of Maryland Teachers Not Prepared to Teach Common Core

More than half of the teachers surveyed say they're not ready to teach the new courses. And they're unsure about putting the new evaluation system into place.

A majority of Maryland teachers surveyed about the new Common Core curriculum said there are significant challenges to implementing systems to measure progress on the standards, and the educators don’t feel ready to teach the new courses, according to results posted onMarylandEducators.org

The survey, conducted by the Maryland State Education Association, found that 87 percent of teachers received professional development for Common Core,says WBALTV.com. Almost 65 percent admit they're not adequately prepared to implement Common Core in the classroom.

“We as a union are not opposed to education reform, and we’re not opposed to accountability and stronger teacher evaluations,” said state teachers union President Betty Weller toMarylandReporter.com. “We want to make sure our folks are prepared, that they have the time and resources and professional development to get it right. Because that matters for our students.”

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William Reinhard, a spokesman for the Maryland State Department of Education, cautioned it was difficult to draw many conclusions from the survey because it was 700 respondents out of about 100,000 educators.

"I would say professional development is happening, but in terms of when you see something and when you hear, it makes sense to you, and then the actual going back and doing it and trying it, raises more questions," St. Mary's County teacher Dawn Pipkin told the TV station.

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On the new evaluation system, 93 percent of teachers said they had received professional development. Another 66 percent said their county was not prepared to put it into place.


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