Faith-based schools confront Common Core challenges

As new national standards bleed into college readiness exams, many faith-based schools are aligning curriculum with Common Core standards. The changes are coming in spite of reports of poor Common Core test scores in public schools.

“The majority of our students matriculate into public high schools, so we must be aware of, and aligned to, the expectations of our students in various content areas,” wrote Sheri McDonald, former principal of Mariners Christian School in Costa Mesa, Calif.

The National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) established the Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative (CCCII), which gives guidance for implementing the standards in Catholic schools. The initiative works to infuse the Common Core, “with the faith, principles, values, and social justice themes inherent in the mission of a Catholic school.”

But not all faith-based curriculum is changing. Bob Jones University Press announced it is not changing materials to align with Common Core, stating, “The Common Core State Standards are intended to be a quality check on secular education.”

With the private, secondary school landscape changing to meet public standards, faith-based universities are issuing a call of warning. Professor Anthony Esolen of Providence College, a Catholic university, said Common Core is creating, “contempt for great works of human art and thought. … We are not programming machines. We are teaching children. We are not producing functionaries, factory-like. We are to be forming the minds and hearts of men and women.”

Faith-based school administrators are continuing to work to position their schools to meet the demands students face in college.

“There are places where Common Core has a better reputation in the evangelical school movement than it does nationally,” said Derek Keenan from the Association of Christian Schools International. “The key ingredient in the classroom is the teacher, not the textbook.”