Schools prep for Benchmark

Blytheville schools, like other schools in Arkansas, are in the midst of preparing for the end-of-the-year Benchmark tests. This comes at a time when the Blytheville Intermediate School is also gearing up to take the next step in education.

Starting in the 2012-13 school year, Blytheville Intermediate School will be implementing the new Common Core standards into its curriculum. Common Core, which has been used in K-2 in this year, is designed to be a broader, more encompassing set of standards that will help prepare students for the next step in their education and in their lives without having to play catchup.

"We want our students to be able to either enter the work force with skills in hand or enter college with skills in hand," said Melisa Rutherford, instructional facilitator for BIS. "This will be a huge change for our kids."

Right now, BIS is in the transition phase, moving from some of the current standards being used to the Common Core standards and finding out how these will be able to coexist. The school will be using the Arkansas Frameworks standards along with Common Core, and the challenge, according to Rutherford, is identifying the ways in which all of the things the school is currently doing will weave together with these new standards to form a "tapestry of education."

An important part of this transition phase is training, for both the teachers and the students. The teachers have been working to break down these standards and find out what each one is telling them, what students need to know, what skills are needed and how technology fits into all of this, according to Rutherford.

On the students' end, the biggest changes in way of preparation has been the amount of writing required.

"Our biggest prep change has been having the students do a lot more writing, which, as a rule, is not something children typically like to do," Rutherford said, "But it's crucial."

When implemented next year, the coursework will have a "stair step" design to it, meaning there will be a slight overlap in some things being taught from year to year. This helps to ensure the students are proficient in what they need to know at each new level. It also allows for certain things to receive greater attention than in the past.

"Some things can be learned in one year; some are more progressive and require a span of years," said Rutherford.

Rutherford said one of the main goals with this approach will be to use the new Common Core standards to address the needs of each student and make them more competitive for the next phase.

Students will also be challenged to look at things in an entirely new way, according to Rutherford.

Common Core is a much broader way of teaching and will help students see over-arching themes and ideas, teaching them to see things with the "big picture" in mind and think more abstractly.

"Research shows that kids learn abstract ideas better at a younger age," Rutherford said. "For many years we've been selling ourselves short in terms of what our mind can do. Our minds develop at a much faster and more rapid rate when we're younger. Concepts that were thought to be too abstract are really on target."

Rutherford explained that while everything will be changing, the biggest changes will happen in math. Skills that were previously taught in seventh, eighth or ninth grades are now going to be taught in third, fourth and fifth. But Rutherford noted that this was absolutely necessary for the students.

"The jobs that these kids will be competing for in the future don't exist yet. I don't know what they're going to look like, but we have to prepare them for these jobs," said Rutherford.

The ultimate goal with all of the new changes involved in switching to Common Core will be to develop a better rounded student by blending math and science with things like literacy, history and fine arts. Rutherford said each of these different content areas will now be working together and using everyone's strengths to build better, more prepared students.

Common Core will be implemented into BIS next year with a full implementation goal across the district for the 2014 school year.

cpinkard@blythevillecourier.com