'Common Core Outreach' Session Coming to Barrington

What will the impact of the Common Core State Standards be on curriculum and instruction in the Barrington schools?

Officials from the RI Department of Education (RIDE) and the Barrington schools will offer their views on the controversial Common Core and its implementation at a special information session hosted by the Barrington Education Foundation next Tuesday evening, Jan. 28.

The session is one of RIDE’s “Common Core Outreach” presentations. It starts at 7 pm in the high school auditorium.

The BEF also is promoting the outreach session in the community, said Deanna Donnelly, a co-president of the BEF along with Anna Clancy.

“We’re taking RIDE up on their offer” to come to Barrington, said Donnelly.

The outreach sessions by RIDE “bring the discussion on Common Core to the local community,” she said. The session fits well with BEF's longtime effort to bring national topics to the local level to help education the community.

Phyllis Lynch and MaryAnn Snider of RIDE and two of the state’s educator ambassadors,  Pam O’Day and Kristen Sparfven, will share the stage with Barrington Superintendent Mike Messore and other teachers and staff, said Donnelly.

A question and answer session will follow the presentation by the team of educators. 

Common Core was adopted in Rhode Island in 2010, according to RIDE, after being widely debated at the national and state levels.

The new standards have sparked much debate in Barrington recently because of a Barrington-based citizens group, Stop Common Core RI, that is trying, at least, to slow down the implementation because of their concerns about the cost and impact on Barrington’s curriculum.

The group includes a member of the Barrington School Committee, Scott Fuller, a Cumberland math teacher and former administrator. Fuller is particularly concerned about the lack of local control and the lack of any field testing of the standards before being implemented.