BAKERSFIELD, CA.-A parent in the Panama Buena Vista Union school district says her son was given homework inappropriate for the second grade.
It wasn't out of a glossy textbook.Turns out, many teachers are creating homework assignments on their own to meet common core standards, because state materials aren't yet available.
The offensive word problem centers on a robbery. The story details a man's plan to steal money from a store, and students were asked questions to assess their reading and cognitive skills.
The mom emailed the teacher at Wayne Van Horn Elementary School and said she would not allow her son to complete the homework.
The teacher responded in part with, "I took a look at it and completely agreed with you...I apologize to you for sending this assignment home. I had a sub yesterday and gave them the assignments to send home and did not look through it carefully myself beforehand."
Principal James Lopez said a team of teachers recycled that question from an assignment written 10 to 15 years ago and at the time considered it appropriate for the grade level. He said he felt some parts were violent and the assignment is "something i don't see using again."
The Panama Buena Vista Union School District says teachers often use old material or create new assignments to comply with common core standards, because there is no common core English language arts textbook available. Dr. Pamela Bianchi from the district said the textbooks aren't expected to be available for another year.
That means teachers at Panama Buena Vista, around the county, and across the state don't have language arts materials to implement common core, a state standard set five years ago.
So in some cases they create materials that aren't approved by the state.
"Those don't have to be approved by the state, said Kathy Hill, Director of Curriculum at Kern County Superintendent of Schools. "Districts are allowed to use those and are training teachers to be able to create quality products."
Hill says some assignments like the robbery homework may fall through the cracks, and when they do, a principal or site administrator should check the work. But trust in teachers' abilities to create good assignments in the face of new standards shouldn't be lost.
"I think Kern county teachers are working very every hard to do the best job they can to teach common core and get materials from sources that are appropriate," said Hill.
Hill says English language arts textbooks and materials should be ready to purchase from the state by November. Kern county schools will probably buy them in spring of 2016 and begin using them in the fall of that school year.
In the meantime, teachers can also find materials from other states which also have common core standards. Currently, 43 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the common core state standards.
