


Mary Fallin
Oklahoma gave Common Core an 'F,' but its teachers still give it an 'A'

OKLAHOMA CITY Common Core may no longer be law in Oklahoma, but it has not disappeared from the classrooms. Heather Sparks, Oklahoma's 2009 Teacher of the Year, teaches eighth-grade math. In her classroom at Taft Junior High School, students gather at round tables to mold chunks of play dough into spheres, cubes, cylinders, pyramids and cones. The classroom is loud. Sparks moves from one table to the next. "What happens if you cut it again?" she says. "What happens if you slice it from base to base?" The point is to help students explore mathematics. "The idea is that you learn it and retain it longer if you discover the mathematical relationship...