SHERBURNE – In a continuing effort to help parents make sense of the Common Core controversy, the Sherburne-Earlville Central School Parent Advocate Group hosted an educational forum Thursday to shed light on the options parents have in New York’s latest attempt at education reform.

The forum, held at the S-E High School, featured an expert panel of educators and parents who argued the Common Core is pushing students in the wrong direction. But in spite of state mandated practices in the classroom, parents still have choices when it comes to their child's education, they said, and those options are worth exploring.

“We want to help parents understand the dangers of the Common Core and how we feel it is adversely affecting children,” explained Parent Advocate Group spokesperson Julie Bigger. “Our immediate goal is to have people understand that they're able to refuse these new state tests. The state has been less than forthcoming with information. We're simply tying to clear up the confusion.”

Although the mission of the Common Core standards is to make students college and career ready, Bigger says the unintentional implications for parents, teachers and students have proven unfavorable as it hinders individualized instruction for students who learn at a different pace, and ties the hands of teachers who would benefit from altering class lessons.

“Standards aren’t new. We've always had standards,” Bigger added. “But we don't need government to dictate to us what standards should be. We've always had good teachers and we should put the trust back in those teachers to teach the best way they know how.”

To date, 45 states, including New York, have adopted the Common Core in place of state-set standards. The roots of Common Core go back to a 2009 federal stimulus bill that provided funding for the “Race tot he Top” initiative between states. To be eligible for federal funding, each state was required to adopt the Common Core. As an extra incentive, states that adopted the Common Core have also been exempted from many provisions of the preceding “No Child Left Behind Act” that was implemented in 2001.

However, there's more to the controversy being hidden in smoke and mirrors, according to Bigger. Thursday's forum touched on a number of clouded issues, including the contentious learning modules (or scripted lesson plans) that are required as part of the Common Core. Other topics included the collection and sharing of student data among public and private entities, the consequences of high-stakes testing, and most importantly, said Bigger, the option for parents to refuse state tests.