Is there a place in BAT for those not 100% anti-CCSS?

I am currently help prepare teachers (7-12 math/science) after a previous life of classroom teaching (7-12 math)-during my time in the classroom, the state revamped the curriculum at least 3 times (other minor adjustments, but 3 overhauls)...While each change showed some improvement (at one point, the geometry curriculum was over 6 pages long-and I am not talking about rich descriptions of topics-6 pages of lists of objectives).

What I like about the common core (math) is the shift from trying to "touch" on so many topics each year to focusing on key foundational blocks (e.g., numeracy first, then operations, then fractions, etc). The plan is well-scaffolded. To me, most concerns seem to be on the testing and how will students pass the tests, how much will it cost, is this a plan to make schools "fail" and have to be taken over, etc. All of these concerns are on the testing of the standards...I just do not believe, given my classroom experience, work with current and future teachers, that the problems we are facing are due to the CCSS...I think they are being used as a convenient scapegoat.

I work with K-12 inservice teachers in addition to preparing future teachers; the early elementary grades, who are working with students have always done CCSS-are doing well with it-and their students are doing very well. It is impressive to observe what these students are capable of doing/explaining/and discussing-in 1st grade! On the other hand, I work with middle school teachers who are being forced to implement a curriculum that is clearly scaffolded-but whose students were not taught with the curriculum in the earlier grades as it had not been adopted-for these students and teachers, implementing the CCSS is very challenging-but again-I do not think this is because of the standards themselves-I think it is due to the poor implementation plan.

The schools we work with in our program are not super schools-they are rural schools faced with very limited resources and high childhood poverty; one of our LEAs is one of the "top" sites for meth use-and yet-they are doing amazing things in the classroom. Hearing a first grade class, many of whom could not say let alone write the alphabet in August, explain their mathematical reasoning as to why they knew 8 + 9 was 17 was inspiring.

CCSS will not save the schools-the implementation timeline is ridiculous and the testing clearly has ulterior motives-but the math CCSS make students think-and they are capable of doing more-when we focus on several key ideas during the year rather than 80 different learning targets.