How do you feel about Common Core education?

by nonjwspouse 107 Replies latest social current

• 

  Berengaria

  Speaker: Common Core gives teachers freedom

  September 21, 2013 10:30 PM ShareThis | Print Story | E-Mail Story BY SARAH WOMER - @YSSARAHWOMER

  Common Core gives teachers more freedom than before in the classroom, something that Yuma officials say they are embracing.

  As part of a presentation featuring the Yuma Union High School District, Associate Superintendent James Sheldahl debunked a few myths that exist on the Common Core State Standards.

  Sheldahl explained to a group of community members in attendance during this month's Know Yuma: Inside and Out presentation that contrary to popular belief the new standards are not nationally mandated, they were developed by governors and state school chiefs. He added that Arizona voluntarily signed on to become a Common Core State Standards state.

  Other schools of thought are that the current state tests, such as AIMS (Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards), aren't broken and a new end of year test like the PARCC (Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) is not needed. The PARCC exam is currently being considered by Arizona's State Board of Education and the Department of Education as a possible assessment to replace the AIMS.

  "Some say the AIMS test is fine; well, we have all kinds of data we can show you and all kind of scattergrams to show you that the AIMS exam is not fine... The AIMS test is not aligned to college readiness. There are multiple highly reputable research organizations that have done research on that and have come to the same conclusion."

  Also, he said that Common Core does not dictate texts that teachers will use for instruction.

  "In the past there were a handful of textbook companies that pretty much dictated what teachers around the country used as resources in the classroom," he said. "...What standards are, is a statement in each academic area - statements that clearly describe what kids need to know or be able to do. It doesn't say how the teachers need to teach it... Most of our teachers who teach in the Cambridge curriculum find it very liberating, they find that they can actually be much more creative and much more resourceful in their teaching and what they can provide to their kids prior to textbook bound curriculum."

  Now, Sheldahl said, students have netbooks and teachers provide students with historical documents, for example, instead of reading from an 18-pound textbooks, which the district hasn't purchased since 2007.

  Administrator Laura Campbell added that the courses YUHSD is offering to students through their recent Ready Now Yuma initiative are focused in the Cambridge curriculum, which are already aligned to the Common Core State Standards.

  Campbell, who is the district's Ready Now Yuma director, explained that the Cambridge curriculum is no longer based on things like students memorizing content, but developing their skills necessary to be successful in their pursuits after graduation like analytical and critical thinking skills.

  In history, for example, she said that it won't focus on 10,000 years ago to modern day, but it will allow them to go deeper into authentic historical documents.

  She commented that along with the Common Core, the district's college and career readiness approach focuses on: think, know, go, act strategies.

  "When students are actively involved in their own learning and they're guiding where they're going in a course or within their high school career, they're much more involved and those skills and techniques just become a part of who they are as opposed to something we're trying to force feed down their throat," she said.

  
  
  Read more: http://www.yumasun.com/articles/common-89721-core-teachers.html#ixzz2k45SN2cp
• 

  nonjwspouse

  Obuliette,

  Did you watch the video? That parent did not push the police officer. He stood up and asked a non pre prepared question and others in the room were happy he was asking it.

  A student excels when given opportunity. Harverd potentials are every where, the cost of sending them there is what stops most of them.Your math does not even take that in to account. My own children could have been accepted there, but we didn't have that kind of money! To aim to teach to the 10th grade level for all students by graduation is absurd when you really recognise what it is doing. Yes there need to have options in a classroom/school for technical and vocational classes for those children who choose them. But to aim for lowered education for all students is just another way to create worker drones.

  Do your research. It is highly confusig and very secretive. Does that not ring warning bells in YOUR head?
• 

  Gypsy Sam

  I read some rather disturbing information about it a few months ago. I ended up feeling relieved my daughter is a junior and I'm paying for private high school. I am not a teacher so I could be mistaken in my viewpoint, I'm in Florida and the public school system is lagging way behind, based on what I see and have read.
• 

  Berengaria

  Private schools are also adopting common core.

  There is nothing secretive about it. Here is the website http://www.corestandards.org/
• 

  nonjwspouse

  Berengaria

  The secretive part is how it has been developed and the direction. The marketing of common core has been very good, not only come privater schools bit even some homeshool curriculum! It means they will "teach to the test". I provided some links for onfo, and there are still many more. It is not about giving kids the best education, common core is political. Trying to get to the "core" of the development of this program is confusing. The marketing is slick. Follow the money with this, check names and foundations.

  http://dianeravitch.net/2013/01/27/13491/

  (another link addressing the develpment of the common core.)
• 

  Oubliette

  nonjwspouse: Do your research. It is highly confusig and very secretive.

  Well those are both ignorant things for you to say! (BTW, you spelled "confusing" wrong).

  In response to your first comment let me start by saying you know nothing about me. So allow me to give you a brief thumb-nail sketch: I am a secondary school teacher in a state in the US that has adopted the CCSS. I have participated in several district-led workshops designed to introduce the over-arching concepts of CCSS and discuss how teachers can best implement these principles nto our teaching. I have both read and written extensively on this subject in professional journals. As part of the MAED program which I am currently taking, my cohort members and I read, discuss, debate and theorize about the pros and cons of the new CCSS. Two themes that have been emphasized repeatedly are these:

  1. Students will learn Critical Thinking Skills with the ultimate goal of being College and/or Career ready upon graduation, and
  2. Teachers will have more latitude in the manner and modalities of instruction in their individual teaching assignment.

  I teach in a school district that has both extremely high achieving students as well as Special Ed students. Within just the last couple of years I have had many of my own students attend universities ranging from local community colleges to Ivy League schools. A couple of years ago we had an unprecedented seven seniors awarded National Merit Scholarships. Four of them were my students. All went to some of the top institutions of Higher Learning in the country; for example: one went to Princeton, another to Brown.

  Some of my former students keep in touch from time to time. Here are a few of the highlights: Molecular Biologist, Pre-med student, MBA in Business. Hopefully you get the idea.

  So for you to say I need to "do my research" is just plain silly. You shouldn't assume that people you don't know are ignorant. It's not nice and it annoys them.

  To address your second point: What are you smoking?

  I can see why some of this is confusing to you, but there is nothing secret about CCSS. Berengaria was good enough to post a link to the national website discussing it. Did you go there? Did you read any of it?

  If you want to have an informed opinion, you should be going to the original source documents rather than reading the rants of other ill-informed people.

  Here is an excerpt from that website describing the purpose of the Common Core Standards:

  • [To] provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy. - [Emphasis added]

  No doubt you can google the CCSS for your own state and see what they have to say. Here is a random sampling:

  • Massachusetts
  • California
  • Washington State
  • Florida
  • Kansas
  • North Carolina

  It only took me a few seconds to find all the above information. So for you, or anyone else, to say there is something "secret" about the CCSS is just bizarre considering how easy it is to access public information via the internet, the same tool you used to assert there is something "secret" about it. Perhaps you think aliens or the Illuminati are behind the whole thing.

  As I stated in my first post on this thread, "I love the ideals, but I'm not naive enough to think it will solve all the woes of public education in the US.

  The underlying concepts and goals of teaching young people to THINK CRITICALLY and to be COLLEGE and/or CAREER READY when they leave high school are laudable. It will hard to implement and no doubt many publishing companies will make a killing as all the textbooks across the country suddenly become "obsolete" because they do not "align with the new standards."

  That being said, I suspect many school districts and many individual schools will have difficulties implementing the stated goals of the CCSS. This is where NCLB got derailed and actually ended up causing more harm than good.

  Fortunately for me as an educator, I work in a district that "gets it" with respect to the CCSS. We actually will have MORE latitude in our classrooms in regard to how we teach our students to think and solve problems.

  Perhaps a course in critical thinking skills is just what you need.

  Oubliette

  PS - You're right, I didn't watch the video. But I did read the published news report about the "Harvard" incident as referenced in the link you provided. Apparently the two are not in agreement as to the actual events the led to the man's arrest.
• 

  Oubliette

  Here's a video you may find both humorous and illuminating in regard to the subject of this thread:

  Why We Need the Common Core or: I Choose "C":

  I Choose "C" or Why We Need the Common Core
• 

  Berengaria

  The complaint that teachers have to "teach to the test" is a long standing one. My limited experience with common core is that it actually gives teachers more opportunity for creativity. One thing I have heard (from teachers) is that those teachers who have been teaching for some time and are comfortable with their routines, have a lot of work ahead of them. They are not happy about it. Teachers who are already engaged and creative will have easier going. We have two young English teachers that are new to our school, they both came in last year and comprise the "English Department" at our small school. They are doing amazing things.

  Remember, each state/school district is responsible for creating their own curriculum under the standards.

  Most of the articles you have linked do not cite the fear and paranoia that you are presenting. Of course there will always be discussions and disagreements on the best way to accomplish any goal. Nothing wrong with that as long as those discussions are based on facts and understanding of the subject.

  We are done a great disservice when people like Glen Beck weigh in with their fear mongering tactics on such important issues.
• 

  Berengaria

  Bravo Oubliette!!
• 

  Oubliette

  Berengaria: Bravo Oubliette!!

  You're welcome! It's nice to be appreciated.