"Teacher of the Year" quits over Common Core tests

[Anonymous]

http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2015/02/10/onslaught-tests-burn-elyria-high-starr/


"I can’t do it anymore, not in this ‘drill ‘em and kill ‘em’ atmosphere,” she said. “I don’t think anyone understands that in this environment if your child cannot quickly grasp material, study like a robot and pass all of these tests, they will not survive.”

The standing-room-only audience at the Elyria Public Library’s West River Road North branch was shocked. Starr fought back tears as she explained her life as a teacher.

The tests are developmentally inappropriate for typical students and torture for those with special needs, she said. And, even an individual education plan is not enough to shield students from the rigors of state expectations.

[Anonymous]

This is my first year student teaching. My daughter is four, so I hadn't been exposed to the common core before this year. My kindergarten class is drowning in common core waters. It takes a truly remarkable teacher to get kids up to these levels. Some of it is easy and seems like common sense. Others, not so much. I'm really worried about the future of education. I've strongly considered quitting, but I'm too far in now. Everyone at the school keeps telling me that to just do my five years and try to get a job working with policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2015/02/10/onslaught-tests-burn-elyria-high-starr/


"I can’t do it anymore, not in this ‘drill ‘em and kill ‘em’ atmosphere,” she said. “I don’t think anyone understands that in this environment if your child cannot quickly grasp material, study like a robot and pass all of these tests, they will not survive.”

The standing-room-only audience at the Elyria Public Library’s West River Road North branch was shocked. Starr fought back tears as she explained her life as a teacher.

The tests are developmentally inappropriate for typical students and torture for those with special needs, she said. And, even an individual education plan is not enough to shield students from the rigors of state expectations.

Can kids avoid Common Core curriculum by attending private schools instead of public?

[Anonymous]

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Can kids avoid Common Core curriculum by attending private schools instead of public?

Family member just took a job teaching in a private school so she could afford to send her kids there. She taught for a number of years and then worked for a university supervising student teachers. Hates common core.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is my first year student teaching. My daughter is four, so I hadn't been exposed to the common core before this year. My kindergarten class is drowning in common core waters. It takes a truly remarkable teacher to get kids up to these levels. Some of it is easy and seems like common sense. Others, not so much. I'm really worried about the future of education. I've strongly considered quitting, but I'm too far in now. Everyone at the school keeps telling me that to just do my five years and try to get a job working with policy.

Thanks from a note from the trenches. I imagine a lot of people will be abandoning teaching as the futility of these standards and testing takes hold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is my first year student teaching. My daughter is four, so I hadn't been exposed to the common core before this year. My kindergarten class is drowning in common core waters. It takes a truly remarkable teacher to get kids up to these levels. Some of it is easy and seems like common sense. Others, not so much. I'm really worried about the future of education. I've strongly considered quitting, but I'm too far in now. Everyone at the school keeps telling me that to just do my five years and try to get a job working with policy.

Which ones, not so much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The tests are developmentally inappropriate for typical students and torture for those with special needs, she said. And, even an individual education plan is not enough to shield students from the rigors of state expectations.

She's quitting before a single student has taken the PARCC test as a test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The tests are developmentally inappropriate for typical students and torture for those with special needs, she said. And, even an individual education plan is not enough to shield students from the rigors of state expectations.

She's quitting before a single student has taken the PARCC test as a test.

I am confused by the statement also. Is she referring to NCLB testing? Because as you stated, the CC tests haven't been used yet. So, is the issue really about standardized testing or CC standards?

I can't read the article in the link. The entire article is greyed out.

[Anonymous]

Right - the article is bogus - nobody has even taken the test that she is complaining about yet.

And, there's that flaky "developmentally inappropriate" talking point yet again - with NOTHING to back the assertion up.

And if any teacher is doing "drill and kill" then they are doing it wrong. There's nothing in Common Core that requires "drill and kill" - it's just a minimum set of standards, with very broad latitude in HOW it is taught, and it also does not restrict teachers from doing all the other creative stuff they want to do.

[Anonymous]

I took a sample PARCC test online for 4th grade math to see what all of the discussion was about.

I was surprised at the number of steps involved to get to the right answer for some of the questions.

An example is:
you have 4 teachers teaching a chess class. There are 18 chess boards. They order 3 more cases of 15. If each teacher has the same number of chess boards and the remainder are donated to the library, how many chess boards does each teacher get?

As adults, we can quickly see the answer is 15 but it will take a 4th grader a long time to get there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I took a sample PARCC test online for 4th grade math to see what all of the discussion was about.

I was surprised at the number of steps involved to get to the right answer for some of the questions.

An example is:
you have 4 teachers teaching a chess class. There are 18 chess boards. They order 3 more cases of 15. If each teacher has the same number of chess boards and the remainder are donated to the library, how many chess boards does each teacher get?

As adults, we can quickly see the answer is 15 but it will take a 4th grader a long time to get there.I

No, why?

18 + 3*15 = 63

63/4 = 15 R 3

The computation isn't complicated, and if the math curriculum is good, then the fourth-graders will have plenty of experience solving word problems like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I took a sample PARCC test online for 4th grade math to see what all of the discussion was about.

I was surprised at the number of steps involved to get to the right answer for some of the questions.

An example is:
you have 4 teachers teaching a chess class. There are 18 chess boards. They order 3 more cases of 15. If each teacher has the same number of chess boards and the remainder are donated to the library, how many chess boards does each teacher get?

As adults, we can quickly see the answer is 15 but it will take a 4th grader a long time to get there.I

No, why?

18 + 3*15 = 63

63/4 = 15 R 3

The computation isn't complicated, and if the math curriculum is good, then the fourth-graders will have plenty of experience solving word problems like this.

It's even simpler than that.

4 teachers. 3 new sets of 15 chess boards. To give the same number to the 4th teacher, take 15 from the 18 you already have. There's only 3 left, not enough for each of the 4 teachers to have 1 more. You're done. No multiplication and no division, just 18-15 and 3<4.

If you start by computing, it takes a long time and is fairly complicated. If you start by thinking, it's trivial.

(Hat tip to DC's 1st grade teacher, who has been teaching DC, and thus me indirectly, how to start by thinking.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2015/02/10/onslaught-tests-burn-elyria-high-starr/


"I can’t do it anymore, not in this ‘drill ‘em and kill ‘em’ atmosphere,” she said. “I don’t think anyone understands that in this environment if your child cannot quickly grasp material, study like a robot and pass all of these tests, they will not survive.”

The standing-room-only audience at the Elyria Public Library’s West River Road North branch was shocked. Starr fought back tears as she explained her life as a teacher.

The tests are developmentally inappropriate for typical students and torture for those with special needs, she said. And, even an individual education plan is not enough to shield students from the rigors of state expectations.

I know Elyria well. It's not exactly a good school system.

Also, this is the "teacher of the year" according to ... Kelly Ripa? The winner chosen by ... ONLINE VOTING?

Spare me your righteous indignation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I took a sample PARCC test online for 4th grade math to see what all of the discussion was about.

I was surprised at the number of steps involved to get to the right answer for some of the questions.

An example is:
you have 4 teachers teaching a chess class. There are 18 chess boards. They order 3 more cases of 15. If each teacher has the same number of chess boards and the remainder are donated to the library, how many chess boards does each teacher get?

As adults, we can quickly see the answer is 15 but it will take a 4th grader a long time to get there.I

No, why?

18 + 3*15 = 63

63/4 = 15 R 3

Are 4th graders now taught how to do problems with multiple orders of operation?

The computation isn't complicated, and if the math curriculum is good, then the fourth-graders will have plenty of experience solving word problems like this.