"Teacher of the Year" quits over Common Core tests

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

"Peanuts" redundantly being spent in state A, state B, state C, district X, district Y, district Z, a thousand flowers blooming. As the saying goes, "a couple million here, a couple million there, and pretty soon you're talking real money." And that's what was ALREADY GOING ON prior to Common Core. The reality is that what you think was "peanuts" then gets multiplied a thousandfold at the state and local level and actually ends up costing far more than Common Core. Get past your myopia and look at the big picture. One set of standards is actually cheaper, more cost-effective and provides far greater ROI than the way it had been done prior with a thousand flowers blooming.

Not true. States were not spending that much money writing standards. What is your source?

Not any state individually, but take the amount that a state was spending and multiply it by 50 to account for all 50 states each developing their standards, plus a lot of additional spending on standards that various districts within the states were also independently developing and you rapidly come up with a really big number.

Virginia spent $379 million on developing their Standards of Learning. Florida spent $404 million on their state standard. That appears to be the typical amount per state. Multiply that typical amount out by 50 states and you're at 18 billion dollars spent on separate state education standards as the status quo prior to Common Core. Common Core did not cost anywhere near 18 billion to develop. Not even remotely. Consider that talking point of "Common Core costs sooo much" as BUSTED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Is the government in charge of everything now?

Beginning to look that way. Just added the internet this week.

Ah, those silly Tea Partiers - they think the whole world is being taken over by a communist Kenyan muslin.

[Anonymous]

One set of standards is actually cheaper, more cost-effective and provides far greater ROI than the way it had been done prior with a thousand flowers blooming.

But a thousand flowers blooming is a beautiful field of color.

The diversity of experience and thought due to expansion of experiences through differing standards and curricula was positive. If tests are the same and textbooks are all made by the same 2 or 3 companies, well, BORING. It's like having McDonald's and Subway all over.

[Anonymous]

Is the government in charge of everything now?


Beginning to look that way. Just added the internet this week.


Ah, those silly Tea Partiers - they think the whole world is being taken over by a communist Kenyan muslin.

Standards written by a central committee behind closed doors? This must be the Chinese communists. When are the little red books coming (electronically of course)?

[Anonymous]

Common Core did not cost anywhere near 18 billion to develop.

But it's nowhere near done. It's just the beginning.

[Anonymous]

Standards written by a central committee behind closed doors? This must be the Chinese communists. When are the little red books coming (electronically of course)?

+1000000

[Anonymous]

The diversity of experience and thought due to expansion of experiences through differing standards and curricula was positive. If tests are the same and textbooks are all made by the same 2 or 3 companies, well, BORING. It's like having McDonald's and Subway all over.

Love it! And, I thought the Libs hated Mickey D's.

[Anonymous]

I was talking to a colleague this week and she said, "This is going to be death by a thousand cuts" (CC). Unfortunately it's going to be slow and painful. Too bad we can't just rip off the bandaid quickly.

[Anonymous]

The diversity of experience and thought due to expansion of experiences through differing standards and curricula was positive. If tests are the same and textbooks are all made by the same 2 or 3 companies, well, BORING. It's like having McDonald's and Subway all over.


Love it! And, I thought the Libs hated Mickey D's.

They do!! I'm the above poster and I'm liberal and I am anti CC. I don't believe in the kind of "equity" the CC people are trying to create. They don't understand what "equity" means. I believe in giving opportunities, but in realizing that we are a million different flowers blooming. We can create an interesting and beautiful country if we keep our freedoms intact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


Have you ever been in a public school? Doesn't sound like it. Some of them were great places before all this testing.



Right, which is why we graduated millions of kids who were at best semiliterate, unable to make change, unable to point out the Pacific Ocean on a world map, who think Abe Lincoln was one of the Founding Fathers, and that Ben Franklin was one of our first Presidents, et cetera....

Great place maybe, but education sure wasn't so great...



Wonderful that you believe all of that. I will let my students know what you think of them next time they service your car, prepare your restaurant meal and serve it, cut your hair, repair your roads, fix your plumbing, service your HVAC, draw plans for your landscaping, etc. I will ask them if they can tell you about Ben Franklin and then I will say that they are not worthy to be there working for you because you expect them to be able to point to the Pacific Ocean before they can work for you.

Millions of worthless people? You underestimate people by a long shot. Someone might not meet the standard for who Ben Franklin is, but that says absolutely nothing about what they CAN do.

I didn't say anything about "worthless." How about we let them know that our educational system shortchanged them and that they have a bleaker future now, instead they could have been doing so much better in life than being limited to working in manual labor jobs that are rapidly going away due to outsourcing and automation.

That's something that you need to come to grips with. You might know classrooms (though I am skeptical that you are actually a teacher) but I definitely think you are seriously out of touch with the challenges facing kids after they get out of school these days. I've mentored a lot of kids and helped get career and life coaching on track, I've interviewed and hired a lot of recent grads, I've served on advisory boards to colleges, I have seen a lot and I do know a thing or two about this.



Not either PP, but I am glad responder has shared her expertise with us. I hope she will explain to me how we are to outsource auto mechanics, HVAC, landscaping, service people, etc.



NP - Um, companies hire Mexicans for that work these days...

Which brings up a whole other side to the issue of us all having to go to college to get jobs that pay . . . and how that is affecting the pressure to put in these standards and tests . . . and begs the question of what will happen to those who just cannot meet these standards . . . what are we giving to those people when they are in school? What do they leave with?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Standards written by a central committee behind closed doors? This must be the Chinese communists. When are the little red books coming (electronically of course)?

+1000000

One can only surmise that this was intended as a joke but of course the "behind closed doors" was already debunked a hundred times over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The diversity of experience and thought due to expansion of experiences through differing standards and curricula was positive. If tests are the same and textbooks are all made by the same 2 or 3 companies, well, BORING. It's like having McDonald's and Subway all over.

Love it! And, I thought the Libs hated Mickey D's.

But that's not the case. There's a lot of open source curriculum meeting CC standards emerging, there are a lot of options and things that can be. If schools only decide to buy from the same 2 or 3 companies that's their own doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


Have you ever been in a public school? Doesn't sound like it. Some of them were great places before all this testing.



Right, which is why we graduated millions of kids who were at best semiliterate, unable to make change, unable to point out the Pacific Ocean on a world map, who think Abe Lincoln was one of the Founding Fathers, and that Ben Franklin was one of our first Presidents, et cetera....

Great place maybe, but education sure wasn't so great...



Wonderful that you believe all of that. I will let my students know what you think of them next time they service your car, prepare your restaurant meal and serve it, cut your hair, repair your roads, fix your plumbing, service your HVAC, draw plans for your landscaping, etc. I will ask them if they can tell you about Ben Franklin and then I will say that they are not worthy to be there working for you because you expect them to be able to point to the Pacific Ocean before they can work for you.

Millions of worthless people? You underestimate people by a long shot. Someone might not meet the standard for who Ben Franklin is, but that says absolutely nothing about what they CAN do.

I didn't say anything about "worthless." How about we let them know that our educational system shortchanged them and that they have a bleaker future now, instead they could have been doing so much better in life than being limited to working in manual labor jobs that are rapidly going away due to outsourcing and automation.

That's something that you need to come to grips with. You might know classrooms (though I am skeptical that you are actually a teacher) but I definitely think you are seriously out of touch with the challenges facing kids after they get out of school these days. I've mentored a lot of kids and helped get career and life coaching on track, I've interviewed and hired a lot of recent grads, I've served on advisory boards to colleges, I have seen a lot and I do know a thing or two about this.



Not either PP, but I am glad responder has shared her expertise with us. I hope she will explain to me how we are to outsource auto mechanics, HVAC, landscaping, service people, etc.



NP - Um, companies hire Mexicans for that work these days...

Which brings up a whole other side to the issue of us all having to go to college to get jobs that pay . . . and how that is affecting the pressure to put in these standards and tests . . . and begs the question of what will happen to those who just cannot meet these standards . . . what are we giving to those people when they are in school? What do they leave with?

That's already been the case for decades - one's income potential is much lower if you don't go to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The diversity of experience and thought due to expansion of experiences through differing standards and curricula was positive. If tests are the same and textbooks are all made by the same 2 or 3 companies, well, BORING. It's like having McDonald's and Subway all over.


Love it! And, I thought the Libs hated Mickey D's.

They do!! I'm the above poster and I'm liberal and I am anti CC. I don't believe in the kind of "equity" the CC people are trying to create. They don't understand what "equity" means. I believe in giving opportunities, but in realizing that we are a million different flowers blooming. We can create an interesting and beautiful country if we keep our freedoms intact.

How is it giving kids opportunities when you let them slide without meaningful expectations rather than trying to maximize their potential? How is it giving kids opportunities when you spend more time on sight words than you do on phonics, leaving them with limited vocabulary and literacy? How is it giving kids opportunities when you don't give them robust enough math skills to be able to think on their feet and figure out in their head on the spot whether something's a bargain or not, let alone the skills to plan and budget their finances? How is it giving kids opportunities when you shut them out of college because what you have taught them has left them woefully unprepared? Don't you see that this kind of educational malpractice and lackluster mediocrity in the system has been TAKING AWAY freedom?

[Anonymous]

One can only surmise that this was intended as a joke but of course the "behind closed doors" was already debunked a hundred times over.

That's the joke. Why did the committee members have to sign confidentiality agreements? Why don't they post the results of their surveys? Why don't they post anything concrete?