Differences between VA and Common Core States

[Anonymous]

I moved here from a cc state. Seems about the same. Maybe it's the teacher we have this year (lack of creativity?). Child is in grade 3. We get lots of common core worksheets for homework.

[Anonymous]

I don't know enough about common core to give much of an opinion. Certainly seems like it has become overly politicized. I do think, however, that we need to have some sort of national standard to evaluate how our schools are performing. Just how much testing and common curriculum that should entail is debateable, but I do not understand some of the resistance to some sort of way of seeing how schools and children are performing on a national level. Everytime people get into a greatschools debate on this forum, someone will inevitably point out that you can't compare ratings across state lines. In the ever increasingly globalized world in which we live, shouldn't we have some way to quantify how one school stacks up against another school, even in different parts of the country?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here -- again.

One last thing -- anyone support common core/Virginia system?

We have done private school in the past and know first hand the benefits of not having so much testing. However, in our experience, private school was also not the perfect educational system for our kids -- math/science types that pushed the boundaries of what was offered academically at their school, and another child who has a mild LD.

Regardless of the spreadsheets that turn up, it seems to me that there is too much concern to quantify than to qualify. I would send my kids back to private if I could find the perfect fit for their skill sets and needs, but I haven't been able to. The only thing screwing up public education for my family so far is the attention to testing and teaching to the test.

Yes, I support it. I want federal funding and I believe common core standards are better and higher than those in Virginia. The state gives FCPS so little funding and now to cut testing but then require counties to conduct the testing on their own dime. Wish someone would have shut up that Alexandria representative. Probably thought somehow people would think Alexandria schools were better since there were less tests. Sorry, but I'm not falling for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should just use the search function on this forum. It's been discussed. Short answer, not that much difference.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/369125.page

+1
I keep hearing that the VA SOLs are in alignment with CC standards. And judging by the crap worksheets they send home (hello, Pearson Math) and the content of SOLs made public from past years, they might as well be CC. The questions are vague, often have more than one answer, and seem deliberately designed to trip students up. In short, the SOLs are just as horrendous as CC.

[Anonymous]

I am mostly worried that the teaching corps is losing its ability to create, especially the new teachers. Many are reaching for the ready made materials and they are not even looking at them before they send them home. Many items are probably irrelevant based on what has occurred in the classroom during the day or many items are just plain "bad". If they were creating their own materials, there would be a match to instruction.

[Anonymous]

deliberately designed to trip students up.

+1 I'm a teacher and those canned worksheets are tripping me up. School should not be an exercise in frustration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I am mostly worried that the teaching corps is losing its ability to create, especially the new teachers. Many are reaching for the ready made materials and they are not even looking at them before they send them home. Many items are probably irrelevant based on what has occurred in the classroom during the day or many items are just plain "bad". If they were creating their own materials, there would be a match to instruction.

Agree. DS's teacher sends home math worksheets that she couldn't have possibly previewed before sending them home. Or maybe she just doesn't care. The worksheets are poor copies, hard to read, missing information - some problems are impossible to decipher. It's unbelievable. I am having to teach my child math myself, at home. So disappointed and not surprised that DS is lagging in math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I am mostly worried that the teaching corps is losing its ability to create, especially the new teachers. Many are reaching for the ready made materials and they are not even looking at them before they send them home. Many items are probably irrelevant based on what has occurred in the classroom during the day or many items are just plain "bad". If they were creating their own materials, there would be a match to instruction.

Agree. DS's teacher sends home math worksheets that she couldn't have possibly previewed before sending them home. Or maybe she just doesn't care. The worksheets are poor copies, hard to read, missing information - some problems are impossible to decipher. It's unbelievable. I am having to teach my child math myself, at home. So disappointed and not surprised that DS is lagging in math.

You are complaining about worksheets that FCPS teachers are getting through ecart or somewhere else. They are not common core worksheets nor any part of a particular curriculum book. We had this same problem till finally we got a teacher who actually printed just the Pearson workbook pages and finally everything is cohesive and makes sense. This is upper elementary, so perhaps Pearson is poor in the early elementary years. I remember reading that this was true. But either way, the poor worksheets you are getting are not because of common core.

[Anonymous]

And sadly those poorly printed worksheets that you can hardly read are the ones that teachers actually hand pick. I remember when my child was 1st grade getting a sheet with only two additional problems on the entire page and the instructions cut off and thinking why even bother printing this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I am mostly worried that the teaching corps is losing its ability to create, especially the new teachers. Many are reaching for the ready made materials and they are not even looking at them before they send them home. Many items are probably irrelevant based on what has occurred in the classroom during the day or many items are just plain "bad". If they were creating their own materials, there would be a match to instruction.

Agree. DS's teacher sends home math worksheets that she couldn't have possibly previewed before sending them home. Or maybe she just doesn't care. The worksheets are poor copies, hard to read, missing information - some problems are impossible to decipher. It's unbelievable. I am having to teach my child math myself, at home. So disappointed and not surprised that DS is lagging in math.

You are complaining about worksheets that FCPS teachers are getting through ecart or somewhere else. They are not common core worksheets nor any part of a particular curriculum book. We had this same problem till finally we got a teacher who actually printed just the Pearson workbook pages and finally everything is cohesive and makes sense. This is upper elementary, so perhaps Pearson is poor in the early elementary years. I remember reading that this was true. But either way, the poor worksheets you are getting are not because of common core.

No, the worksheets I'm complaining about are from Pearson Math and they are directly aligned to the VA SOLs - I know they aren't CC, but they aren't eCART either. The quality of Pearson math is horrible and the worksheets reflect this. This is 5th grade, by the way, and the other parents feel the same way. There have been lots of complaints.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I am mostly worried that the teaching corps is losing its ability to create, especially the new teachers. Many are reaching for the ready made materials and they are not even looking at them before they send them home. Many items are probably irrelevant based on what has occurred in the classroom during the day or many items are just plain "bad". If they were creating their own materials, there would be a match to instruction.

Agree. DS's teacher sends home math worksheets that she couldn't have possibly previewed before sending them home. Or maybe she just doesn't care. The worksheets are poor copies, hard to read, missing information - some problems are impossible to decipher. It's unbelievable. I am having to teach my child math myself, at home. So disappointed and not surprised that DS is lagging in math.

You are complaining about worksheets that FCPS teachers are getting through ecart or somewhere else. They are not common core worksheets nor any part of a particular curriculum book. We had this same problem till finally we got a teacher who actually printed just the Pearson workbook pages and finally everything is cohesive and makes sense. This is upper elementary, so perhaps Pearson is poor in the early elementary years. I remember reading that this was true. But either way, the poor worksheets you are getting are not because of common core.

No, the worksheets I'm complaining about are from Pearson Math and they are directly aligned to the VA SOLs - I know they aren't CC, but they aren't eCART either. The quality of Pearson math is horrible and the worksheets reflect this. This is 5th grade, by the way, and the other parents feel the same way. There have been lots of complaints.

Pearson has a common core workbook. Have you ever compared the two to see which are better? We love the 3rd and 4th grade Pearson worksheets and ours are printed clearly.

[Anonymous]

There are links here to comparisons of SOLs and CC:

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/common_core/