"Teacher of the Year" quits over Common Core tests

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

*Yawn* Sorry, no. There were a whole host of people involved, to include state education officials, professors of education and childhood development, et cetera. Obviously you did NOT read up on the CC development process.

I don't think there is a lot of argument that nobody was involved in these standards. What I think is that certain people were not involved, namely front line teachers. The teachers, if there were any, were added to "review" the standards at the end. They were not part of the process from the beginning. Also, the standards were put into schools wholesale (for all grades) too soon. They were not given enough pilot time and that is where you get the feedback and where you can modify things (get the kinks out) before you go nationwide with them. This is what is causing so many problems now.

If this had all been done (people had taken time and been careful), we might not see all these states dropping out now. They aren't just doing this to have fun or something. Many had actually adopted the standards before they pulled out. It's because the standards had not been refined yet, and nobody likes to be the guinea pig (especially when high stakes tests are attached to the experiment).

Correct. They're doing it because they believe that Common Core = Obama.

There are certainly people who oppose the Common Core standards for different reasons, including the ones you give, but nonetheless opposition to Obama is the reason why the states are dropping out.

[Anonymous]

Then let the accusers present their proof that there is no evidence or research. That's how it works - burden of proof is always on the accuser.

Actually I think that the people who want to change the standards have the burden of proving that there is a problem that they are solving and that these standards are a viable solution to that "problem". A lot of money is being spent on this and they need to show that the money is spent for the betterment of the situation. They are the ones who are proposing this solution. If I propose to implant a computer chip in your brain, I should probably have to tell you why and how it will improve you. If I tell you that you have to prove why it won't be good because I don't agree with having the chip implanted, well that is not how it works. Especially if I am paying for it. You have to convince me to buy it.

[Anonymous]

I don't agree with having the chip implanted, well that is not how it works. Especially if I am paying for it.


you don't agree with having the chip implanted . . . especially when you are paying for it. I have to convince you to buy it.


Sorry!

[Anonymous]

Correct. They're doing it because they believe that Common Core = Obama.

Sigh. Give people just a little more credit than that, okay?

I personally think Common Core = Bill Gates, Pearson, etc. if I think it equals any one or two people. Maybe you could throw Arne Duncan in there for good measure, but he's mainly a kingmaker. Obama knows nothing about this really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Correct. They're doing it because they believe that Common Core = Obama.

Sigh. Give people just a little more credit than that, okay?

I personally think Common Core = Bill Gates, Pearson, etc. if I think it equals any one or two people. Maybe you could throw Arne Duncan in there for good measure, but he's mainly a kingmaker. Obama knows nothing about this really.

I will give people, in general, plenty of credit. But not the state legislators and governors who are actually making the decisions to drop out of the Common Core. Why are they doing it? Because Common Core = Obama.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Then let the accusers present their proof that there is no evidence or research. That's how it works - burden of proof is always on the accuser.

Actually I think that the people who want to change the standards have the burden of proving that there is a problem that they are solving and that these standards are a viable solution to that "problem". A lot of money is being spent on this and they need to show that the money is spent for the betterment of the situation. They are the ones who are proposing this solution. If I propose to implant a computer chip in your brain, I should probably have to tell you why and how it will improve you. If I tell you that you have to prove why it won't be good because I don't agree with having the chip implanted, well that is not how it works. Especially if I am paying for it. You have to convince me to buy it.

You've already bought the chip, though. The Common Core standards are here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Half of teachers leave after five years. I see no reason why this would not get worse.

Teacher attrition was an issue when the people who developed the Common Core curriculum were in diapers.

http://horizon.unc.edu/projects/issues/papers/Hampton.asp

How quickly we forget what we were worried about 20 years ago. The it was fear that Asian countries were getting ahead and doing a better job educating their children. FWIW, testing is a huge part of the Asian curricula.

Now for some reason some people think Finland is something to emulate (it's not). But we forget that we have universal education and if we actually invested in the public schools, we'd get much better results.

[Anonymous]

Now for some reason some people think Finland is something to emulate (it's not). But we forget that we have universal education and if we actually invested in the public schools, we'd get much better results.

False assumption. Pretty sure we invest more than most other countries--including those in Europe and Asia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Now for some reason some people think Finland is something to emulate (it's not). But we forget that we have universal education and if we actually invested in the public schools, we'd get much better results.

False assumption. Pretty sure we invest more than most other countries--including those in Europe and Asia.

We spend more on education, but we spend a lot less on social supports. As a result, we expect schools to fix the problems of poverty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Then let the accusers present their proof that there is no evidence or research. That's how it works - burden of proof is always on the accuser.

Actually I think that the people who want to change the standards have the burden of proving that there is a problem that they are solving and that these standards are a viable solution to that "problem". A lot of money is being spent on this and they need to show that the money is spent for the betterment of the situation. They are the ones who are proposing this solution. If I propose to implant a computer chip in your brain, I should probably have to tell you why and how it will improve you. If I tell you that you have to prove why it won't be good because I don't agree with having the chip implanted, well that is not how it works. Especially if I am paying for it. You have to convince me to buy it.

You don't think there's a problem? Um, I say the problem is the fact that there are millions of American kids graduating from high schools all around the country each year who can barely read, who can't make change, and who can't point out the Pacific Ocean on a world map.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Correct. They're doing it because they believe that Common Core = Obama.

Sigh. Give people just a little more credit than that, okay?

I personally think Common Core = Bill Gates, Pearson, etc. if I think it equals any one or two people. Maybe you could throw Arne Duncan in there for good measure, but he's mainly a kingmaker. Obama knows nothing about this really.

I will give people, in general, plenty of credit. But not the state legislators and governors who are actually making the decisions to drop out of the Common Core. Why are they doing it? Because Common Core = Obama.

I find it hard to give credit to those who think they can make their anti-CC case by merely repeating things like "developmentally inappropriate" without any sound basis or research for saying so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

*Yawn* Sorry, no. There were a whole host of people involved, to include state education officials, professors of education and childhood development, et cetera. Obviously you did NOT read up on the CC development process.

I don't think there is a lot of argument that nobody was involved in these standards. What I think is that certain people were not involved, namely front line teachers. The teachers, if there were any, were added to "review" the standards at the end. They were not part of the process from the beginning. Also, the standards were put into schools wholesale (for all grades) too soon. They were not given enough pilot time and that is where you get the feedback and where you can modify things (get the kinks out) before you go nationwide with them. This is what is causing so many problems now.

If this had all been done (people had taken time and been careful), we might not see all these states dropping out now. They aren't just doing this to have fun or something. Many had actually adopted the standards before they pulled out. It's because the standards had not been refined yet, and nobody likes to be the guinea pig (especially when high stakes tests are attached to the experiment).

Again, this is predicated on an entirely misinformed idea that the standards were developed in a vacuum, that they were unvetted and untested. That is completely wrong.

The CC development process did not consist of a handful of of people locked away in a room sitting around coming up with a standard from scratch. The vast majority the CC development process consisted of compiling and analyzing EXISTING state standards along with info about the rollout pilots, implementations, looking at the data, research and analysis around those. As such, there were numerous teachers involved in that prior state standards development, piloting and implementation process even before CC got off the ground. And, as it turns out, the states that had taken a bigger stake in prior standards development and who were farther along unsurprisingly did fine with the rollouts - it's the ones that drug their feet and who did not engage early on that are struggling. Essentially, some states sabotaged themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a clue:

When schools have to throw pizza parties, wear weird clothes, promise limousine rides, etc. based on SOL or other high stakes test scores, there are big problems.

Children should have fun (especially in elementary school) and through the fun they will absorb knowledge, concepts, and new ways of thinking. If they have to be bribed, the process is probably grueling and mind numbing and kids hate it. No wonder so many kids aren't thrilled about going to school.

+100
Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Plenty of people with far greater credentials and standing than you have or ever will have already reviewed the research. You're just barking into the wind with no case and no evidence of your own, you have hardly made any compelling argument here whatsoever.

Yes. Their credentials are that they work for Achieve or Pearson.

Pearson math = EVIL and nonsensical.

[Anonymous]

Now for some reason some people think Finland is something to emulate (it's not). But we forget that we have universal education and if we actually invested in the public schools, we'd get much better results.


False assumption. Pretty sure we invest more than most other countries--including those in Europe and Asia.


We spend more on education, but we spend a lot less on social supports. As a result, we expect schools to fix the problems of poverty.

+100 Now we're getting somewhere with the discussion. Common Core is not going to solve the underlying problems that are causing kids to do poorly in school.