Teachers, parents souring on Common Core across U.S.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Complete nonsense - fact is, the vast majority of the standards were compiled through a process of researching and comparing numerous existing "best-of-breed" standards that already existed in various states. It WAS NOT developed "in isolation" and it was vetted at numerous levels.

No.

"No"? No what? No, the people made the standards up out of thin air?

"No" as in childish denial, throwing one's self to the floor, screaming and flailing limbs in the hopes that it might somehow change a reality that the PP doesn't like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have yet to see any really good defense of the standards. My problem: it fosters the belief that kids come to the teacher on a plane. They don't.

No, all children don't start out with the same abilities, knowledge, intellectual capacity, and skills, which I assume is what you mean by "kids come to the teacher on a plane".

You *could* build a system that set different goals for different groups of children based on where they were at the start of the year and what their presumed intellectual capacity was. But then you would not be creating uniform grade level standards.

"By the end of their 3rd grade year, students should have mastered the times table to the 9s" -- that's a uniform standard and an expectation of all students. If the students haven't reached that standard, they are behind where they should be.

In the past, states have had standards for each grade level, but the standards were not uniform -- each state had its own standard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have yet to see any really good defense of the standards. My problem: it fosters the belief that kids come to the teacher on a plane. They don't.

No, all children don't start out with the same abilities, knowledge, intellectual capacity, and skills, which I assume is what you mean by "kids come to the teacher on a plane".

You *could* build a system that set different goals for different groups of children based on where they were at the start of the year and what their presumed intellectual capacity was. But then you would not be creating uniform grade level standards.

"By the end of their 3rd grade year, students should have mastered the times table to the 9s" -- that's a uniform standard and an expectation of all students. If the students haven't reached that standard, they are behind where they should be.

In the past, states have had standards for each grade level, but the standards were not uniform -- each state had its own standard.

And that was a problem. It causes disparity in education, and can make it difficult for kids that move from state to state. My DCs experienced this. Crazy that a person can live in one country but have to deal with different educational standards from one place to another.

[Anonymous]

I just came from visiting northenr and southenr Cali, where I looked at the material and the books used by different schools and was surprised how different common core was interpreted and implemented in every school. I looked at the math material/books of 3 privates and 4 counties near LA, none using the same books, and each school holding meetings with parents and telling him why they believe the specific book they were using would be the best to prepare the students for Common Core.
It is a pity because many strong and experienced math teachers are opting to teach beyond prealgebra/algebra/geometry in order to avoid all this common core confusion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just came from visiting northenr and southenr Cali, where I looked at the material and the books used by different schools and was surprised how different common core was interpreted and implemented in every school. I looked at the math material/books of 3 privates and 4 counties near LA, none using the same books, and each school holding meetings with parents and telling him why they believe the specific book they were using would be the best to prepare the students for Common Core.
It is a pity because many strong and experienced math teachers are opting to teach beyond prealgebra/algebra/geometry in order to avoid all this common core confusion.

A lot of textbook companies simply and illegitimately rebranded their stale old existing content as "Common Core" without really changing much of anything - educators need to hold them accountable and make better choices about their textbooks and materials.