FYI: Indiana withdrawing from Common Core standards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dear Jack,

If you had just listened to your parents instead of to your teachers you would have known to secretly calculate the answer the sane way, and only afterwards do the goofy common-core hoop-jumping, so you can verify that the answers match.

Sincerely,
Your Dad

Do you really think that teachers are teaching children that the best way to subtract a three-digit number from another three-digit number is to use a number line?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are using a number line to subtract 3 digit numbers from 3 digit numbers. something is wrong. KISS is my motto.

+ 1000

The crutch of the Common Core BS is that students should have a deeper understanding. My father-in-law who was a theoretical physicist always said 2 + 2 = 4. You can prove it with diagrams and models or you can just memorize the math fact. Memorizing to solve math problems is faster and works for the needs of the majority of students who take those skills into adulthood. 99% of the population will never have to go through life proving why math works. It is more important to spend education dollars teaching basic math skills so math can be done quickly without aids such as calculators and number lines.

[Anonymous]

One of the Common Core standards actually is memorizing 2 + 2 = 4.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Indiana. LOL. This problem is idiotic. Who of us who learned the traditional way, rote algorithms to do calculations quickly and efficiently, do NOT understand that when you subtract you are subtracting hundreds and tens and ones. Who needs to be hit over the head with a hammer with those concepts? I never had a problem not knowing this and this approach in the worksheet is totally confusing and making something easy much more difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are using a number line to subtract 3 digit numbers from 3 digit numbers. something is wrong. KISS is my motto.

+ 1000

The crutch of the Common Core BS is that students should have a deeper understanding. My father-in-law who was a theoretical physicist always said 2 + 2 = 4. You can prove it with diagrams and models or you can just memorize the math fact. Memorizing to solve math problems is faster and works for the needs of the majority of students who take those skills into adulthood. 99% of the population will never have to go through life proving why math works. It is more important to spend education dollars teaching basic math skills so math can be done quickly without aids such as calculators and number lines.

More simply don't understand math. Hence the incredible consumption of lottery tickets.

Math found the Malaysian Air plane, FWIW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Indiana. LOL. This problem is idiotic. Who of us who learned the traditional way, rote algorithms to do calculations quickly and efficiently, do NOT understand that when you subtract you are subtracting hundreds and tens and ones. Who needs to be hit over the head with a hammer with those concepts? I never had a problem not knowing this and this approach in the worksheet is totally confusing and making something easy much more difficult.

Lots, actually. Just ask the PP's physicsist father-in-law. Or you -- a number line is not conceptually complicated, and you shouldn't be confused by it.

More to the point: THERE IS NO COMMON CORE STANDARD THAT SAYS "CHILDREN WILL NOT LEARN THE ROTE ALGORITHM". In fact, you cannot meet the Common Core standards unless you ALSO know the rote algorithm.

[Anonymous]

^^physicist

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm one of those liberal parents, and I've done my homework. Common Core is terrible. It's junk. I see this every day with my son, who begs not to go to school each day. He doesn't understand the math, we don't understand the math, and it's geared for a highly verbal child, and our son has a language disability.

There's also no proof that making math ridiculously hard in K through 3 will lead to better math students in the future. As in NONE. Or that forcing kids to read on grade level - when their actual level is several grades lower -- will help them understand and read better.

PP, if you have done your homework, then you know that, while some people (like you) believe that the Common Core standards in K-3 are bad because they're too hard, other people believe that the Common Core standards are bad because they're too easy. What would you say to those people?

PP, I think your point reinforces the point made by the liberal parent. The problem with the standards is that they are one-size fits all. They don't accept that kids develop at different rates or learn in different ways. These will likely be fine for those in the middle, but the more advanced will be bored and the less advanced will be frustrated. It seems to me that this approach is particularly inappropriate for the younger set. Just taking my own kids into consideration, my people-pleasing 4 year-old is arguably more advanced than my perfectionist 6 year-old. The 4 YO thrives under a challenge, but the 6 YO retreats at risk of failure. Also, 6 YO is exceptionally good at math and problem solving, but not very strong in verbal and writing. How are kids who exceed common core standards in some areas but fall short in others handled?

Can't we have programs that are individually tailored to the student? The current approach sounds very old-school. Is private school the only solution? How can we influence the stance that our school districts take on Common Core?

[Anonymous]

You are saying that there shouldn't be any standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Indiana isn't exactly a best practices leader in the field of education, so this doesn't concern me.

What does concern me is that the Tea Party fringe seems to be using the education of our children now as a pawn in their desperate bid for relevance. After realizing they'd lost the fight on the Affordable Care Act, some of the Tea Party leadership began fixating on Common Core, believing it has something to do with Obama (it does not). CC is actually a genuinely grassroots and nonpartisan effort involving governors of both parties in multiple states.

I'm more embarrassed by my liberal friends who have jumped on the bandwagon, ironically without giving it very much critical thought. They're fixating on the wrong things like this idiotic woman who sent that letter to "Jack" and the equally stupid woman who testified, tearfully, before the Arkansas Board of Education, and are, frankly, just scared because kids aren't being taught things the same way they were. Admittedly, this makes it a little harder to help with homework, but it doesn't make the pedagogy unsound.

I'm so over the rose-colored images of our childhoods in the 70s and 80s. Supposedly we had better educations, all played in the streets unsupervised. What next: Better drugs? Things were not better then. They were just different. People really need to stop being so afraid of things they do not understand like Common Core, and be willing to know what they don't know.

I'm one of those liberal parents, and I've done my homework. Common Core is terrible. It's junk. I see this every day with my son, who begs not to go to school each day. He doesn't understand the math, we don't understand the math, and it's geared for a highly verbal child, and our son has a language disability.

There's also no proof that making math ridiculously hard in K through 3 will lead to better math students in the future. As in NONE. Or that forcing kids to read on grade level - when their actual level is several grades lower -- will help them understand and read better.

I love it when people say something is junk simply because they don't understand it. As for the "forcing" kids to read on grade level, are you kidding me? So there should be no standards at all? If your kid needs help meeting the standards, get help, that is what the rest of us do. That doesn't mean the whole system should be junked.... geez lady or man

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm one of those liberal parents, and I've done my homework. Common Core is terrible. It's junk. I see this every day with my son, who begs not to go to school each day. He doesn't understand the math, we don't understand the math, and it's geared for a highly verbal child, and our son has a language disability.

There's also no proof that making math ridiculously hard in K through 3 will lead to better math students in the future. As in NONE. Or that forcing kids to read on grade level - when their actual level is several grades lower -- will help them understand and read better.

PP, if you have done your homework, then you know that, while some people (like you) believe that the Common Core standards in K-3 are bad because they're too hard, other people believe that the Common Core standards are bad because they're too easy. What would you say to those people?

PP, I think your point reinforces the point made by the liberal parent. The problem with the standards is that they are one-size fits all. They don't accept that kids develop at different rates or learn in different ways. These will likely be fine for those in the middle, but the more advanced will be bored and the less advanced will be frustrated. It seems to me that this approach is particularly inappropriate for the younger set. Just taking my own kids into consideration, my people-pleasing 4 year-old is arguably more advanced than my perfectionist 6 year-old. The 4 YO thrives under a challenge, but the 6 YO retreats at risk of failure. Also, 6 YO is exceptionally good at math and problem solving, but not very strong in verbal and writing. How are kids who exceed common core standards in some areas but fall short in others handled?

Can't we have programs that are individually tailored to the student? The current approach sounds very old-school. Is private school the only solution? How can we influence the stance that our school districts take on Common Core?

You can always homeschool or get a tutor. I doubt any private school can individualize education to the degree you wanted either.

[Anonymous]

I don't believe that a rigid set of standards is appropriate for categorizing young kids is appropriate.

I don't think I have to be an expert in Common Core to understand that the one-size fits all approach to educating our kids is dumb and lazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm one of those liberal parents, and I've done my homework. Common Core is terrible. It's junk. I see this every day with my son, who begs not to go to school each day. He doesn't understand the math, we don't understand the math, and it's geared for a highly verbal child, and our son has a language disability.

There's also no proof that making math ridiculously hard in K through 3 will lead to better math students in the future. As in NONE. Or that forcing kids to read on grade level - when their actual level is several grades lower -- will help them understand and read better.

PP, if you have done your homework, then you know that, while some people (like you) believe that the Common Core standards in K-3 are bad because they're too hard, other people believe that the Common Core standards are bad because they're too easy. What would you say to those people?

PP, I think your point reinforces the point made by the liberal parent. The problem with the standards is that they are one-size fits all. They don't accept that kids develop at different rates or learn in different ways. These will likely be fine for those in the middle, but the more advanced will be bored and the less advanced will be frustrated. It seems to me that this approach is particularly inappropriate for the younger set. Just taking my own kids into consideration, my people-pleasing 4 year-old is arguably more advanced than my perfectionist 6 year-old. The 4 YO thrives under a challenge, but the 6 YO retreats at risk of failure. Also, 6 YO is exceptionally good at math and problem solving, but not very strong in verbal and writing. How are kids who exceed common core standards in some areas but fall short in others handled?

Can't we have programs that are individually tailored to the student? The current approach sounds very old-school. Is private school the only solution? How can we influence the stance that our school districts take on Common Core?

How do you propose that a public school system individualize curriculum for thousands of students.
Go-ahead, I'm waiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CONMON CORE IS A SET OF STANDARDS IT IS NOT A CURRICULUM !!!!!!!!

Right. But there are for profit companies who've glommed themselves into the standards process to create curriculum and testing. Which sucks.

You're right.

But good teachers understand how to scaffold learning w/o relying on those canned lessons. Furthermore, they also understand that the guides created by content specialists in their own systems are just that - guides. So they "get" that it is their right to tailor the learning to fit the needs of their students. Now, they are indeed responsible for working those standards into their yearly planning, which is difficult if you're not masterful at differentiating.

Well, the teachers in NY are up in arms about the tests and worksheets, because the curriculum has been hastily implemented without proper training for the teachers and administrators. The ENTIRE PROBLEM with Common Core is that it has been implemented extremely poorly - particularly for the older grades who are suddenly having to learn everything in a new way. I was a huge proponent of Common Core until implementation has started. Now it's a fucking mess like Healthcare.Gov. This is what happens when policy wonks and for-profit companies try to do that which is best left to teachers and EdD's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe that a rigid set of standards is appropriate for categorizing young kids is appropriate.

I don't think I have to be an expert in Common Core to understand that the one-size fits all approach to educating our kids is dumb and lazy.

As dumb and lazy as realizing that it has always been 1 size fits all.
But if you are willing to have a monumental increase in taxes so that we can attempt to individualize education for millions of students...have at it!!!