How Common Core is wrecking kindergartner -- with SPECIFIC examples

[Anonymous]

Some middle class kids can meet these standards because of what went on before entering kindergarten. Until we can standardize what happens to each child from birth, we are going to have plenty of kids who can't meet these standards. More than 50% of all school aged kids come from poverty so until we figure out how to fix that, kids will continue to not meet these standards.

agree with your premise. However, a teacher posted that she fell in the 50% of poverty. The problems are mostly with the children of the non working poor. Those who are not even attempting to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Some middle class kids can meet these standards because of what went on before entering kindergarten. Until we can standardize what happens to each child from birth, we are going to have plenty of kids who can't meet these standards. More than 50% of all school aged kids come from poverty so until we figure out how to fix that, kids will continue to not meet these standards.

agree with your premise. However, a teacher posted that she fell in the 50% of poverty. The problems are mostly with the children of the non working poor. Those who are not even attempting to work.

Most of America's richest think poor people have it easy in this country, according to a new report released by the Pew Research Center. The center surveyed a nationally representative group of people this past fall, and found that the majority of the country's most financially secure citizens (54 percent at the very top, and 57 percent just below) believe the "poor have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything in return." America's least financially secure, meanwhile, vehemently disagree — nearly 70 percent say the poor have hard lives because the benefits "don't go far enough." Nationally, the population is almost evenly split.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/01/08/most-of-americas-rich-think-the-poor-have-it-easy/

[Anonymous]

Kindergarten has been becoming the new first grade for several years now, that isn't something new with Common Core.

Kindergartners aren't expected to be proficient readers by the end of kindergarten. For my state we use DRA-2 scores, and kindergarten level is level A-3 or A-4 (4 is technically beginning 1st grade).

Levels A-3 is sight words and using picture clues and range from 1-3 sentences per page (dependingon the level). ie: I see a cat. The cat runs. They aren't reading Shakespeare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't there a yearly committee to review how the standards are doing and make adjustments as needed? I don't get all the fuss.

Nope. This doesn't exist. No plans to tweak the standards, nobody taking a look a them. Just dropped on the unsuspecting public like the Ten Commandments. One of their MANY flaws.

Yes, there are.

http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/frequently-asked-questions/

Let's take a look at what this actually says:


Who will manage the Common Core State Standards in the future?
The Common Core State Standards are and will remain a state-led effort, and adoption of the standards and any potential revisions will continue to be a voluntary state decision. The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers will continue to serve as the two leading organizations with ownership of the Common Core and will make decisions about the timing and substance of future revisions to the standards in consultation with the states. Federal funds have never and will never be used to support the development or governance of the Common Core or any future revisions of the standards. Any future revisions will be made based on research and evidence. Governance of the standards will be independent of governance of related assessments.




So basically, nobody is responsible. If there's a horrible standard, there's no office to call, nobody in charge. No face of Common Core to stand up and take responsibility and ownership of these standards. This was written by a marketer to say nothing of meaning. But I guess you just like pretty words on a page.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kindergarten has been becoming the new first grade for several years now, that isn't something new with Common Core.

Kindergartners aren't expected to be proficient readers by the end of kindergarten. For my state we use DRA-2 scores, and kindergarten level is level A-3 or A-4 (4 is technically beginning 1st grade).

Levels A-3 is sight words and using picture clues and range from 1-3 sentences per page (dependingon the level). ie: I see a cat. The cat runs. They aren't reading Shakespeare.

Maybe this isn't asking too much for kids from high SES backgrounds. It is for kids who enter K holding a book upside and turning the pages from back to front. It's asking a lot to go from there to reading at those levels. The higher poverty rate means more kids enter K from lower SES backgrounds. I had a student last year who thought the book I handed him was for carrying drinks. He said he ate at a restaurant and the "lady brings the drinks on this." He meant the book. He was serious. That is why you get a lot of parents on DCUM writing that their kids are bored in kindergarten because they are reading before they get there or they have all of the prerequisite skills in place. When you have kids in the same class or in different schools who don't even know what a book is or how to hold one, you have an uphill battle to get them reading at a certain level by the end of K. The enter K already behind. Throw in some serious social issues like poverty, single parent households, incarcerated parents, family/neighborhood drug and alcohol use, family/neighborhood violence.... and the hill gets steeper.

[Anonymous]

Maybe this isn't asking too much for kids from high SES backgrounds. It is for kids who enter K holding a book upside and turning the pages from back to front. It's asking a lot to go from there to reading at those levels. The higher poverty rate means more kids enter K from lower SES backgrounds. I had a student last year who thought the book I handed him was for carrying drinks. He said he ate at a restaurant and the "lady brings the drinks on this." He meant the book. He was serious. That is why you get a lot of parents on DCUM writing that their kids are bored in kindergarten because they are reading before they get there or they have all of the prerequisite skills in place. When you have kids in the same class or in different schools who don't even know what a book is or how to hold one, you have an uphill battle to get them reading at a certain level by the end of K. The enter K already behind. Throw in some serious social issues like poverty, single parent households, incarcerated parents, family/neighborhood drug and alcohol use, family/neighborhood violence.... and the hill gets steeper.

Precisely. CC supporters think the problem is that the teachers of poorer schools don't have high standards. They ignore the level of the kids.

[Anonymous]

Our K teachers get berated frequently after they test the kids. They just finished their mid year testing and all of them were crying by the end of the meeting with the administrator. The admins are under pressure from their bosses so they take it out on the teachers. We have kids in our school who couldn't even pick out their own name on a table with 2 other student name tags when they started K in August. There is no way those students will be reading at a level D by the end of kindergarten unless a miracle occurs. Apparently, kindergarten teachers are supposed to be miracle workers now. If any DCUMs have time during their day, call a lower SES school and ask how to become a volunteer. Seriously. The kids need your help.

[Anonymous]

I'm an elementary school teacher at a public school. I like common core and many of my colleagues to as well, especially the younger teachers. The reading standards have not really changed. Math has gotten more conceptual, but that was a move by the NCTM prior to the common core coming out. I especially love the new math standards.

We do not test common core until third grade. It takes a half hour to do LA and a half hour to do Math. As far as benchmarks, we treat them like benchmarks. Kiddos who come in not knowing what a book is are usually the ones that start out slow and make huge jumps. We do not hold them to making the benchmarks every year, but it is useful to know where there are to get them the extra services they may need.

[Anonymous]

PP- What do you mean by it takes a half hour to do LA and a half hour to do math?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/frequently-asked-questions/

Let's take a look at what this actually says:


Who will manage the Common Core State Standards in the future?
The Common Core State Standards are and will remain a state-led effort, and adoption of the standards and any potential revisions will continue to be a voluntary state decision. The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers will continue to serve as the two leading organizations with ownership of the Common Core and will make decisions about the timing and substance of future revisions to the standards in consultation with the states. Federal funds have never and will never be used to support the development or governance of the Common Core or any future revisions of the standards. Any future revisions will be made based on research and evidence. Governance of the standards will be independent of governance of related assessments.




So basically, nobody is responsible. If there's a horrible standard, there's no office to call, nobody in charge. No face of Common Core to stand up and take responsibility and ownership of these standards. This was written by a marketer to say nothing of meaning. But I guess you just like pretty words on a page.

So basically, what you are saying is totally correct, except for the part that is directly contradicted by what you are quoting.

When you say, basically no one is responsible, there's no office to call, you are ignoring the evidence you cited in the text, namely:

The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers will continue to serve as the two leading organizations with ownership of the Common Core and will make decisions about the timing and substance of future revisions to the standards in consultation with the states.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our K teachers get berated frequently after they test the kids. They just finished their mid year testing and all of them were crying by the end of the meeting with the administrator. The admins are under pressure from their bosses so they take it out on the teachers. We have kids in our school who couldn't even pick out their own name on a table with 2 other student name tags when they started K in August. There is no way those students will be reading at a level D by the end of kindergarten unless a miracle occurs. Apparently, kindergarten teachers are supposed to be miracle workers now. If any DCUMs have time during their day, call a lower SES school and ask how to become a volunteer. Seriously. The kids need your help.

You have to name the district where this is happening. You have a bad principal there.

We are in a poor school in MD and this is not happening in our schools. We are in PG County. We test kids in K and 1st grade on the DRA as there are no "common core assessments" for kids below grade 3.

[Anonymous]

We are in a poor school in MD and this is not happening in our schools. We are in PG County. We test kids in K and 1st grade on the DRA as there are no "common core assessments" for kids below grade 3.

They may not be required by NCLB, but I'm sure the principals are expecting K teachers to meet them.

[Anonymous]

Kiddos who come in not knowing what a book is are usually the ones that start out slow and make huge jumps

Huge jumps? What do you consider a huge jump?

[Anonymous]

I'm an elementary school teacher at a public school. I like common core and many of my colleagues to as well, especially the younger teachers. The reading standards have not really changed. Math has gotten more conceptual, but that was a move by the NCTM prior to the common core coming out. I especially love the new math standards.

We do not test common core until third grade. It takes a half hour to do LA and a half hour to do Math. As far as benchmarks, we treat them like benchmarks. Kiddos who come in not knowing what a book is are usually the ones that start out slow and make huge jumps. We do not hold them to making the benchmarks every year, but it is useful to know where there are to get them the extra services they may need.

This. Excellent post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our K teachers get berated frequently after they test the kids. They just finished their mid year testing and all of them were crying by the end of the meeting with the administrator. The admins are under pressure from their bosses so they take it out on the teachers. We have kids in our school who couldn't even pick out their own name on a table with 2 other student name tags when they started K in August. There is no way those students will be reading at a level D by the end of kindergarten unless a miracle occurs. Apparently, kindergarten teachers are supposed to be miracle workers now. If any DCUMs have time during their day, call a lower SES school and ask how to become a volunteer. Seriously. The kids need your help.

You have to name the district where this is happening. You have a bad principal there.

We are in a poor school in MD and this is not happening in our schools. We are in PG County. We test kids in K and 1st grade on the DRA as there are no "common core assessments" for kids below grade 3.

Baltimore City. Come on up and join the fun.