Why are people so upset about Common Core?

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to understand. Is Common Core being implemented across the board in Virginia?

[Anonymous]

I have no idea. Other than the usual criticisms about standardization. But I have no objection to teaching to the test or requiring that students have some shared baseline knowledge. So I've never really bought those critiques.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm trying to understand. Is Common Core being implemented across the board in Virginia?

No, Virginia doesn't use Common Core. It loosely follows the same standards, but it doesn't formally adopt Common Core.

Common Core opposition is generally fueled by two groups: 1) parents who are pissed off that their children aren't learning things they same way they did. They don't like that math is taught without rote memorization of multiplication tables, for example. 2) Tea Party types who think Obama did it (although in fact it was a grassroots initiative in the states involving both Republicans and Democrats).

Much of the commentary about Common Core is rather inflammatory. For example, there's this idiotic viral post of some woman in Arkansas whining about the 108 steps her child must use to solve a math word problem instead of just learning that 8X4 = 32. Or something similar. If she were a male, she'd be dismissed as a "you kids get off my lawn" gadfly. Goddamned idiot, she is. But whatever.

But, no. Virginia doesn't use it. Instead, if teaches children about moon phases for three consecutive years and spends a significant chunk of third grade requiring the study of ancient Mali. Go figure.

[Anonymous]

To 19:16 - well, it's a bit of a secret, but most fourth graders in mcps don't know their times tables thanks to the new curriculum based on the common core. This is precisely because they didn't teach them at school in third or fourth grade. And guess what? They are realizing that kids can't do long division without having a strong grasp of basic times tables. So go ahead and make light of it, but it's a very real problem with the math curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To 19:16 - well, it's a bit of a secret, but most fourth graders in mcps don't know their times tables thanks to the new curriculum based on the common core. This is precisely because they didn't teach them at school in third or fourth grade. And guess what? They are realizing that kids can't do long division without having a strong grasp of basic times tables. So go ahead and make light of it, but it's a very real problem with the math curriculum.

It's such a secret that I don't know about it. Everybody in my kids' elementary school does weekly math facts tests. They did this before Curriculum 2.0. They're still doing it now.

[Anonymous]

Yes, they do the math quizzes...but they aren't teaching the math facts in school. And they use crazy strategies to explain the concept, and the strategies are confusing many kids. Just because your kid knows his times tables doesn't mean that his classmates do. It's a real issue the schools are grappling with.

We learned our times tables in second grade. Drilled into us at school (not at kumon or with a tutor).

[Anonymous]

Teacher here. Most of my colleagues don't like the way it was implemented so quickly. They are writing the curriculum very quickly and not giving it to us until the last minute. We don't have time to prepare and we end up making a lot of the materials on our own. So we are working overtime times 100 and we are burnt out. I think it is a bit too ambitious myself but I teach in a Title 1 school.

[Anonymous]

Other critiques I've heard are that it's a money-maker for a smallish group of academic publishers, who suddenly have a market for new textbooks and training materials, and also that it's not necessarily going to solve some of the most pressing educational problems of our time (viz. the achievement gap).

While I think that those are both valid criticisms, they aren't actually criticisms of the *content* of CC.

[Anonymous]

Trust me, folks...there are plenty criticisms of the content. And, like the teacher just said, there isn't much actual content. The teachers aren't bring provided with actual materials that go along with the concepts they must teach.

In shirt, it's a hot mess in MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, they do the math quizzes...but they aren't teaching the math facts in school. And they use crazy strategies to explain the concept, and the strategies are confusing many kids. Just because your kid knows his times tables doesn't mean that his classmates do. It's a real issue the schools are grappling with.

We learned our times tables in second grade. Drilled into us at school (not at kumon or with a tutor).

Really? For several weeks, my third graders math homework consisted entirely of multiplication flashcards. In fact, they all had to make their own flashcards, then spend a few weeks studying them for homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Common Core opposition is generally fueled by two groups: 1) parents who are pissed off that their children aren't learning things they same way they did. They don't like that math is taught without rote memorization of multiplication tables, for example.

There's a lot of misinformation out there. Just to clear this one up:

Common Core State Standards are a set of standards that do, in fact, say that children should know their multiplication tables. In fact, this is one of the 3rd grade math standards:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.OA.C.7
Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between multiplication and division (e.g., knowing that 8 × 5 = 40, one knows 40 ÷ 5 = 8) or properties of operations.

By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

Thus, according to Common Core standards, by the end of grade 3, students should be able to just "know" (memorize) the fact that 7x6=42. They should not need to draw 7 rows of 6 circles, and then count!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, they do the math quizzes...but they aren't teaching the math facts in school. And they use crazy strategies to explain the concept, and the strategies are confusing many kids. Just because your kid knows his times tables doesn't mean that his classmates do. It's a real issue the schools are grappling with.

We learned our times tables in second grade. Drilled into us at school (not at kumon or with a tutor).

The curriculum or methods your child's teacher is using are what they are... but they are not Common Core. That's because Common Core is not a curriculum; it is not a method of teaching. Common Core State Standards are a set of objectives, or standards, stating what all students should be able to to do by the end of each school year. As I posted earlier, one of the math standards for Grade 3 is that students should know from memory all their times tables facts.

Individual teachers or curricula may very well use crazy, inefficient strategies to explain how to do multiplication and division and they may be confusing kids -- if so, that needs to change. But nothing about the Common Core standards says they need to use those methods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, they do the math quizzes...but they aren't teaching the math facts in school. And they use crazy strategies to explain the concept, and the strategies are confusing many kids. Just because your kid knows his times tables doesn't mean that his classmates do. It's a real issue the schools are grappling with.

We learned our times tables in second grade. Drilled into us at school (not at kumon or with a tutor).

They are in Arlington. My kids in ASF have to 'show their work'. They have to have a grasp of math and learn to approach problems in a multitude of different ways, ways I never had to as a kid. We merely were taught 'carry the 1', memorize this table, etc. they start young exploring math deeply. I have the opposite experience from what you state.

[Anonymous]

And yet, many fourth graders in mcps are struggling with this...because of the way mcps is implementing common core through 2.0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, they do the math quizzes...but they aren't teaching the math facts in school. And they use crazy strategies to explain the concept, and the strategies are confusing many kids. Just because your kid knows his times tables doesn't mean that his classmates do. It's a real issue the schools are grappling with.

We learned our times tables in second grade. Drilled into us at school (not at kumon or with a tutor).

They are in Arlington. My kids in ASF have to 'show their work'. They have to have a grasp of math and learn to approach problems in a multitude of different ways, ways I never had to as a kid. We merely were taught 'carry the 1', memorize this table, etc. they start young exploring math deeply. I have the opposite experience from what you state.

'we are in Arlington'