Common Core's epic fail: Special Education

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Common sense tells us that if teachers' jobs depend on the number of kids passing the tests, that the teachers will aim their instruction at those who are borderline. The smart kids will be left on their own--and those way below will be left alone as well.

In that case, common sense tells you to aim your efforts at the law that requires the testing -- No Child Left Behind.

[Anonymous]

Doesn't matter. There are so many standards that require testing. Too much time spent in testing..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't matter. There are so many standards that require testing. Too much time spent in testing..

How much time do you think should be spent in testing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can't you just OPT OUT of any and all standardized testing? I once lived in a state where the parent could choose whether or not their children took these types of standardized tests.

Not really. If your child is present during any day in the state mandated testing window, the school is required to test your child (usually by state law)

[Anonymous]

Several states have decided to adopt Dynamic Learning Maps as the alternative assessment for students with disabilities.

Objectives measured on the Dynamic Learning Map assessment are linked to Common Core grade level standards but have been adapted.

For an example a 6th grade end of year benchmark is:

RI.6.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6–8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

For students taking the Dynamic Learning Map assessment, the 6th grade end of year benchmark is:

EE.RI.6.10 Demonstrate understanding while actively reading or listening to literary nonfiction.


A Kindergarten End of Year Skill is:

RF.K.2 Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).
a. Recognizeandproducerhymingwords.
b. Count,pronounce,blend,and segment syllables in spoken words.
c. Blend and segment onsets and rimes of single- syllable spoken words.
d. Isolate and pronounce the initial,medial vowel,and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words.* (This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.)
e. Addorsubstituteindividualsounds(phonemes)in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.


This may be too hard for learning disabled children. The Dynamic Learning Map assessment only states that students by the end of K should:

EE.RF.K.2 Demonstrate emerging understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).
a. With guidance and support, recognize rhyming words.
b. With guidance and support, recognize the number of words in a spoken message.
c. With guidance and support, identify single-syllable spoken words with the same onset (beginning sound) as a familiar word.
d. Not applicable
e. Not applicable

In addition on the Dynamic Learning Map there are three levels of support spelled out -- no support, moderate support and heavy support (I believe).

[Anonymous]

link for above: http://www.state.nj.us/education/assessment/apa/dlm/ELA.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't matter. There are so many standards that require testing. Too much time spent in testing..

Back when I was growing up, in the 70's and 80's, I don't recall having one single standardized test. Back then, there were a lot more kids graduating school who could only read at an ES level, or not read at all.

If all the schools had done a better job of making sure the kids met some basic standards, we probably wouldn't have so much standardized testing. Yes, I know, there are outside factors that affect a person's education (namely home life), but years of huge disparities in education has led to what we have now.

In MCPS, I know of two tests: MSA (or PARCC now) tests and the MAP . They take the MAP tests 3 times a year, and the MSA once. So that's four in one year. I can understand why they take MAP 3x/year - to see the child's progression.

[Anonymous]

Back when I was growing up, in the 70's and 80's, I don't recall having one single standardized test. Back then, there were a lot more kids graduating school who could only read at an ES level, or not read at all.

Doubtful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Back when I was growing up, in the 70's and 80's, I don't recall having one single standardized test. Back then, there were a lot more kids graduating school who could only read at an ES level, or not read at all.

Doubtful.

I guess you've never read the description of how great American schooling was in the 1970s and early 1980s, contained in the 1983 report A Nation At Risk.

(to the top PP -- I took the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in the 1970s and 80s.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Back when I was growing up, in the 70's and 80's, I don't recall having one single standardized test. Back then, there were a lot more kids graduating school who could only read at an ES level, or not read at all.

Doubtful.

I guess you've never read the description of how great American schooling was in the 1970s and early 1980s, contained in the 1983 report A Nation At Risk.

(to the top PP -- I took the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in the 1970s and 80s.)

See, this is what I mean.. different states had different methods of assessing readiness or achieving basic standards. This leads to disparities. I'm PP that stated I never took standard tests in school (other than SATs). I grew up in CA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Back when I was growing up, in the 70's and 80's, I don't recall having one single standardized test. Back then, there were a lot more kids graduating school who could only read at an ES level, or not read at all.

Doubtful.

I guess you've never read the description of how great American schooling was in the 1970s and early 1980s, contained in the 1983 report A Nation At Risk.

(to the top PP -- I took the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in the 1970s and 80s.)

PP, thanks for reminding us about this report. I just read a portion of this (a very short portion). Very alarming. This report was written about 30 yrs ago.

https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html

Some stats from the report:

- About 13 percent of all 17-year-olds in the United States can be considered functionally illiterate. Functional illiteracy among minority youth may run as high as 40 percent.
- Average achievement of high school students on most standardized tests is now lower than 26 years ago when Sputnik was launched.
- Over half the population of gifted students do not match their tested ability with comparable achievement in school.
- Between 1975 and 1980, remedial mathematics courses in public 4-year colleges increased by 72 percent and now constitute one-quarter of all mathematics courses taught in those institutions.

This is why we need to increase standards for the entire country. CC standards have their issues, but damn, something needed to change because 30 yrs after this report, not much had changed, sadly:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/a-nation-at-risk-30-years-report-schools_n_3147535.html

""It's been the most influential report on education in my lifetime. It was so blunt," said Michael Rebell, a professor of law and education at Columbia University's Teachers College. "It gave us the whole standards movement.""

[Anonymous]

I graduated in 1979 from a high school in Florida.

We all took standardized tests. They were very well designed -- each skill we were tested on had four items clearly delineated. Tests were graded within a month, and so teachers knew EXACTLY what skills kids were weak on. You had to pass these tests to graduate from high school, but there were designed in a way that teachers knew exactly what kind of help kids needed.

Unlike the upcoming tests which will tell students and teachers pretty much nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Back when I was growing up, in the 70's and 80's, I don't recall having one single standardized test. Back then, there were a lot more kids graduating school who could only read at an ES level, or not read at all.

Doubtful.

I guess you've never read the description of how great American schooling was in the 1970s and early 1980s, contained in the 1983 report A Nation At Risk.

(to the top PP -- I took the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in the 1970s and 80s.)

PP, thanks for reminding us about this report. I just read a portion of this (a very short portion). Very alarming. This report was written about 30 yrs ago.

https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html

Some stats from the report:

- About 13 percent of all 17-year-olds in the United States can be considered functionally illiterate. Functional illiteracy among minority youth may run as high as 40 percent.
- Average achievement of high school students on most standardized tests is now lower than 26 years ago when Sputnik was launched.
- Over half the population of gifted students do not match their tested ability with comparable achievement in school.
- Between 1975 and 1980, remedial mathematics courses in public 4-year colleges increased by 72 percent and now constitute one-quarter of all mathematics courses taught in those institutions.

This is why we need to increase standards for the entire country. CC standards have their issues, but damn, something needed to change because 30 yrs after this report, not much had changed, sadly:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/a-nation-at-risk-30-years-report-schools_n_3147535.html

""It's been the most influential report on education in my lifetime. It was so blunt," said Michael Rebell, a professor of law and education at Columbia University's Teachers College. "It gave us the whole standards movement.""

The last big "savior" was NCLB. We saw how well that worked , didn't we? Common Core will be even worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Back when I was growing up, in the 70's and 80's, I don't recall having one single standardized test. Back then, there were a lot more kids graduating school who could only read at an ES level, or not read at all.

Doubtful.

I guess you've never read the description of how great American schooling was in the 1970s and early 1980s, contained in the 1983 report A Nation At Risk.

(to the top PP -- I took the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in the 1970s and 80s.)

PP, thanks for reminding us about this report. I just read a portion of this (a very short portion). Very alarming. This report was written about 30 yrs ago.

https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html

Some stats from the report:

- About 13 percent of all 17-year-olds in the United States can be considered functionally illiterate. Functional illiteracy among minority youth may run as high as 40 percent.
- Average achievement of high school students on most standardized tests is now lower than 26 years ago when Sputnik was launched.
- Over half the population of gifted students do not match their tested ability with comparable achievement in school.
- Between 1975 and 1980, remedial mathematics courses in public 4-year colleges increased by 72 percent and now constitute one-quarter of all mathematics courses taught in those institutions.

This is why we need to increase standards for the entire country. CC standards have their issues, but damn, something needed to change because 30 yrs after this report, not much had changed, sadly:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/a-nation-at-risk-30-years-report-schools_n_3147535.html

""It's been the most influential report on education in my lifetime. It was so blunt," said Michael Rebell, a professor of law and education at Columbia University's Teachers College. "It gave us the whole standards movement.""

The last big "savior" was NCLB. We saw how well that worked , didn't we? Common Core will be even worse.

So, the answer is "let's do nothing" rather than "let's try something, tweak it, modify it, fine tune it"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Back when I was growing up, in the 70's and 80's, I don't recall having one single standardized test. Back then, there were a lot more kids graduating school who could only read at an ES level, or not read at all.

Doubtful.

I guess you've never read the description of how great American schooling was in the 1970s and early 1980s, contained in the 1983 report A Nation At Risk.

(to the top PP -- I took the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in the 1970s and 80s.)

PP, thanks for reminding us about this report. I just read a portion of this (a very short portion). Very alarming. This report was written about 30 yrs ago.

https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html

Eh. I think that A Nation At Risk was a horrible report, and it led to bad results, which we're still dealing with to this day. The main benefit of A Nation At Risk is to remind people who are nostalgic for the good old days of the 1970s and 1980s that they were not actually the good old days.

However, I don't include the Common Core standards among the bad results of A Nation At risk. I think that the Common Core standards are an improvement.