"Teacher of the Year" quits over Common Core tests

[Anonymous]

Judging by what I read a lot on DCUM, a lot of people around here, at least on DCUM, do use test scores from greatschools or the like to judge ES. That's all I'm saying. It's those people that want the scores, and there are plenty of them, unless there are only a handful of these people who are prolific posters on here.

BTW, we chose a 7 rank ES by greatschools because like you, I think test scores only tell one side of the story.

I am relatively new to DCUM (like 2 months or so). I had no idea what my son's greatschools rank was. I had never even heard of that website. I used my other sensors. They worked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Judging by what I read a lot on DCUM, a lot of people around here, at least on DCUM, do use test scores from greatschools or the like to judge ES. That's all I'm saying. It's those people that want the scores, and there are plenty of them, unless there are only a handful of these people who are prolific posters on here.

BTW, we chose a 7 rank ES by greatschools because like you, I think test scores only tell one side of the story.

I am relatively new to DCUM (like 2 months or so). I had no idea what my son's greatschools rank was. I had never even heard of that website. I used my other sensors. They worked.

Glad you have great spidey sense. You have a lot to learn from DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

People know all kinds of things based on what they see -- that aren't actually true.

You take sort of a dim view of people. Are you trying to save people from themselves? I'm not sure how much success you are going to have.

No, I'm pointing out that some of the things that people think are facts are not facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

In other words, people would believe that neighborhoods that exclude poor people have good schools, and neighborhoods that don't exclude poor people have bad schools.

You know, this is pretty much it.

In that case, all we need to do to improve the schools in this country is to make sure that poor kids don't go to school! No, wait, there's a problem in there somewhere, but I can't quite spot it...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
In other words, people would believe that neighborhoods that exclude poor people have good schools, and neighborhoods that don't exclude poor people have bad schools.


You know, this is pretty much it.


In that case, all we need to do to improve the schools in this country is to make sure that poor kids don't go to school! No, wait, there's a problem in there somewhere, but I can't quite spot it...

Well, that's what some other countries do and then they report their PISA scores that look good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In other words, people would believe that neighborhoods that exclude poor people have good schools, and neighborhoods that don't exclude poor people have bad schools.

You know, this is pretty much it.

In that case, all we need to do to improve the schools in this country is to make sure that poor kids don't go to school! No, wait, there's a problem in there somewhere, but I can't quite spot it...

Or, you just hike up the taxes and provide a lot of social welfare like most of Western Europe does, then we wouldn't have so many poor people, and there would be less income disparity. Perfect solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We moved from a different state. How would people be able to go to all these places to investigate how good the schools are if they are moving from far away? Sure, they could make multiple trips and stay in a hotel while they look around, but that's pretty expensive to do.

So, in your estimation, we would still use test scores, just at the HS level. Therefore, parents do look at standardized test scores to determine how good the schools are. And I bet you that most would want that kind of figure in the ESs as well because it makes it much more quantifiable and easy to look up.

Most people want some of the soft data as well (what I was saying about extra curricular activities and community resources for sports, music, etc.), especially in ES, because they know that test data is not the whole story. They know that what matters in ES is the improvement of their own child from many angles (the "whole child"). Many whose children already do well in school know that the ES will not "make or break" the kid if there is flexibility in the teaching (the teacher has time and resources to plan to let the students learn at their own levels). The HS scores are relevant because they show that the students did receive instruction to get them to those higher levels. And colleges don't care about ES test scores. If the HS is doing well, that's a pretty good indicator for the feeders. ES is a time when the child is developing in so many ways and the test scores don't tell you about the soft skills development at all. For many, those are the more important things being learned in ES.

My parents did not have those figures. I would say that, yes, my HS was probably better from a quantifiable perspective than my ES (because I was in one of the outlying schools). But, that didn't matter by the end. My parents were more than willing to drive me to the library, music lessons, drama club, etc. so they brought me to the amenities. That is, in fact, one way to live in a cheaper area, but take advantage of the more expensive area's resources. You do need transportation though.

Judging by what I read a lot on DCUM, a lot of people around here, at least on DCUM, do use test scores from greatschools or the like to judge ES. That's all I'm saying. It's those people that want the scores, and there are plenty of them, unless there are only a handful of these people who are prolific posters on here.

BTW, we chose a 7 rank ES by greatschools because like you, I think test scores only tell one side of the story.

I took a look at schooldigger a few times. On the website, it shows which state has the highest % of views on the website in realtime. The few times I've checked it, MD was always top 3.

[Anonymous]

I have yet to see any problem that Common Core standards will fix.



It fixes the problem that states have varying standards that are not all the same. What you see in front of you doesn't matter.

Why do they all need the same standards? I don't agree that is a problem.

[Anonymous]

Why should only poor parents have to take a mandatory parenting class? Are only poor parents bad parents? Are all poor parents bad parents? Are there middle-class and rich parents who are bad parents? What if you used to be middle class but then lost your job and needed food stamps -- do you suddenly become a bad parent? And then if you find another job and don't need food stamps again, you become a good parent again?

I am not the poster who suggested that all poor parents take parenting classes. I am the poster who says that the achievement gap will not be closed by Common Core and that the problem starts at home.

[Anonymous]

cont. Unfortunately, the problem with the achievement gap comes from poor homes. So, the poster who suggested the parenting classes has a point. You don't know that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I have yet to see any problem that Common Core standards will fix.



It fixes the problem that states have varying standards that are not all the same. What you see in front of you doesn't matter.

Why do they all need the same standards? I don't agree that is a problem.

You don't think it's a problem if one state has lower standards than another, thereby cheating their students from being competitive for national college entrances? I read an article about how one teacher in Chicago was worried that her students weren't given the same challenging curriculum as kids in NY because they had different standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:cont. Unfortunately, the problem with the achievement gap comes from poor homes. So, the poster who suggested the parenting classes has a point. You don't know that?

But it's wrong to say that all poor parents should have to take parenting classes or have social workers visit their homes. Lots of poor parents value education and stress it at home. Why would those parents need such parenting classes or visits from school. That is totally classist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I have yet to see any problem that Common Core standards will fix.



It fixes the problem that states have varying standards that are not all the same. What you see in front of you doesn't matter.

Why do they all need the same standards? I don't agree that is a problem.

How does it make sense for Alabama to have different math standards from Wyoming or Rhode Island?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

An advertising campaign? Voluntary classes?

This and a social worker who visits the mom for a few months--to years, perhaps. Or, classes somewhere nearby. All people love their kids--they just don't know how to raise them.

From what I have read, the Social Workers that we do have are overworked. They have way too many case loads of actual abused kids, so much so, that some of these abused kids are falling through the cracks and ending up dead. Are you suggesting that we now make the Workers go visit every low-income house to educate the parents on the importance of education? Wow. Or, are you suggesting we hire more social workers? Ha! Try to convince that to the gov't, especially a Republican controlled city/state.

And classes? Please, most low-income people are either working multiple jobs, or too damn tired from the long commute (walking, taking public transit) to go to a class. Couple that with language barriers for low income immigrants, and you think offering classes is the answer?

Yeah, according to some of the threads on DCUM social workers are being sent to harass wealthy families that take their kids who aren't having any issues with academic performance on extended overseas travel, as opposed to working with the poor folks who actually need their help the most... misguided priorities...

[Anonymous]

You don't think it's a problem if one state has lower standards than another, thereby cheating their students from being competitive for national college entrances? I read an article about how one teacher in Chicago was worried that her students weren't given the same challenging curriculum as kids in NY because they had different standards.

So, one teacher in Chicago thinks that is why her kids won't test high enough? Wrong standards? Sure. Common Core will fix Chicago.