Common Core's epic fail: Special Education

[Anonymous]

What do the kids with 504 plans that say they can't go outside when the air is a certain temperature, or when the pollen count is above X do at your school?

At the public school where I taught Kindergarten last year there were 4 teachers and 3 paras in K. 2 teachers and the paras went out for a.m. recess, and 2 teachers got prep time. They'd keep the kids who couldn't go outside with them. After lunch it flipped and the other 2 teachers and the paras went out. To be clear, we weren't required to keep the kids with us. We could have sent them to sit at the front desk or hang with the nurse, but we had compassion and knew they'd rather stay in the classroom where they could play with the toys or "help" the teacher.

It may have worked differently in your school, not all public schools are exactly the same.

Pretty much that way. The issue is that she was suggesting that the reason the teacher couldn't do the lesson was because she didn't want to peel oranges. Pretty stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

A special education teacher does not understand classroom management and is therefore unqualified to comment on the developmental appropriateness of a kindergarten Common Core standard?

Suggesting that a kid who has asthma stay inside while the others are at recess indicates that she is a total fraud. She clearly does not understand how classrooms work--at least not public ones.

I don't get the connection between classroom management and the developmental appropriateness of a Common Core standard.

I'm really confused here but I think there was some kind of discussion going on about how you could teach missing addend to K students (what number goes with 8 to make 10?) by making fruit salad.....not really something you would be doing on a routine basis with a classroom of 27 students was the classroom management point.

However, "How many more needed to make 10?" is a very common concept in early elementary mathematics and it is a vital concept to learn, and there are many developmentally appropriate ways to teach this concept to children in K and grade 1, and even to kids with LDs and kids who speak no English. YOu don't need to make fruit salad; there are many activities and games you can use.

I did post earlier that I do think this is an advanced standards for K students; it should only come after the more basic skills have been mastered; and it is even possible that it should be moved to 1st grade. I feel that way about this particular standards; most of the other K standards are fine IMO.

[Anonymous]

The issue is the standard. It is abstract to young children and developmentally inappropriate. It is not so hard with concrete objects, but when kids have to transfer the skill, it is very difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The issue is the standard. It is abstract to young children and developmentally inappropriate. It is not so hard with concrete objects, but when kids have to transfer the skill, it is very difficult.

Which is why the standard very specifically says that kids in Kindergarten only need to be able to do it with concrete objects and pictures, and that they are not expected to use equations, but should have opportunities to see equations in Kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

It is also a very difficult standard for first grade. It is tough to master on paper. The standards are meant to be tested. Children are expected to master them --or it wouldn't be a standard. It has nothing to do with fruit salad-or even instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What do the kids with 504 plans that say they can't go outside when the air is a certain temperature, or when the pollen count is above X do at your school?

At the public school where I taught Kindergarten last year there were 4 teachers and 3 paras in K. 2 teachers and the paras went out for a.m. recess, and 2 teachers got prep time. They'd keep the kids who couldn't go outside with them. After lunch it flipped and the other 2 teachers and the paras went out. To be clear, we weren't required to keep the kids with us. We could have sent them to sit at the front desk or hang with the nurse, but we had compassion and knew they'd rather stay in the classroom where they could play with the toys or "help" the teacher.

It may have worked differently in your school, not all public schools are exactly the same.

Pretty much that way. The issue is that she was suggesting that the reason the teacher couldn't do the lesson was because she didn't want to peel oranges. Pretty stupid.

Who is the "she" you are referring to here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is also a very difficult standard for first grade. It is tough to master on paper. The standards are meant to be tested. Children are expected to master them --or it wouldn't be a standard. It has nothing to do with fruit salad-or even instruction.

I am also not sure I understand. Given that standardized paper and pencil or computerized assessments aren't required until 3rd grade, I'm not sure why you think that kids need to be able to do something on paper to demonstrate mastery. The standard is clearly written to show that to demonstrate mastery, a kid needs to be able to solve and represent their thinking using objects or pictures.

I'm also not sure what "it has nothing to do with instruction" means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is also a very difficult standard for first grade. It is tough to master on paper. The standards are meant to be tested. Children are expected to master them --or it wouldn't be a standard. It has nothing to do with fruit salad-or even instruction.

Singapore Math 1A has this. Maybe children in Singapore develop differently?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The issue is the standard. It is abstract to young children and developmentally inappropriate. It is not so hard with concrete objects, but when kids have to transfer the skill, it is very difficult.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.OA.A.4
For any number from 1 to 9, find the number that makes 10 when added to the given number, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record the answer with a drawing or equation.

There it is, right there in the standard.

[Anonymous]

For any number from 1 to 9, find the number that makes 10 when added to the given number, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record the answer with a drawing or equation. There it is, right there in the standard.

Fixed it for you.

[Anonymous]

From the New York Times yestersday: More than 650 comments -- almost universally against Common Core. And rage pretty much describes how I feel about the Common Core.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/opinion/sunday/r...inst-the-common-core.html?_r=0

Rage against the Common Core.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/opinion/sunday/r...inst-the-common-core.html?_r=0

Rebellions have also sprouted in Democratic-leaning states. Last spring, between 55,000 and 65,000 New York State students opted out of taking tests linked to the Common Core. Criticizing these tests as “unproven,” the Chicago schools chief, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, declared that she didn’t want her students to take them.

In a Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll conducted last spring, 57 percent of public school parents opposed “having teachers in your community use the Common Core State Standards to guide what they teach,” nearly double the proportion of those who supported the goals. With the standards, the sheer volume of high-stakes standardized testing has ballooned. “The numbers and consequences of these tests have driven public opinion over the edge,” notes Robert A. Schaeffer of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, known as FairTest.

Students are terrified by these tests because the results can jeopardize their prospects for advancement and graduation. In New York, the number of students who scored “proficient” plummeted by about 30 percentage points in 2013, the first year of testing. Some 70 percent scored below the cutoff level in math and English; the 2014 results in math were modestly better, but the English language scores didn’t budge

Interesting that you could miss these important points.

"Many teachers like the standards, because they invite creativity in the classroom — instead of memorization, the Common Core emphasizes critical thinking and problem-solving. But they complain that test prep and test-taking eat away weeks of class time that would be better focused on learning."

"A Gallup poll found that while 76 percent of teachers favored nationwide academic standards for reading, writing and math, only 27 percent supported using tests to gauge students’ performance, and 9 percent favored making test scores a basis for evaluating teachers. Such antagonism is well founded — researchers have shown that measurements of the “value” teachers add, as determined by comparing test scores at the beginning and end of the year, are unreliable and biased against those who teach both low- and high-achieving students."

Clearly, there isn't a problem with the standards. There is concern about the tests and more interestingly, how the test scores are used.

[Anonymous]

Clearly, there isn't a problem with the standards. There is concern about the tests and more interestingly, how the test scores are used.

That is a problem. Common core standards make it a more serious problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

For any number from 1 to 9, find the number that makes 10 when added to the given number, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record the answer with a drawing or equation. There it is, right there in the standard.

Fixed it for you.

It's developmentally inappropriate for a kindergartener to draw two circles to represent the two additional objects needed to make 10?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Clearly, there isn't a problem with the standards. There is concern about the tests and more interestingly, how the test scores are used.

That is a problem. Common core standards make it a more serious problem.

How do the Common Core standards make testing a more serious problem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

For any number from 1 to 9, find the number that makes 10 when added to the given number, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record the answer with a drawing or equation. There it is, right there in the standard.

Fixed it for you.

OR, meaning that a child can show mastery either way. So a child in K who is ready to show their thinking with equations (many are, but not all), is allowed to do so, but it is not required to meet the standards.

This is really clear if you read the entire document on K standards.

Common Core State Standards Kindergarten Introduction wrote: (Kindergarten students should see addition and subtraction equations, and student writing of equations in kindergarten is encouraged, but it is not required.) [/quote/