"Teacher of the Year" quits over Common Core tests

[Anonymous]

am also interested in the PP's answer to what is the cause. What is different about those homes? Is it single parent homes?

for starters:
drugs
alcohol
neglect
truancy
lack of good social interaction
lack of value of education

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

am also interested in the PP's answer to what is the cause. What is different about those homes? Is it single parent homes?

for starters:
drugs
alcohol
neglect
truancy
lack of good social interaction
lack of value of education

Do you think that these are unrelated to economics?

[Anonymous]

Do you think that these are unrelated to economics?

Drugs and alcohol cost money and lead to crime, in many cases. That is a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The benchmark testing and constant, mostly useless meetings to discuss the data are mandated by the school district. These meetings and constant testing are driving me crazy as a teacher.

We have data OUT THE WAHOO about how kids are or aren't meeting the standards. What we don't have are meetings about how to change teaching or better yet, change the curriculum (the materials we are using to teach the students). What we also don't have are offers to hire more teachers to help teach these kids who are behind. We don't have offers of money to pay teachers more to stay after school and teach kids individually. We don't have money to offer targeted summer school or weekend classes. And we don't have offers to group students by ability level in classes for instruction (it's ok to take "small groups" by ability level but you still have to run a 4 ring circus to do this.)

And we don't have license to teach a below grade child, at a below grade level. We are still supposed to be exposing the child who is in 4th grade but reading at a K/pre primer level, to fourth grade reading concepts and skills, while simultaneously (magically, by osmosis?) teaching him how to decode words.

There's really nothing wring with the Common Core standards. But it is going to cost schools more to actually teach kids to meet these standards. And they will really need to give up their fancy-schmancy curricula, and let teachers actually teach (which includes direct instruction, and drill and practice in the younger grades) If they want to see kids learn to master the foundational skills.

Another great post by an actual teacher in the trenches. Thank you.

Common Core's demands that everyone be taught at grade level whether they are actually there are not are going to be a disaster for 70 percent of kids in this country. They will get behind in Kindergarten and never be allowed to catch up.

I'm the teacher PP you are responding to. No, the problem is NOT with the Common Core standards. They do NOT state that students have to be taught only on grade level. In fact, I love how they list the foundational skills in reading and writing -- very clearly.

I have students in 4th grade who cannot read fat-cat-sat-mad-red-den type words. These students need direct instruction in decoding. They have not yet been identified as LD because they are ESOL students. They need to go back to K 1st 2nd grade foundational skills objectives in Common Core -- CLEARLY Labeled. But the school district is telling me instruction needs to happen at the 4th grade level or else we are not "exposing" the students to the grade level curriculum and they will never catch up.

This is coming from the school district NOT from Common Core standards. The standards are fine.

[Anonymous]

And (PP again) what is the frickin' point of all this frickin' test data if you will not let me remediate according to the test data??

And how can I bring a child up to speed if you will not provide money for extra instruction? NO, 15 minutes a day of small group instruction is NOT enough time to bring a 4th grader up to grade level in reading. These kids need an hour or more a day, for several months at least, of direct, one to one instruction in basic phonics and decoding skills and work on developing sight words and reading fluency. No they are probably not learning disabled. They just need direct instruction in the foundations of reading. If their parents could they would hire a skilled tutor and just get it done because as a school district we don't seem to be able to do it.

[Anonymous]

^ EXACTLY. Testing isn't the problem, and nor are the standards. It's what school districts do with the test results, and how they remediate the problems that is the issue.

[Anonymous]

And, testing and standards are going to change nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The benchmark testing and constant, mostly useless meetings to discuss the data are mandated by the school district. These meetings and constant testing are driving me crazy as a teacher.

We have data OUT THE WAHOO about how kids are or aren't meeting the standards. What we don't have are meetings about how to change teaching or better yet, change the curriculum (the materials we are using to teach the students). What we also don't have are offers to hire more teachers to help teach these kids who are behind. We don't have offers of money to pay teachers more to stay after school and teach kids individually. We don't have money to offer targeted summer school or weekend classes. And we don't have offers to group students by ability level in classes for instruction (it's ok to take "small groups" by ability level but you still have to run a 4 ring circus to do this.)

And we don't have license to teach a below grade child, at a below grade level. We are still supposed to be exposing the child who is in 4th grade but reading at a K/pre primer level, to fourth grade reading concepts and skills, while simultaneously (magically, by osmosis?) teaching him how to decode words.

There's really nothing wring with the Common Core standards. But it is going to cost schools more to actually teach kids to meet these standards. And they will really need to give up their fancy-schmancy curricula, and let teachers actually teach (which includes direct instruction, and drill and practice in the younger grades) If they want to see kids learn to master the foundational skills.

Another great post by an actual teacher in the trenches. Thank you.

Common Core's demands that everyone be taught at grade level whether they are actually there are not are going to be a disaster for 70 percent of kids in this country. They will get behind in Kindergarten and never be allowed to catch up.

I'm the teacher PP you are responding to. No, the problem is NOT with the Common Core standards. They do NOT state that students have to be taught only on grade level. In fact, I love how they list the foundational skills in reading and writing -- very clearly.

I have students in 4th grade who cannot read fat-cat-sat-mad-red-den type words. These students need direct instruction in decoding. They have not yet been identified as LD because they are ESOL students. They need to go back to K 1st 2nd grade foundational skills objectives in Common Core -- CLEARLY Labeled. But the school district is telling me instruction needs to happen at the 4th grade level or else we are not "exposing" the students to the grade level curriculum and they will never catch up.

This is coming from the school district NOT from Common Core standards. The standards are fine.

The devil is in the details of the common core. Many districts do indeed interpret that children be taught at grade level and you come here claiming that is not the case. Why do you know better than they? Have you read all the addendums? It doesn't sound like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ EXACTLY. Testing isn't the problem, and nor are the standards. It's what school districts do with the test results, and how they remediate the problems that is the issue.

You get the test results 6 months later and a child gets a 1, 2, 3, 4. No details on where a child needs specific help. The tests are garbage. In many grades you won't even have the same teachers. ... How will the tests advance any child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The benchmark testing and constant, mostly useless meetings to discuss the data are mandated by the school district. These meetings and constant testing are driving me crazy as a teacher.

We have data OUT THE WAHOO about how kids are or aren't meeting the standards. What we don't have are meetings about how to change teaching or better yet, change the curriculum (the materials we are using to teach the students). What we also don't have are offers to hire more teachers to help teach these kids who are behind. We don't have offers of money to pay teachers more to stay after school and teach kids individually. We don't have money to offer targeted summer school or weekend classes. And we don't have offers to group students by ability level in classes for instruction (it's ok to take "small groups" by ability level but you still have to run a 4 ring circus to do this.)

And we don't have license to teach a below grade child, at a below grade level. We are still supposed to be exposing the child who is in 4th grade but reading at a K/pre primer level, to fourth grade reading concepts and skills, while simultaneously (magically, by osmosis?) teaching him how to decode words.

There's really nothing wring with the Common Core standards. But it is going to cost schools more to actually teach kids to meet these standards. And they will really need to give up their fancy-schmancy curricula, and let teachers actually teach (which includes direct instruction, and drill and practice in the younger grades) If they want to see kids learn to master the foundational skills.

Another great post by an actual teacher in the trenches. Thank you.

Common Core's demands that everyone be taught at grade level whether they are actually there are not are going to be a disaster for 70 percent of kids in this country. They will get behind in Kindergarten and never be allowed to catch up.

I'm the teacher PP you are responding to. No, the problem is NOT with the Common Core standards. They do NOT state that students have to be taught only on grade level. In fact, I love how they list the foundational skills in reading and writing -- very clearly.

I have students in 4th grade who cannot read fat-cat-sat-mad-red-den type words. These students need direct instruction in decoding. They have not yet been identified as LD because they are ESOL students. They need to go back to K 1st 2nd grade foundational skills objectives in Common Core -- CLEARLY Labeled. But the school district is telling me instruction needs to happen at the 4th grade level or else we are not "exposing" the students to the grade level curriculum and they will never catch up.

This is coming from the school district NOT from Common Core standards. The standards are fine.

The devil is in the details of the common core. Many districts do indeed interpret that children be taught at grade level and you come here claiming that is not the case. Why do you know better than they? Have you read all the addendums? It doesn't sound like it.

Again, if you can cite some specific, authoritative language directly from Common Core to support your assertion that students can ONLY be taught at grade level, then by all means post it. But if you can't (and you haven't) then stop already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ EXACTLY. Testing isn't the problem, and nor are the standards. It's what school districts do with the test results, and how they remediate the problems that is the issue.

You get the test results 6 months later and a child gets a 1, 2, 3, 4. No details on where a child needs specific help. The tests are garbage. In many grades you won't even have the same teachers. ... How will the tests advance any child.

The are who developed the tests, so if you have a problem with usability of test results, blame them. But even so, there's a lot that can be learned from the test results - for example, if most of the kids within specific demographics (SN, ESL, et cetera) don't do well, that means one thing, whereas if a majority of kids in one class don't do well but a majority of kids in a different class do, that means something else.

And no, you won't have the same teachers but you will at least have a minimum standard set of elements that you know they should be getting taught, which minimizes the apples-to-oranges factor that you would otherwise have.

[Anonymous]

^ The states are who developed the test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The devil is in the details of the common core. Many districts do indeed interpret that children be taught at grade level and you come here claiming that is not the case. Why do you know better than they? Have you read all the addendums? It doesn't sound like it.

Have you read all of the addenda? If so, and there is something in there that says that children must be taught at grade level and only at grade level, regardless of where they are, then please provide a reference. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

^ The states are who developed the test.

Publishing companies did them--just like they wrote the standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

^ The states are who developed the test.

Publishing companies did them--just like they wrote the standards.

And around, and around, and around....