Have you all read this editorial about Common Core testing?

[Anonymous]

http://dianeravitch.net/category/common-core/

New York Parent and Educator: Common Core is killing my child's love of learning.

“It is time for parents to speak out against the Common Core standards. They are destroying the love of learning in our children. My eight-year old son is in the third grade. He is a very strong student, particularly in Mathematics. Despite that strength, he recently had a homework assignment from his Common Core Math workbook, that frustrated him to tears. The word problem involved many steps including reading and understanding the problem, interpreting what needs to be done to solve it, subtracting three digit numbers, estimating each number’s tenth place value before subtracting and then coming up with an answer that matched an estimated answer. The problem was far too complex for a third grader. Instead of being excited about doing Math homework like he used to be, he now frequently says, “I don’t get this. It doesn’t make sense.” He’s right. It doesn’t.

“My son is losing his love of learning as the drill for the spring tests begin. He was so excited by a project that he did on planets and one that he did on Walt Disney. Both projects required him to research, read, write and most importantly, be creative. He didn’t cry then, he laughed and smiled. It was at an appropriate level and made sense. The Common Core and teaching to the test is now replacing these projects in our schools. As an educator, I am disappointed in our leaders and puzzled by their allegiance to the Common Core. As a parent, I am saddened and extremely upset that a curriculum matched to State testing is having such a negative effect on my child’s learning. The inappropriate level of difficulty in the Common Core is quickly turning my son’s joy of learning into sadness. I know that I am far from alone in my feelings and experience with this.

” A fellow parent told me about the effect of the Common Core testing on her daughter. Last year her little girl took the New York State Mathematics exam in the fourth grade. Her performance level on the Common Core test was scored as a 2 (below proficiency), however, the year before she was a 4 (advanced) and has been a very strong student in Math. Unfortunately, this parent was told by her school that her daughter must be placed in an additional Math support class for academic intervention services because of her score. Upon hearing this, the student said, “Now I’m stupid. Now I’m a dumb kid,”. The parent told me that her daughter’s teacher told her that she really does not need AIS, but the State of New York mandates it because of her score on the exam. The student’s confidence has been unnecessarily crushed and the parent is outraged.

...and the letter goes on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Kids are hating school, begging not to go, saying they are dumb. I'm hearing it from friends all around me.

If only we could go back in time to pre-common core times! You know, those halcyon days when every single kid across America would wake up bright and early just so happy they were going to school. When no kid would ever beg not to go to school and kds had no idea that school could be something that is hated. Where no kid ever thought they were dumb.

Common core, what have you done to our kids these last past two years?!?!? No parent ever had these problems with their kids before.

Nice try. But these are kids -- and parents -- who liked school and whose children were doing well. Now their kids come home, humiliated and frustrated. I have one friend whose afraid her son is going to drop out he hates school so much. He tells her over and over again: "I'm dumb." I have another whose older two kids are doing great with it, but whose youngest can't fathom the way he is being taught. He's failing every test. I have another whose child -- a previous A student -- failed the NY test. So ALL her electives were stripped from her, and she spends every hour being grilled on the Common Core standards.

Still want to keep defending it?

They loved school because they played rather than learned and they were told they were way smarter than they actually are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://dianeravitch.net/category/common-core/

New York Parent and Educator: Common Core is killing my child's love of learning.

“It is time for parents to speak out against the Common Core standards. They are destroying the love of learning in our children. My eight-year old son is in the third grade. He is a very strong student, particularly in Mathematics. Despite that strength, he recently had a homework assignment from his Common Core Math workbook, that frustrated him to tears. The word problem involved many steps including reading and understanding the problem, interpreting what needs to be done to solve it, subtracting three digit numbers, estimating each number’s tenth place value before subtracting and then coming up with an answer that matched an estimated answer. The problem was far too complex for a third grader. Instead of being excited about doing Math homework like he used to be, he now frequently says, “I don’t get this. It doesn’t make sense.” He’s right. It doesn’t.

“My son is losing his love of learning as the drill for the spring tests begin. He was so excited by a project that he did on planets and one that he did on Walt Disney. Both projects required him to research, read, write and most importantly, be creative. He didn’t cry then, he laughed and smiled. It was at an appropriate level and made sense. The Common Core and teaching to the test is now replacing these projects in our schools. As an educator, I am disappointed in our leaders and puzzled by their allegiance to the Common Core. As a parent, I am saddened and extremely upset that a curriculum matched to State testing is having such a negative effect on my child’s learning. The inappropriate level of difficulty in the Common Core is quickly turning my son’s joy of learning into sadness. I know that I am far from alone in my feelings and experience with this.

” A fellow parent told me about the effect of the Common Core testing on her daughter. Last year her little girl took the New York State Mathematics exam in the fourth grade. Her performance level on the Common Core test was scored as a 2 (below proficiency), however, the year before she was a 4 (advanced) and has been a very strong student in Math. Unfortunately, this parent was told by her school that her daughter must be placed in an additional Math support class for academic intervention services because of her score. Upon hearing this, the student said, “Now I’m stupid. Now I’m a dumb kid,”. The parent told me that her daughter’s teacher told her that she really does not need AIS, but the State of New York mandates it because of her score on the exam. The student’s confidence has been unnecessarily crushed and the parent is outraged.

...and the letter goes on.

How sad, I am crying. No, seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Kids are hating school, begging not to go, saying they are dumb. I'm hearing it from friends all around me.

If only we could go back in time to pre-common core times! You know, those halcyon days when every single kid across America would wake up bright and early just so happy they were going to school. When no kid would ever beg not to go to school and kds had no idea that school could be something that is hated. Where no kid ever thought they were dumb.

Common core, what have you done to our kids these last past two years?!?!? No parent ever had these problems with their kids before.

Nice try. But these are kids -- and parents -- who liked school and whose children were doing well. Now their kids come home, humiliated and frustrated. I have one friend whose afraid her son is going to drop out he hates school so much. He tells her over and over again: "I'm dumb." I have another whose older two kids are doing great with it, but whose youngest can't fathom the way he is being taught. He's failing every test. I have another whose child -- a previous A student -- failed the NY test. So ALL her electives were stripped from her, and she spends every hour being grilled on the Common Core standards.

Still want to keep defending it?

They loved school because they played rather than learned and they were told they were way smarter than they actually are.

BS. They loved school because they were learning and being taught at age appropriate levels.

Common Core is totally untested. It's a made-up set of standards that we have no idea will prepare students. We already see though, that Common Core favors a certain type of student. If you are white and very verbal, you are golden. If you are of color, an ESL student, learning disabled, autistic -- you are SOL. The standards and curriculums are designed to crush you and leave you behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Kids are hating school, begging not to go, saying they are dumb. I'm hearing it from friends all around me.

If only we could go back in time to pre-common core times! You know, those halcyon days when every single kid across America would wake up bright and early just so happy they were going to school. When no kid would ever beg not to go to school and kds had no idea that school could be something that is hated. Where no kid ever thought they were dumb.

Common core, what have you done to our kids these last past two years?!?!? No parent ever had these problems with their kids before.

Nice try. But these are kids -- and parents -- who liked school and whose children were doing well. Now their kids come home, humiliated and frustrated. I have one friend whose afraid her son is going to drop out he hates school so much. He tells her over and over again: "I'm dumb." I have another whose older two kids are doing great with it, but whose youngest can't fathom the way he is being taught. He's failing every test. I have another whose child -- a previous A student -- failed the NY test. So ALL her electives were stripped from her, and she spends every hour being grilled on the Common Core standards.

Still want to keep defending it?

They loved school because they played rather than learned and they were told they were way smarter than they actually are.

BS. They loved school because they were learning and being taught at age appropriate levels.

Common Core is totally untested. It's a made-up set of standards that we have no idea will prepare students. We already see though, that Common Core favors a certain type of student. If you are white and very verbal, you are golden. If you are of color, an ESL student, learning disabled, autistic -- you are SOL. The standards and curriculums are designed to crush you and leave you behind.

Not so in Montgomery County schools. Why, they are using the Common Core as the way to dumb down the curriculum for the white students so they are at the same level as the ESL students and thereby narrowing the achievement gap! The standards and curriculum were designed not to let the white kids get ahead!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kentucky also designed its own tests, called the K-Prep. Students did not do as well on these tests as they have done on past state tests in KY, however, it is not clear whether they performed poorly because the test was poorly designed, because the objectives were inappropriate or perhaps the passing bar was set higher than in past years.

In researching this I came across the following article:

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/what-kentucky-can-teach-the-rest-of-the-us-about-the-common-core/280453/

This is something that really annoys me about critics of Common Core. Here is a common criticism -- that students are being required to read more non-fiction.

Critics have raised concerns about the content of the standards themselves, however. For instance, the English standards call for more informational texts to be read and analyzed in all classes, including science and social studies. Some educators, like Sandra Stotsky, who worked on Massachusetts's acclaimed standards, worry the emphasis will decrease the amount of time studying great literature and important concepts in other subjects.

“If a science teacher is trying to teach a chemistry lab, what do you want them to do?” she said. “Give them a book on Madame Curie?”

If a teacher is trying to teach a chemistry lab on, say, chemical reactions, how about having students read some relevant articles on computer modeling of chemical reactions in Scientific American Magazine? http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=2013-chemistry-nobel-for-molecule-computer-models

Or articles in more scholarly journals? Certainly a biography of famous people in the field would also be appropriate. News articles about current events in the field. lLl of these would be more than appropriate for a science class. Many of them would help students prepare for writing research reports.

Academic writing is typically trash.

They'd be better off studying the classics -- which Common Core wants to strip away.

[Anonymous]

Here's what New York principals are saying about their recent testing:

This is a very important letter from the New York principals who have led the fight against high-stakes testing and the state’s invalid educator evaluation system.
http://dianeravitch.net/2013/10/29/new-york-principals-why-the-common-core-tests-failed-our-students-and-your-children/

Here’s what we know:

1) NYS Testing Has Increased Dramatically: We know that our students are spending more time taking State tests than ever before. Since 2010, the amount of time spent on average taking the 3-8 ELA and Math tests has increased by a whopping 128%! The increase has been particularly hard on our younger students, with third graders seeing an increase of 163%!

2) The Tests were Too Long: We know that many students were unable to complete the tests in the allotted time. Not only were the tests lengthy and challenging, but embedded field test questions extended the length of the tests and caused mental exhaustion, often before students reached the questions that counted toward their scores. For our Special Education students who receive additional time, these tests have become more a measure of endurance than anything else.

3) Ambiguous Questions Appeared throughout the Exams: We know that many teachers and principals could not agree on the correct answers to ambiguous questions in both ELA and Math. In some schools, identical passages and questions appeared on more than one test and at more than one grade level. One school reported that on one day of the ELA Assessment, the same passage with identical questions was included in the third, fourth AND fifth grade ELA Assessments.

4) Children have Reacted Viscerally to the Tests: We know that many children cried during or after testing, and others vomited or lost control of their bowels or bladders. Others simply gave up. One teacher reported that a student kept banging his head on the desk, and wrote, “This is too hard,” and “I can’t do this,” throughout his test booklet.

5) The Low Passing Rate was Predicted: We know that in his “Implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards” memo of March 2013, Deputy Commissioner Slentz stated that proficiency scores (i.e., passing rate) on the new assessments would range between 30%-37% statewide. When scores were released in August 2013, the statewide proficiency rate was announced as 31%.

6) The College Readiness Benchmark is Irresponsibly Inflated: We know that the New York State Education Department used SAT scores of 560 in Reading, 540 in Writing and 530 in mathematics, as the college readiness benchmarks to help set the “passing” cut scores on the 3-8 New York State exams. These NYSED scores, totaling 1630, are far higher than the College Board’s own college readiness benchmark score of 1550. By doing this, NYSED has carelessly inflated the “college readiness” proficiency cut scores for students as young as nine years of age.

7) State Measures are Contradictory: We know that many children are receiving scores that are not commensurate with the abilities they demonstrate on other measures, particularly the New York State Integrated Algebra Regents examination. Across New York, many accelerated eighth-graders scored below proficiency on the eighth grade test only to go on and excel on the Regents examination one month later. One district reports that 58% of the students who scored below proficiency on the NYS Math 8 examination earned a mastery score on the Integrated Algebra Regents.

8) Students Labeled as Failures are Forced Out of Classes: We know that many students who never needed Academic Intervention Services (AIS) in the past, are now receiving mandated AIS as a result of the failing scores. As a result, these students are forced to forgo enrichment classes. For example, in one district, some middle school students had to give up instrumental music, computer or other special classes in order to fit AIS into their schedules.

9) The Achievement Gap is Widening: We know that the tests have caused the achievement gap to widen as the scores of economically disadvantaged students plummeted, and that parents are reporting that low-scoring children feel like failures.

10) The Tests are Putting Financial Strains on Schools: We know that many schools are spending precious dollars on test prep materials, and that instructional time formerly dedicated to field trips, special projects, the arts and enrichment, has been reallocated to test prep, testing, and AIS services.

11) The Tests are Threatening Other State Initiatives: Without a doubt, the emphasis on testing is threatening other important State initiatives, most notably the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Parents who see the impact of the testing on their children are blaming the CCSS, rather than the unwise decision to implement high stakes testing before proper capacity had been developed. As long as these tests remain, it will be nearly impossible to have honest conversations about the impact of the CCSS on our schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Way, way, WAY too much reading for a first grade math test.

Most kids are still JUST figuring out 1 plus 1. And many aren't reading remotely at that level comprehensively. They require too much abstraction for concrete thinkers. It's like telling an infant to get up and start running. .

They do read the tests out loud.

And in PG County where my kids go to school, K is where kids are learning 1+1. By the end of 1st grade, kids have their basic addition facts to 20.

Ha! All kids have their math facts up to 20? No. Some kids maybe, all kids, no.

Again 70 percent of kids are failing these mass-produced Common Core tests. And for children of color, disabled kids or ESL kids the rates climb to 95 percent.

They are totally developmentally inappropriate.

DS is 3rd grade, gifted and talented, and is struggling with the big change of common core. He has an IQ of 138 but is on the spectrum and the change has been really difficult for him and if things don't click for him then he will be in 3rd grade again next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my son was in 2nd grade last year, he got 1/2 credit taken off of one test question because the teacher didn't believe his strategy was an effective way to solve this problem. It was something like 22+17= ? He wrote 39 which is the correct answer. He wrote that he added the ones column first and got 9 and then added the tens column and got 3 which is 39. His teacher said he needed to use the strategy of rounding (22 down to 20 and 17 up to 20, etc). Nowhere in the problem did it say you had to round. Very frustrating for him and me to be told that he got the answer correct but the way he got it was "wrong."

When I was in elementary school, I had teachers who marked the answer wrong, even though it was correct, because I hadn't gotten the answer the right way. This was 35 years ago, so I don't think I can blame it on the Common Core.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Reports are flooding in that Kids subjected to these Common Core standards are shutting down, begging not to go to school every day. And they are in KINDERGARTEN!

Reports are also flooding in that kids subjected to these Common Core standards like school and are learning math. Or, at least, those are the reports at my house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my son was in 2nd grade last year, he got 1/2 credit taken off of one test question because the teacher didn't believe his strategy was an effective way to solve this problem. It was something like 22+17= ? He wrote 39 which is the correct answer. He wrote that he added the ones column first and got 9 and then added the tens column and got 3 which is 39. His teacher said he needed to use the strategy of rounding (22 down to 20 and 17 up to 20, etc). Nowhere in the problem did it say you had to round. Very frustrating for him and me to be told that he got the answer correct but the way he got it was "wrong."

When I was in elementary school, I had teachers who marked the answer wrong, even though it was correct, because I hadn't gotten the answer the right way. This was 35 years ago, so I don't think I can blame it on the Common Core.

My son's math work for 1 problem is 4 pages long. 6th grade. He says he hates school every day now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

As I said, reading. It's an ELA Curriculum.

Common Core is weak in math in a lot of ways. Instead of focusing on the basics, it has students regrouping and explaining and analyzing. Not doing, you know, actual math problems. It's incredibly confusing for students because it's so wordy and confusing.

It an effort to be "deep" -- it's just talky and confusing and turning kids around the country off math. It's also based on a failed experiment. THere's no proof kids who are learning Common Core will be any better at math than those who learned the old-fashioned way.

In my day, we easily got all the way to Calculus by 12th grade.

In my day (I don't know when your day was), the only way you got to Calculus by 12th grade (and Calculus I only) was if you qualified for advanced math, meaning Algebra I in 8th grade. And most kids didn't qualify for advanced math. They took Algebra I in 9th grade and did not take Calculus I in high school.

Whereas the Common Core standards are supposed to prepare all kids for Algebra I by 8th grade.

I'm surprised to read, by the way, that regrouping isn't doing actual math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Reports are flooding in that Kids subjected to these Common Core standards are shutting down, begging not to go to school every day. And they are in KINDERGARTEN!

Reports are also flooding in that kids subjected to these Common Core standards like school and are learning math. Or, at least, those are the reports at my house.

If you learn in a particular way, you will like the Common Core. If not, you are are deemed stupid and worthless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Kids are hating school, begging not to go, saying they are dumb. I'm hearing it from friends all around me.

If only we could go back in time to pre-common core times! You know, those halcyon days when every single kid across America would wake up bright and early just so happy they were going to school. When no kid would ever beg not to go to school and kds had no idea that school could be something that is hated. Where no kid ever thought they were dumb.

Common core, what have you done to our kids these last past two years?!?!? No parent ever had these problems with their kids before.

Nice try. But these are kids -- and parents -- who liked school and whose children were doing well. Now their kids come home, humiliated and frustrated. I have one friend whose afraid her son is going to drop out he hates school so much. He tells her over and over again: "I'm dumb." I have another whose older two kids are doing great with it, but whose youngest can't fathom the way he is being taught. He's failing every test. I have another whose child -- a previous A student -- failed the NY test. So ALL her electives were stripped from her, and she spends every hour being grilled on the Common Core standards.

Still want to keep defending it?

I don't know anything about New York's Common Core-aligned curriculum. But I have two kids going to school under the Common Core, not in New York, and they're doing fine. I think the Common Core is a good thing. Yes, I want to keep defending it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://dianeravitch.net/category/common-core/

New York Parent and Educator: Common Core is killing my child's love of learning.

“It is time for parents to speak out against the Common Core standards. They are destroying the love of learning in our children. My eight-year old son is in the third grade. He is a very strong student, particularly in Mathematics. Despite that strength, he recently had a homework assignment from his Common Core Math workbook, that frustrated him to tears. The word problem involved many steps including reading and understanding the problem, interpreting what needs to be done to solve it, subtracting three digit numbers, estimating each number’s tenth place value before subtracting and then coming up with an answer that matched an estimated answer. The problem was far too complex for a third grader. Instead of being excited about doing Math homework like he used to be, he now frequently says, “I don’t get this. It doesn’t make sense.” He’s right. It doesn’t.

“My son is losing his love of learning as the drill for the spring tests begin. He was so excited by a project that he did on planets and one that he did on Walt Disney. Both projects required him to research, read, write and most importantly, be creative. He didn’t cry then, he laughed and smiled. It was at an appropriate level and made sense. The Common Core and teaching to the test is now replacing these projects in our schools. As an educator, I am disappointed in our leaders and puzzled by their allegiance to the Common Core. As a parent, I am saddened and extremely upset that a curriculum matched to State testing is having such a negative effect on my child’s learning. The inappropriate level of difficulty in the Common Core is quickly turning my son’s joy of learning into sadness. I know that I am far from alone in my feelings and experience with this.

” A fellow parent told me about the effect of the Common Core testing on her daughter. Last year her little girl took the New York State Mathematics exam in the fourth grade. Her performance level on the Common Core test was scored as a 2 (below proficiency), however, the year before she was a 4 (advanced) and has been a very strong student in Math. Unfortunately, this parent was told by her school that her daughter must be placed in an additional Math support class for academic intervention services because of her score. Upon hearing this, the student said, “Now I’m stupid. Now I’m a dumb kid,”. The parent told me that her daughter’s teacher told her that she really does not need AIS, but the State of New York mandates it because of her score on the exam. The student’s confidence has been unnecessarily crushed and the parent is outraged.

...and the letter goes on.

This is really interesting, because my 3rd grade child actually LOVES math now, and it is because of the Common Core Curriculum. The workbook she has been given seems to make so much more sense than the one my son used in third grade a few years ago.

Interesting, how different experienced people are having with Common Core. I wonder if they are using different workbooks?

My daughter finally thinks she is SMART in math!