Common Core: Your preschoolers are too dumb for kindergarten

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But we are not talking about whether or not early reading is important. We are talking about whether the majority of children are capable of meeting the kindergarten Common Core standard for reading level. Yes, they are.

So mistaken. This is absolutely not true.

It's true in Montgomery County Public Schools.

http://sharedaccountability.mcpsmd.org/reports/list.php?selection=927

Wow, you're a sleuth. Thanks for posting. Very interesting - the % jumps by a lot from 2006 to 2011, by more than 10 points, across all races. I wonder what caused such a huge jump. Not much change between 2011 and 2012, which is when they implemented CC in MCPS. So by those number, in MCPS at least, implementation of CC didn't really change "readiness" for Kers as far as reading goes.

Zing.

Also, I am another neutral, not-very-knowledgeable and new person posting on this thread, and I echo the sentiment of the person that said that to keep trying to shut down a person's viewpoint by calling them an "apologist" is rude and counterproductive. Either join the conversation or don't. But if someone has some knowledge, they have every right to see it.

I am trying to LEARN about Common Core because I keep hearing how terrible it is (and I'm talking about in real life and on facebook, and so forth). But in this thread alone, the people that are sounding the most sane are not the common core haters, that is for sure. Maybe those of you who hate common core can lay out your arguments better instead of these bizzaroland circular arguments and calling someone an "apologist" just for having knowledge. Good grief.

[Anonymous]

Oops, SAY it, not see it.

[Anonymous]

"Anonymous wrote:

The test changed because of Common Core. That's a stated fact. The numbers dropped. Another stated fact.


Sad. Why are we pushing our kids so much? Kindergarten should not be boot camp.


Who says we are? Who says it is?"

I will not agree the drop is a fact since no one has provided a link to the actual study. Only to opinion pieces on it.
After that K should have more play time in it but I do not think what they are trying to get the kids to do is inappropriately tough.

[Anonymous]

Here are actual links to information. Most of the comments on this thread are completely inaccurate.

About Maryland's Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (used in all K classrooms in MD, not in public pre-k)
https://maryland.kready.org/olms/2400

Results of this year's KRA:
http://www.wbaltv.com/blob/view/-/33106818/data/1/-/13n65pu/-/Kindergarten-Readiness-Assessment-Report.pdf

Scores dropped this year, but it is a completely different test, so you can't compare to the previous year. Yes, it is aligned to the Common Core, but the Common Core is only math and reading. KRA has 5 other domains of learning and development.

[Anonymous]

Let's face it. Common Core standards will change based on the experiences in real schools. They are not perfect and in some cases may be far from it. Anything that is adhered to in an extreme way will not work in schools. If the standards are treated loosely, they will probably be okay. If they are treated as a "be all, end all", they will fail. If they are not relevant, they will be ignored (and fail). That is what is happening.

[Anonymous]

OK, so they are early month K students (Sept.) being assessed instead of late preschool in June.

But these are apple to apple numbers, and the numbers of being ready for K didn't just drop, they plummeted under the new "rigorous" Common Core. Oh, and people who think "rigor" ad 4- and 5-year-olds go together are just sick.


How do these results compare with the MMSR Kindergarten Assessment?
In school year 2013
-
14, when the MMSR assessment was administered
for the last time, 83
percent of all kindergarteners were fully ready for the kindergarten curriculum that followed the
old Maryland State Curriculum. The new Maryland College and Career Standards have raised
the bar for all school age students, including
kindergarteners. The KRA measures are different
from the ones used in the MMSR. This year’s results do not represent kindergarteners that are
less prepared than the group from previous years but the first group of children starting school
that is being
assessed with a more rigorous assessment measuring school readiness in such a way
to prepare them for 21
st
century learn

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, so they are early month K students (Sept.) being assessed instead of late preschool in June.

But these are apple to apple numbers, and the numbers of being ready for K didn't just drop, they plummeted under the new "rigorous" Common Core. Oh, and people who think "rigor" ad 4- and 5-year-olds go together are just sick.


How do these results compare with the MMSR Kindergarten Assessment?
In school year 2013
-
14, when the MMSR assessment was administered
for the last time, 83
percent of all kindergarteners were fully ready for the kindergarten curriculum that followed the
old Maryland State Curriculum. The new Maryland College and Career Standards have raised
the bar for all school age students, including
kindergarteners. The KRA measures are different
from the ones used in the MMSR. This year’s results do not represent kindergarteners that are
less prepared than the group from previous years but the first group of children starting school
that is being
assessed with a more rigorous assessment measuring school readiness in such a way
to prepare them for 21
st
century learn

Where are you getting your numbers from, please?

[Anonymous]

The problem with this is "why"? Do people really believe that sooner is better? Do they not realize that this is not preparing for academic rigor--that other things are being eliminated to provide for all of this reading?

[Anonymous]

These are the standards that are used for the kindergarten readiness assessment. Is there anything on this list that you think that a kindergarten should not be able to do in the beginning of the year?

https://maryland.kready.org/data/ck/sites/23/files/Common%20Language%20Standards_v4.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No experience with whatever was before CC but I definitely did not think K was too hard. Level 4 in reading is pretty basic. Adding and subtracting to 5 - again this does not seem like a huge task.

Only part of the current curriculum I dislike really is the lack of much differentiation in math. But that is related to how MoCo has put CC into place of course not anything directly related to CC itself.

I have a current MCPS kindergartner and tend to agree with both of the bolded statements. My DD is probably slightly unhealthily interested in the reading levels of other kids in her class, so I know a lot about who is reading at what level. Even the kids who came into kindergarten with limited English and less than optimal preschool experiences are now reading at at least a 4, according to her. She's actually really proud of her peers, and will say "X used to be in a 2, but now she's on level 6. She's catching up to me!" We were lucky enough to have an outstanding preschool experience, so my daughter started the year reading at a Level 4 and the school has done a good job of moving her forward while catching the other kids up.

I also agree about the lack of math differentiation, but again the expectations seem fairly normal and it seems like the kids in her class are meeting them based on the work she's bringing home. I mean, there's limited differentiation, and the worksheets she is completing have her adding and subtracting up to 20, so I think that's the norm in her classroom.

I sure hope you aren't encouraging your DD to speak this way about her peers and I sure hope you shut down any such conversation. That's what I hate about this area. Schools actually want to encourage a very unhealthy comparative and competitive spirit between kids. I thought this started later but apparently they get em nice and early. Your daughter shouldn't know anybody's numerical reading level including her own.

[Anonymous]

These are the standards that are used for the kindergarten readiness assessment. Is there anything on this list that you think that a kindergarten should not be able to do in the beginning of the year?

Should? Lots of Kindergarten kids cannot do those things at the beginning of the year. These should be end of year for most kids.

[Anonymous]

I sure hope you aren't encouraging your DD to speak this way about her peers and I sure hope you shut down any such conversation. That's what I hate about this area. Schools actually want to encourage a very unhealthy comparative and competitive spirit between kids. I thought this started later but apparently they get em nice and early. Your daughter shouldn't know anybody's numerical reading level including her own.

Sounds like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

These are the standards that are used for the kindergarten readiness assessment. Is there anything on this list that you think that a kindergarten should not be able to do in the beginning of the year?

Should? Lots of Kindergarten kids cannot do those things at the beginning of the year. These should be end of year for most kids.

The Common Core standards for kindergarten are for the end of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem with this is "why"? Do people really believe that sooner is better? Do they not realize that this is not preparing for academic rigor--that other things are being eliminated to provide for all of this reading?

"All of this reading"? How much reading, how much time does it take, what is being eliminated, and how do you know these things?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

These are the standards that are used for the kindergarten readiness assessment. Is there anything on this list that you think that a kindergarten should not be able to do in the beginning of the year?

Should? Lots of Kindergarten kids cannot do those things at the beginning of the year. These should be end of year for most kids.

The Common Core standards for kindergarten are for the end of the year.

Yes,but the standards that are posted above are specifically for the kindergarten readiness assessment in the beginning of the year. They are aligned with the Common Core, but were developed specifically for Maryland.