Reply to FYI: New York and New Jersey ... forums and bills on Common core

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[quote=Anonymous]Thank you.  It is always nice to know more detail.

At the top level, you are demonstrating that NY does not set the right objectives for their students.  Indeed, it is always a big challenge for any curriculum implementation to set the right targets.  The common core can always dodge the bullet and claim that it is good because it is only a "standard".  Teachers and schools can not since they are dealing with implementations.  However, a well-designed standard must take implementations into consideration.  It is surprised me that CC had been widely rolled out before its assessments are ready and local schools had gone up & beyond to design their own assessments.  For MCPS, there is a UCARE assessment.

You have pointed out that a center piece of NY implementation failure was "They didn't field test this assessment, they just rolled it out and kids had a terrible time on the test, and all failed."  A high level question is, "Will people be happy if all kids passed the test?"  May or may not.  MSA had been complained for being too easy.  People in this forum complained that P is everywhere.

Overall, at the system level, is there a way for curriculum implementations to take feedback from the field and to evolve themselves?  Regardless of who are the ultimate winners/losers in curriculum related clashes, some students are always under cross fire and affected.  This is sad.

[quote=Anonymous]New York went nuts.   They took the Common Core standards, went and wrote a crappy curriculum that they said was based on those standards, but went absolutely batshit crazy in all the extra things they added to the curriculum.

Then they designed a test testing not Common Core Objectives, but the additional objectives/standards they built into their curriculum.

They didn't field test this assessment, they just rolled it out and kids had a terrible time on the test, and all failed.

For example:   for their English/Language Arts lesson in grade 2 on they state the following goals.  (Again, note -- these are NOT Common Core Standards.   They are standards invented up by the NY State Department of Education!!)

http://www.engageny.org/resource/grade-2-ela-domain-5-the-war-of-1812
[quote]
By the end of this domain, students will be able to:

Explain that America fought Great Britain for independence;
Explain that the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution;
Explain that Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from the French;
Explain that Great Britain became involved in a series of wars against France;
Explain that due to a shortage of sailors, Britain began to impress, or capture, American sailors;
Explain that some members of the U.S. government began to call for war;
Identify that the British controlled land in the northern Great Lakes region, the northwestern territories, and Canada;
Explain that James Madison was the president during the War of 1812;
Identify James Madison, a Founding Father, as the main author of the Constitution;
Identify Dolley Payne Todd as James Madison’s wife;
Identify James Madison as the fourth president of the United States;
Explain that in 1812 the United States had a small army and a small navy;
Explain that President Madison persuaded farmers to become soldiers;
Explain the USS Constitution became known as “Old Ironsides” because British cannonballs could not damage it;
Explain how the President’s House was a house especially built for the president and his family; today it is called the White House;
Explain that in 1814 the British attacked the capital, Washington, D.C.;
Explain that Dolley Madison had to escape from the President’s House;
Explain that Dolley Madison saved important papers, letters, and a portrait of George Washington;
Explain that the British Army set fire to the President’s House;
Describe how the British attacked the city of Baltimore and Fort McHenry;
Explain that the U.S. commander of Fort McHenry asked for a large flag to be made to fly over Fort McHenry;
Explain that the British failed to capture Baltimore or Fort McHenry;
Explain how Francis Scott Key watched the battle of Fort McHenry and wrote a poem that later became the national anthem;
Demonstrate familiarity with the song, “The Star-Spangled Banner”;
Explain that General Andrew Jackson’s army was made up of militiamen, soldiers, farmers, Native Americans, African Americans, and pirates;
Explain that the Battle of New Orleans actually took place two weeks after the War of 1812 was over;
Describe how the War of 1812 was considered a second war for independence;
Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song;
Ask and answer questions (e.g., who, what, where, when, why, how), orally or in writing, requiring literal recall and understanding of the details and/or facts of a nonfiction/informational read-aloud;
Answer questions that require making interpretations, judgments, or giving opinions about what is heard in a nonfiction/informational read-aloud, including answering why questions that require recognizing cause/effect relationships;
Identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph nonfiction/informational read-aloud as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text;
Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a nonfiction/informational read-aloud;
Determine the meaning of unknown words and phrases in nonfiction/informational read-alouds and discussions;
Compare and contrast (orally or in writing) similarities and differences within a single nonfiction/informational read-aloud or between two or more nonfiction/informational read-alouds;
Listen to and demonstrate understanding of nonfiction/informational read-alouds of appropriate complexity for grades 2–4;
Plan and/or draft, and edit an opinion piece in which they introduce a topic, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words (e.g., because, and, also) to connect opinion and reasons, and provides a concluding statement or section;
Plan and/or draft, and edit an informative/explanatory text that presents information from a nonfiction/informational read-aloud that introduces a topic, uses facts and definitions to develop points, and provides a concluding statement or section;
Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., after listening to several read-alouds, produce a report on a single topic);
Make personal connections (orally or in writing) to events or experiences in a fiction or nonfiction/informational read-aloud and/or make connections among several read-alouds;
With assistance, categorize and organize facts and information within a given domain to answer questions;
Generate questions and gather information from multiple sources to answer questions;
Use agreed-upon rules for group discussion (e.g., look at and listen to the speaker, raise hand to speak, take turns, say “excuse me” or “please,” etc.);
Carry on and participate in a conversation over at least six turns, staying on topic, linking their comments to the remarks of others, with either an adult or another child of the same age;
Ask questions to clarify information about the topic in a fiction or nonfiction/informational read-aloud;
Retell (orally or in writing) important facts and information from a fiction or nonfiction/informational read-aloud;
Ask questions to clarify directions, exercises, classroom routines, and/or what a speaker says about a topic to gather additional information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue;
Recount a personal experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences;
Create audio recordings of stories or poems; add drawings or other visual displays to stories or recounts of experiences when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings;
Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification;
Use word parts to determine meanings of unknown words in fiction or nonfiction/informational read-alouds and discussions;
Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., describe foods that are spicy or juicy);
Provide synonyms and antonyms of selected core vocabulary words;
Determine the meaning of unknown and multiple meaning words and phrases in fiction or nonfiction/informational read-alouds and discussions;
Distinguish shades of meaning among closely related verbs (e.g., toss, throw, hurl) and closely related adjectives (e.g., thin, slender, skinny, scrawny);
Learn the meaning of common sayings and phrases;
Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using adjectives and adverbs to describe (e.g., When other kids are happy that makes me happy);
Prior to listening to a read-aloud, identify orally what they know and have learned about a given topic;
Prior to listening to a read-aloud, orally predict what will happen based on images or text heard and then compare the actual outcome to the prediction;
Share writing with others; and
Rehearse and perform a read-aloud for an audience using eye contact, appropriate volume, and clear enunciation.
[/quote]

And that is just ONE of the 2nd grade Language Arts Modules.  There are like 8 of them!!

So -- watch out!

When you hear that educators in New York State are protesting the "implementation of Common Core" you need to ask, what exactly, are they protesting?[/quote][/quote]

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