Reply to "Teacher of the Year" quits over Common Core tests

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Schools do many, many things (and should be doing those things) that standards can not even begin to address.  Unfortunately those things are put on the back burner as the focus has turned to "standards" and testing them.

If, [b]in implementing the standards and bowing to testing pressures[/b], we lose our semblance of humanity, it's at our own peril as a society.  The whole idea of the federal government collecting "data" on our kids and then claiming that this is all for their betterment flies in the face of what people believe is best for the kids.

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We've had standards and testing pressures since 2001, because of the No Child Left Behind Act. If we've lost our semblance of humanity, it's not the fault of the Common Core State Standards.

Another thing the Common Core State Standards won't do: increase the amount of data the federal government collects about schools.

[i]Another claim: Common Core standards will dramatically increase the amount of personal information the federal government collects.

"There are over 300 data elements the government is going to be collecting about your children and about you," Tim Curtis, an activist with the tea party group 9/12, said in Tampa.

His claim has a kernel of truth: Florida requires school districts to keep student information. Some of it is required by the state, while other elements are optional, or only kept at the local level, such as bus stop numbers. The list includes students’ race, test scores, attendance and many more factors.

But those requirements have existed for decades — long before Common Core came along. States collect the data to help them make decisions.

The U.S. Department of Education has routine access to some data, but that data is aggregated and stripped of personally identifiable information.

In fact, laws predating Common Core prohibit a federal database of personally identifiable information on students.

"Florida has no plans to change the data it collects that is linked to Common Core," said Florida Department of Education spokeswoman Cheryl Etters.

We told Curtis that multiple educational experts said Common Core doesn’t require new data collection.

"I can shoot that claim down with a single explanation," Curtis said. "The Polk County school district began to do iris screening on school children and they did so without notifying their parents. They did so as a result of the beginning of the implementation of Common Core."

According to the Florida Department of Education, the screening was intended to route children onto the proper bus and wasn’t related to Common Core.

We rated the claim that Common Core means 300 points of data being collected as Mostly False.
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http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/oct/21/fact-checking-common-core-school-standards/[/quote]

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