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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Just by way of a history lesson, so people can understand how we got here, NCLB gave states a huge incentive to dumb down their standards. States that didn't meet self-established performance goals got dinged. [b]So, many states just set low standards so they wouldn't face the consequences[/b]. In many cases, this resulted in a dumbing down of some education systems and curriculum. This has been going on for the better part of a decade. We're so used to it by now that we can't even seen how far behind we really are -- until you look at kids in other countries. Then you realize that we simply have to do better.[/quote]

AMEN!   This is very true.  I am a teacher and I can attest to the fact that the "pass" score on the state tests were in many cases set laughably low.

In addition, the accommodations allowed for students with diagnosed learning disabilities or who were English Language Learners have been too lenient.  [b]For example, if a child had difficulty learning to read and had an IEP, he could get the state tests (even in Language Arts) read aloud to him.   Whole paragraphs of text read aloud, so the child could demonstrate that he was able to "get the main idea" and "make inferences."   Great!  ... meanwhile, the school basically just lost any incentive to actually teach the child how to read.   Same problem with allowing kids with IEPs to use a calculator in the early grades.   Certainly in SOME instances it is truly acceptable to allow these accommodations, but for the most part schools are desperate to have their LD kids pass these state tests, but not so desperate that they actually figure out ways to teach the kids the skills they need.   THey just kept accommodating and accommodating the kids until they ended up in Middle School where even with the accommodations, the kids weren't able to pass the tests.[/b]

[quote]What I don't like about Common Core is that it continues to place the emphasis on schools instead of parents. Parents who don't invest in their kids, who don't read to them, who don't contribute toward their education in and outside of class, who rely on the schools to do all of the educating, are the reason kids do poorly. I realize that it's hard for parents who are working two jobs, etc., and we as a society need to do more to support that group. But, there are plenty of parents who don't work two jobs who still think the school is responsible for educating and they just follow along. There are plenty of parents who work two jobs and still insist on driving their kids to excel in school too. In my opinion, it's our parenting that needs to change if we are to move the needle on achievement. Perhaps not this extreme, but a little more Tiger momming would not kill us. [/quote]

I disagree that Common Core state objectives should have anything to do with parents.  They are just a statement of what kids should know and be able to do by the end of each grade.   How schools and parents get the kids there is up to the schools and the parents.  In my opinion, the state standards are basic enough that if a child is in school most of the time, and the teachers are competent, the students should be able to master the standards without extensive parental help or outside tutoring.   If the child has learning disabilities they will need extra or more specific instruction to meet the standards.   If the child has cognitive delays or is intellectually disabled (what used to be called mental retardation) that child will have trouble meeting the standards in my opinion.[/quote]

My son is dysgraphic, profoundly so. When he was tested and the results were given, we asked the psychiatrist what we could do to help him, i.e. physical therapy, etc. The psychiatrist said that he needed to type. A computer would solve the problem, make it invisible. So we went to the public school he was at and presented the testing results. First we were told because THEIR experts didn't do the testing, they would not write an IEP. I asked them if that would hold up in court, as we used someone licensed by the state, and only after they refused to test him, saying his issue was laziness. They backed down and refused to allow him to use a computer, even after we told them we would provide it so it did not cost the county a dime. They said 'it wasn't fair to other students". So we enrolled him in private school, where all the kids use computers and never had another issue.

Your assumption that my son could have learned to physically write and think at the same time is simply medically incorrect. His IQ dropped 40 points when he tried to physically write and think at the same time because of the learning disability. Because he was smart, his IQ was still above average with the drop, hence why teachers called him lazy. They simply didn't get it. But the damage was done due to the labeling, and undone in the private, where, with his computer, he was simply one of the kids in the class, not 'the lazy kid'.[/quote]

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