Reply to Common Core's epic fail: Special Education

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2014/10/23/the-science-of-the-common-core-experts-weigh-in-on-its-developmental-appropriateness/

The Science Of The Common Core: Experts Weigh In On Its Developmental Appropriateness

According to experts, a poorly conceived set of standards has the potential to be, at best, fruitless and, at worst, detrimental to the youngest kids who are on the frontline of the Common Core. In the long run, the argument goes, it might be associated with a lot more cost than benefit.

David Elkind, long-time child development expert at Tufts University and author of The Hurried Child, says that a related problem with the Common Core standards is that “children are not standardized.” Between ages 4 to 7, he says, kids are undergoing especially rapid changes in cognitive ability, but this neurological and psychological development occurs at all different rates. “Some children attain these abilities—which enable them to learn verbal rules, the essence of formal instruction—at different ages. With the exception of those with special needs, all children attain them eventually. That is why many Scandinavian countries do not introduce formal instruction, the three R’s until the age of seven. In these countries children encounter few learning difficulties. Basically, you cannot standardize growth, particularly in young children and young adolescents. When growth is most rapid, standardization is the most destructive of motivation to learn. To use a biological analogy, you don’t prune during the growing season.”[/quote]

Yes, a poorly-conceived set of standards has the potential to do harm. The question is, are the Common Core standards poorly conceived? I've read a lot of them, and I think that they are, overall, very reasonable.

I don't think that the fact that children are not standardized means that we should get rid of standards.

I think it's a misunderstanding that "many Scandinavian countries do not introduce formal instruction until the age of seven". (What is "many Scandinavian countries" anyway? There are only three of them; or five if you include Finland, Iceland (population 323,000), and the Faroe Islands (population 50,000).) Also, the standardized tests don't start until third grade, when children are 8 or 9.[/quote]

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