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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]20 years? You want a curriculum to be tested for 20 years before somebody puts it into practice?

And meanwhile everybody will be using the old curricula, which have been researched, independently verified, and tested -- well, how, exactly?

Also, I am wondering which "academic theories" the Common Core standards are based on. This standard, for example:

CCSS.Math.Content.3.NBT.A.1
Use place value understanding to round whole numbers to the nearest 10 or 100.

Or this standard:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.1
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.[/quote]

(sorry in advance for the long answer)

OK first, your standard examples:

1. CCSS.Math.Content.3.NBT.A.1 - Use place value understanding to round whole numbers to the nearest 10 or 100. 
2. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.1 - Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

#1 sound easy enough but tell me how this wasn’t being done pre CC? #2 this sounds easy too, answer a question to determine knowledge… hmmm I think pre CC math did this too. The problem isn’t necessarily the standard as written, its enacting the standard. The devil is in the detail here. For these standards to be ‘standardized’, regulations are required to explain exactly how #1 and especially #2 are to be performed.  Thousands of pages of written requirements will dictate how to accomplish. If schools do not rigidly adhere, they will not receive the federal monies, thus schools will rigidly adhere. But the catch is… Please show me the peer reviewed scientific literature showing randomized double blinded controlled studies proving the application of these standards per the regulatory component works. Hint, there isn’t any.

So to answer your question; 20 years? Yes.

You need 20 years of proof. How else are you going to prove a revolutionary pervasive K-12 education system is valid? I offer nothing novel here. You know women used to get hormone replacement routinely but after review of 20-30 years evidence, physicians were able to determine hormone replacement was potentially harmful. That type of evidence could not be ascertained overnight. Long surveillance durations are necessary.

Look we have 100 years of evidence showing how we teach math works. We know it works for those who 1) attend school, 2) are interested in school, and 3) will do the work school requires of them.

Many students are failing not because teaching math is broken but because these students are remiss in 1), 2), and 3). The other students are doing fine. CC is not going to fix 1), 2), and 3), because diminished 1,2,3s are a societal issue. So I posit if we are going to fundamentally change math education, it best be an evidence based change. Else we risk providing our 1,2,3 no problem students a poorer education.
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