And I just want to reiterate that you are lucky to have your child in a charter school where the teachers are given a lot of control and where there is no "teach to the test" because all of the students are "above average". Your kid is lucky. Would you want your child in a non charter? Why did you put him there? You know the answer. You have no business telling other people what to believe based on YOUR data and analysis that was generated based on YOUR hand picked committee to create YOUR tests.


NO. Your complaint about charters is IRRELEVANT and a total NON-SEQUITUR and here's why:

At the end of the day the teachers at the charter school STILL HAVE THE SAME COMMON CORE STANDARDS TO MEET and STILL HAVE THE SAME PARCC TEST to be held accountable to.

If you as a public school teacher don't think you have as much flexibility or control then that is a problem WITH YOUR LEA AND YOUR SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION, as opposed to being a problem with the standards or the test.

Sorry, but NO.

Maybe the problem is that the kids in your charter are not the same as the kids in the other schools? Maybe the kids are not apples?

^ "implementation was botched IN THE STATES."

That's not a Common Core problem, that's a STATE AND SCHOOL DISTRICT problem.

The claims that "teachers weren't involved" and that it was "behind closed doors" and "developed and run by Pearson with no input from front line teachers" et cetera are FALSE on every count.

Well, I am a teacher and know a lot of teachers and none of us were asked for input.

Nation’s biggest teachers union slams ‘botched’ Common Core implementation

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/national-education-association-common-core-103690.html#ixzz3T43EjEAN

The nation’s largest teachers union is pulling back on its once-enthusiastic support of the Common Core academic standards, labeling their rollout “completely botched.”

National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel said he still believes the standards can improve education. But he said they will not succeed without a major “course correction” — including possibly rewriting some of the standards and revising the related tests with teacher input.


...
Given that trust, the NEA’s support has always been a huge feather in the cap of Common Core supporters. It’s also provided a practical boost: The union has pledged that its members would hold town-hall forums, speak at PTA meetings and do everything they could to persuade a wary public to give Common Core a chance.

Now, however, it’s not clear that teachers can effectively serve as ambassadors. For months, dissident groups of educators, including the Badass Teacher Association, have spoken out against the Common Core. In his open letter, Van Roekel made clear that disillusionment was both widespread and mainstream.

He said 70 percent of teachers believe implementation is going poorly in their schools — and two-thirds report that they have never been asked to give their input on how to introduce the new standards.

And he made clear that’s untenable.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/national-education-association-common-core-103690.html#ixzz3T43S5xnS



-

“In far too many states, implementation has been completely botched,” Van Roekel wrote in a letter Wednesday afternoon to his organization’s more than 3 million members.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/national-education-association-common-core-103690.html#ixzz3T433w3Gi

Anonymous wrote:And, more, from the National Education Association, representing and speaking on behalf of 2.9 million teachers that again speaks to the fact that teachers WERE involved in the development process:

http://www.nea.org/home/46665.htm


NEA’s Involvement in the Common Core State Standards
How and Why NEA Has Been Involved in the Development and Implementation of the Standards

The partnership that developed the Common Core State Standards is headed by the National Governor’s Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). The group invited NEA to be a partner in the enterprise. NEA decided to join the partnership for two major reasons.

First, it is clear that that there is broad support from many groups of stakeholders for common standards. Second, NEA wanted to be sure that the concerns and voices of teachers were considered as these standards were developed. That has happened as the project staff met with groups of mathematics and English language arts teachers who were NEA members and National Board Certified.

There is evidence that they listened carefully to our members and incorporated many of their suggestions into the subsequent drafts of the standards. Three of our teachers from the review group were on official review committees for the standards.

When the first drafts of the Common Core State Standards for College and Workplace Readiness in mathematics and English language arts were released, the Common Core State Standards staff and writers met with two groups of NEA members. One was a group of mathematics teachers and the other was a group of English language arts teachers. All the teachers in the groups were National Board Certified Teachers.

The standards project staff listened carefully to our teachers and made substantive changes in the standards based on the recommendations of our teachers as well as those of teachers from other organizations including the American Federation of Teachers, the International Reading Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

The claims that "teachers weren't involved" and that it was "behind closed doors" and "developed and run by Pearson with no input from front line teachers" et cetera are FALSE on every count.

Except that many teachers on those board DID NOT SIGN OFF ON THE standards. They think they are BAD STANDARDS.

Other teachers say THEY WERE IGNORED.

So it's all nicey-nice that the NEA put this out. A press release from a group like this hardly makes it true -- it makes it SPIN.

Anonymous wrote:

I don't even know who the Heartland Institute is. I do know that education cannot be controlled from above and I do know that the only way to make great schools is to give the schools a lot of control. I don't need someone else's data to tell me what I experience every day.

And I just want to reiterate that you are lucky to have your child in a charter school where the teachers are given a lot of control and where there is no "teach to the test" because all of the students are "above average". Your kid is lucky. Would you want your child in a non charter? Why did you put him there? You know the answer. You have no business telling other people what to believe based on YOUR data and analysis that was generated based on YOUR hand picked committee to create YOUR tests.

NO. Your complaint about charters is IRRELEVANT and a total NON-SEQUITUR and here's why:

At the end of the day the teachers at the charter school STILL HAVE THE SAME COMMON CORE STANDARDS TO MEET and STILL HAVE THE SAME PARCC TEST to be held accountable to.

If you as a public school teacher don't think you have as much flexibility or control then that is a problem WITH YOUR LEA AND YOUR SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION, as opposed to being a problem with the standards or the test.

Sorry, but NO.

And, more, from the National Education Association, representing and speaking on behalf of 2.9 million teachers that again speaks to the fact that teachers WERE involved in the development process:

http://www.nea.org/home/46665.htm


NEA’s Involvement in the Common Core State Standards
How and Why NEA Has Been Involved in the Development and Implementation of the Standards

The partnership that developed the Common Core State Standards is headed by the National Governor’s Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). The group invited NEA to be a partner in the enterprise. NEA decided to join the partnership for two major reasons.

First, it is clear that that there is broad support from many groups of stakeholders for common standards. Second, NEA wanted to be sure that the concerns and voices of teachers were considered as these standards were developed. That has happened as the project staff met with groups of mathematics and English language arts teachers who were NEA members and National Board Certified.

There is evidence that they listened carefully to our members and incorporated many of their suggestions into the subsequent drafts of the standards. Three of our teachers from the review group were on official review committees for the standards.

When the first drafts of the Common Core State Standards for College and Workplace Readiness in mathematics and English language arts were released, the Common Core State Standards staff and writers met with two groups of NEA members. One was a group of mathematics teachers and the other was a group of English language arts teachers. All the teachers in the groups were National Board Certified Teachers.

The standards project staff listened carefully to our teachers and made substantive changes in the standards based on the recommendations of our teachers as well as those of teachers from other organizations including the American Federation of Teachers, the International Reading Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

The claims that "teachers weren't involved" and that it was "behind closed doors" and "developed and run by Pearson with no input from front line teachers" et cetera are FALSE on every count.

I don't even know who the Heartland Institute is. I do know that education cannot be controlled from above and I do know that the only way to make great schools is to give the schools a lot of control. I don't need someone else's data to tell me what I experience every day.

And I just want to reiterate that you are lucky to have your child in a charter school where the teachers are given a lot of control and where there is no "teach to the test" because all of the students are "above average". Your kid is lucky. Would you want your child in a non charter? Why did you put him there? You know the answer. You have no business telling other people what to believe based on YOUR data and analysis that was generated based on YOUR hand picked committee to create YOUR tests.

Anonymous wrote:

Not sure how that's relevant but I'm the PP and my children attend a charter, which is not just meeting, but exceeding CC standards - they don't teach to the tests, they don't spend any significant prep time on standardized tests, yet get some of the best scores in the region. What they do works.

Another anti-cc poster here: You do know that Charters have a distinct advantage? Their parents have gone to the effort to enroll them in the school. That indicates interest and support from parents.

That again goes to show that the problem lies in the status quo, that it's a culture problem, and NOT a problem of standards or testing.

Anonymous wrote:

The "no teachers were involved" nonsense was already debunked and disproven, so the PP is obviously just trolling. S/he might as well be posting "LOL! No, 1+1 = 3.64" and it isn't even funny trolling...

Can you read? It was never disproven. One Politifact article citing one teacher and the Common Core website--that's it.

Here's yet another thing for you to read, from the "American Educator" newsletter published by the American Federation of Teachers that ALSO says teachers were indeed involved: http://www.aft.org//sites/default/files/periodicals/TFT_Resources.pdf

Myth 7. "Teachers weren't included." FACT: Lots of teachers were involved in developing the standards over several years, including hundreds of teachers nationwide who served on state review teams. Many teachers are pleased to report seeing their feedback added verbatim to the final standards.

That's spoken on behalf of one of the biggest educators' unions in the nation, spoken on behalf of over 1.5 million teachers - rebutting the claims that no teachers were involved.

It's a dead issue, the claims that teachers had no input or involvement are FALSE.

Your problem is that you don't have *ANYTHING* to base "your voice and your vote" on - or for that matter, your opinion that "it is not working" and "has had no impact" - other than some extreme disinformation and lies coming in the form of right wing talking points being spread as a funded, organized disinformation astroturf campaign by the Heartland Institute and others which have been repeated here ad nauseam, despite having been shown to have no data, substance or analysis behind them and which have been disproven over and over again.

I am a teacher. I have 27 years of experience. I teach students who are "at risk". I talk to educators A LOT. I have a child who went through public schools. I have been called in for meetings where they were afraid he would not pass the standardized tests (and been told he needed psychiatric intervention which was a huge crock). I have been forced to do things too numerous to recount here. If my child were still in school, I would be opting out of the tests. I think my vote is based on enough. I don't even know who the Heartland Institute is. I do know that education cannot be controlled from above and I do know that the only way to make great schools is to give the schools a lot of control. I don't need someone else's data to tell me what I experience every day. And I am pretty liberal. I would join a "real union" if there were one available and if such an organization were politically active.

Not sure how that's relevant but I'm the PP and my children attend a charter, which is not just meeting, but exceeding CC standards - they don't teach to the tests, they don't spend any significant prep time on standardized tests, yet get some of the best scores in the region. What they do works.

Another anti-cc poster here: You do know that Charters have a distinct advantage? Their parents have gone to the effort to enroll them in the school. That indicates interest and support from parents.

Not PP to whom you are responding. However, you still have not provided proof that classroom teachers were involved--except for the one on Politifact and the two listed on the feedback groups. And, one of those dislikes CC.

Please note that the two on the feedback groups were not the writers.

Do you really not even understand that it's problematic that you can't actually prove any of the things you are saying? That you are accepting these talking points on nothing but faith? Intellectual honesty means you need to question things and look closely and carefully at the statements being made on either side, and to independently verify things before just going out and repeating them. It's pretty obvious that you haven't done that.

Not PP to whom you are responding. However, you still have not provided proof that classroom teachers were involved--except for the one on Politifact and the two listed on the feedback groups. And, one of those dislikes CC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Common Core is the accepted standard and is the status quo. It is up to the anti-CC folks to make and prove their case via specific details, tangible evidence, data, and analysis. Yet they have consistently failed to do so and instead all they do is attempt to bamboozle, deflect, accuse and raise the same debunked points over and over again. Sorry, but that is not how things work in the real world.

Just curious...do your children attend public school?

Not sure how that's relevant but I'm the PP and my children attend a charter, which is not just meeting, but exceeding CC standards - they don't teach to the tests, they don't spend any significant prep time on standardized tests, yet get some of the best scores in the region. What they do works.

It's relevant because a lot of people who don't work in the public schools and send their children to privates have very little knowledge of how difficult it is for children who speak very limited English, have significant special needs, or have had very limited educational exposure (due to a variety of factors) to meet these standards. I assess struggling children every day, and it's putting undue pressure on them because their teachers are expected to bring them up to unrealistic standards. I'm all for doing everything possible to help every child reach his/her potential, but many need the basics first. As an example, if you're 10 years old and reading on a first grade level, you can't be expected to write the process for solving a math problem.