Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm the poster above, and I'll say that I didn't read the article in detail. It's quite possible that in addition to involving totally inappropriate content, that other aspects of the assignment were badly done. I think the fact that this assignment was chosen doesn't speak well for the intelligence of the teacher or curriculum developer who wrote it, so it wouldn't surprise me if the didn't balance the number of articles on both sides. It's also possible (although unlikely given the intelligence thing) that the kids had already studied the Holocaust in depth and so had access to additional sources from their research.

Nonetheless the topic and readings were totally inappropriate.

Here's a link to the actual assignment. I just skimmed it but the materials provided don't seem like they were heavily geared towards "Holocaust was a hoax" and the assignment seems to be well intended, although far too complex for most 8th graders.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/222266515/Rialto-Unified-Holocaust-Essay-Assignment

(As a teacher, I shudder to think that as assignment I wrote, with good intentions, would be plastered all over the internet for viral criticism, but I guess that's the world we live in these days. Seeing people comment on all these assignments makes me feel it would be far safer to never create my own materials and just stick to the safety of published curricula.)

You should not be teaching if you feel this is a good assignment in any way, shape or form. You would not DARE to write an assignment asking if slavery was a hoax.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't get it. I thought that the whole point of schools was to be a major influence on education.

That is why it needs to be at the local level where parents can control it.

Exactly. There is recent footage of a man in NH being ARRESTED for going over the 2 minute talk rule at a school board meeting at a library. They did not want him to talk about the book his 9th grade daughter was reading, which was on the list of advanced reading for Common Core. The book was Jody Picoult's "Nineteen Minutes. Want to read the passage he was objecting to? It's detailed here, along with the story and video: http://eagnews.org/new-hampshire-father-opposes-required-reading-of-pornographic-novel-in-9th-grade-english/

If you watch, you can see the policeman seemed hesitant and reluctant. He apparently told the man "He didn't want to do this".

It is INSANE a man can be ARRESTED at a meeting like this. Why does a school board need an officer there? Why are they feeling that parents will revolt against them?

If a school board in New Hampshire had a man arrested for talking too long about a book the school system decided to include in the curriculum, then obviously that must be the fault of the Common Core standards (plus also Arne Duncan and Pearson. Follow the money.)

As long as teachers aren't arrested, right? Arrested for speaking out about porn in books to 9th graders. Is that ok with you? You won't answer this with anything but snark , because you know I am correct. Whenever you snark, I know you are trapped. You know the school board was wrong to do this. Ipunless you want those pesky parents out of the way because you know what is best

My wish is for your pension to be unavailable to you when you retire, because there is no money for it in the budget. What, you have a contract? Doesn't matter. Who are you going to sue in the end?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Agreed. I don't believe that these were additional resources. I believe they were restricted to those resources, which makes it all the more heinous.

You know, one thing I hope kids learn with this new Common Core is to actually go and read the facts before they make comments like this on discussion boards.

Read the actual assignment which is posted here, before you make such pronouncements.


http://www.scribd.com/doc/222266515/Rialto-Unified-Holocaust-Essay-Assignment

Source requires a login. Sorry

You ok with the sources? Next, let's deny slavery

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Agreed. I don't believe that these were additional resources. I believe they were restricted to those resources, which makes it all the more heinous.

You know, one thing I hope kids learn with this new Common Core is to actually go and read the facts before they make comments like this on discussion boards.

Read the actual assignment which is posted here, before you make such pronouncements.


http://www.scribd.com/doc/222266515/Rialto-Unified-Holocaust-Essay-Assignment

I say we all believe the writings of the district who assigned this project.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There will be cheating. Believe me. I knew a teacher who cheated when only ego was involved.

Of course there will be cheating. There is always cheating, anywhere, on anything.

Exactly. As long as there are tests, there will be cheating. Does that we mean we get rid of all tests?

Yes. Follow the money. Also, Obamacare.

And don't forget that the devil's in the details. What details you say? Doesn't matter, he's just there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There will be cheating. Believe me. I knew a teacher who cheated when only ego was involved.

Of course there will be cheating. There is always cheating, anywhere, on anything.

Exactly. As long as there are tests, there will be cheating. Does that we mean we get rid of all tests?

Yes. Follow the money. Also, Obamacare.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I point to Common Core, because the school is blaming Common Core. As long as schools keep pointing to Common Core as the reasons for their decision, something is very wrong up the chain. I fully believe that Common Core was developed to give the school districts license to push an agenda. And I believe, after seeing samples of the tests and curricula approved for Common Core, that it goes much farther up the chain than local level. You cannot separate the developers of the standards from the curriculum. In doing so, you are proving to me time and again, that you have no idea what it means to work in anything else BUT government. When the implementation fails, the standards fail. That's how it works. Spending time in a private corporation will show you how breaks in the chain during implementation usually points back to poorly defined standards.

Really?

1. School district messes up.
2. School district does not want to take responsibility for messing up.
3. School district blames the Common Core standards instead.
4. Obviously, something is wrong with the Common Core.

Well, duh.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There will be cheating. Believe me. I knew a teacher who cheated when only ego was involved.

Of course there will be cheating. There is always cheating, anywhere, on anything.

Exactly. As long as there are tests, there will be cheating. Does that we mean we get rid of all tests?

Anonymous wrote:

Agreed. I don't believe that these were additional resources. I believe they were restricted to those resources, which makes it all the more heinous.

You know, one thing I hope kids learn with this new Common Core is to actually go and read the facts before they make comments like this on discussion boards.

Read the actual assignment which is posted here, before you make such pronouncements.


http://www.scribd.com/doc/222266515/Rialto-Unified-Holocaust-Essay-Assignment

Anonymous wrote:What states currently allow below grade level testing, for No Child Left Behind mandated tests?

By currently I mean, before Common Core has been implemented; before PARCC, etc. Maybe I should say, used below grade level testing in past years.

I don't think states have been doing that; not even for Learning Disabled children.

LD kids could get exemptions on state mandated testing (like in MD, the MSA) by having grade level tests read aloud, or by having a scribe for grade level tests, but no one was letting them take below grade level tests, even if that's where they were working.

Tying teacher evaluations (in part) to tests scores, or to growth over the year, will be tricky... in many cases probably ineffective. I'm not a huge fan of this process, because I think it is too cumbersome and overly bureaucratic; won't improve teaching much. But it has nothing to do with Common Core -- this requirement came from Race to the Top.

If you oppose tying teacher evaluations to kids' test scores, spend your energy opposing Race to the Top.

You could do away with Common Core today and still have to deal with test scores being tied to teacher evaluations.

What states currently allow below grade level testing, for No Child Left Behind mandated tests?

What about a teacher who teaches in a school where truancy is a problem? Is there an exemption there?

Anonymous wrote:

And I don't understand what you're saying. Are you saying that currently, if your child in third grade is reading at (for example) the first-grade level, then the state standardized test your child takes for reading, for the NCLB requirements, is the first-grade test? There isn't a first-grade test.

There are exemptions in NCLB for special needs kids--at least in Virginia.

Right, there are exemptions in NCLB for special needs kids. Switching from the MSA to the PARCC (in Maryland, which did adopt the Common Core standards) is not going to change this provision of federal law.

And I don't understand what you're saying. Are you saying that currently, if your child in third grade is reading at (for example) the first-grade level, then the state standardized test your child takes for reading, for the NCLB requirements, is the first-grade test? There isn't a first-grade test.

There are exemptions in NCLB for special needs kids--at least in Virginia.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What is simplistic about it? How does it not work that way? How does it work?

Some kids will be starting BELOW the bottom standard for the grade level. How do you show growth if he is on third grade level, but taking a sixth grade test?

School districts are ALREADY doing this. Children are ALREADY taking standardized tests for their grade. Teachers are ALREADY being assessed based in part on changes in children's scores on those tests.

Uh, not everywhere. In my state there are levels of tests, and they are given at grade level to show growth.

But CC and Race to the Top stops this. My child will now be forced to take hours and hours of tests on material he's never learned. The special needs community is all in an uproar over this. Our facebook groups grow by leaps and bounds each day.

No, not everywhere. But the fact that it already exists proves that it is possible.

And I don't understand what you're saying. Are you saying that currently, if your child in third grade is reading at (for example) the first-grade level, then the state standardized test your child takes for reading, for the NCLB requirements, is the first-grade test? There isn't a first-grade test.