Anonymous
Post 01/30/2015 08:15     Subject: Common Core PARCC tests for fourth grade math
Anonymous wrote:^Interesting that you should mention MD.

How has Montgomery County done? I would think that they would be one of the districts in MD that is going beyond and supplementing and doing well on the tests.

Exactly why is Superintendent Starr "on the ropes"?


Because of

1. his inability to develop and communicate a successful strategy for closing the achievement gap separating white and minority students
2. his leadership style and brusque and distant manner
3. his career ambitions

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/montgomery-county-schools-chiefs-tenure-in-doubt/2015/01/27/6983ead0-a68e-11e4-a2b2-776095f393b2_story.html
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2015 07:50     Subject: Common Core PARCC tests for fourth grade math
^Interesting that you should mention MD.

How has Montgomery County done? I would think that they would be one of the districts in MD that is going beyond and supplementing and doing well on the tests.

Exactly why is Superintendent Starr "on the ropes"?
Anonymous
Post 01/29/2015 22:41     Subject: Common Core PARCC tests for fourth grade math
^ and, it's a MINIMUM standard - there's NOTHING that says teachers can't go above and beyond and supplement it with other teaching. Look at MD and you'll find that this is what some of their schools are doing - and quite well, at that.
Anonymous
Post 01/29/2015 22:36     Subject: Re:Common Core PARCC tests for fourth grade math
Anonymous wrote:
What way is the Common Core "method" or "way", please?


Oh, great! You mean the teachers are free to teach the kids to solve in the way they have been for years? Relieved. So there's no difference? Why are they changing all the materials then?

This is such great news. We are free to teach in the tried and true ways and the test will not be any different? Great. Thanks for letting us know.


There is no one correct or required "Common Core way" - it is a standard. The standards can be met through a number of different teaching methods (for example using math manipulatives) arriving at the same result, to meet the standard.
Anonymous
Post 01/29/2015 20:50     Subject: Re:Common Core PARCC tests for fourth grade math
Anonymous wrote:
What way is the Common Core "method" or "way", please?


Oh, great! You mean the teachers are free to teach the kids to solve in the way they have been for years? Relieved. So there's no difference? Why are they changing all the materials then?

This is such great news. We are free to teach in the tried and true ways and the test will not be any different? Great. Thanks for letting us know.


Make up your mind, please. It is not logical to oppose the Common Core standards both because they change things and because they don't change anything.

But as it happens, this particular point is not about teaching. It is about the supposed "Common Core way" to solve an addition problem. There is no "Common Core way" to solve an addition problem. There are many different ways to solve an addition problem, one of which is the standard algorithm.
Anonymous
Post 01/29/2015 20:43     Subject: Re:Common Core PARCC tests for fourth grade math
What way is the Common Core "method" or "way", please?


Oh, great! You mean the teachers are free to teach the kids to solve in the way they have been for years? Relieved. So there's no difference? Why are they changing all the materials then?

This is such great news. We are free to teach in the tried and true ways and the test will not be any different? Great. Thanks for letting us know.
Anonymous
Post 01/29/2015 20:20     Subject: Re:Common Core PARCC tests for fourth grade math
Anonymous wrote:

True enough, but the problem comes when the tests are aligned to the CC and the student is asked to solve the problem the CC way (and show their work). If the student does not show his work the way CC wants it done, he loses points. So the teacher is definitely forced to teach the CC method. Of course the teacher can add other methods, but the student has to have enough practice with the CC method in order to pass the mandated test (and they are still mandated).


I looked through the link to the 4th grade PARCC math test (which I guess is what you mean by a test aligned to the Common Core) and I didn't see any questions that seemed to require a student solve the problem some weird Common Core way.
Anonymous
Post 01/29/2015 20:03     Subject: Re:Common Core PARCC tests for fourth grade math
Anonymous wrote:

True enough, but the problem comes when the tests are aligned to the CC and the student is asked to solve the problem the CC way (and show their work). If the student does not show his work the way CC wants it done, he loses points. So the teacher is definitely forced to teach the CC method. Of course the teacher can add other methods, but the student has to have enough practice with the CC method in order to pass the mandated test (and they are still mandated).


What way is the Common Core "method" or "way", please?

Here are the second-grade math standards related to addition and subtraction:

Use place value understanding and properties of operations to add and subtract.

CCSS.Math.Content.2.NBT.B.5
Fluently add and subtract within 100 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.

CCSS.Math.Content.2.NBT.B.6
Add up to four two-digit numbers using strategies based on place value and properties of operations.

CCSS.Math.Content.2.NBT.B.7
Add and subtract within 1000, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method. Understand that in adding or subtracting three-digit numbers, one adds or subtracts hundreds and hundreds, tens and tens, ones and ones; and sometimes it is necessary to compose or decompose tens or hundreds.

CCSS.Math.Content.2.NBT.B.8
Mentally add 10 or 100 to a given number 100-900, and mentally subtract 10 or 100 from a given number 100-900.

CCSS.Math.Content.2.NBT.B.9
Explain why addition and subtraction strategies work, using place value and the properties of operations.1


1 Explanations may be supported by drawings or objects.