I'm getting really tired of the sausage argument. I don't care how the sausage was made. I care about the sausage.

Anonymous wrote:

Republicans and Democrats alike have expressed sharp concern about the prominent role standardized testing now plays in schools across the nation. They’re considering scrapping the federal mandate that all states test all students in reading and math each year in grades three through eight plus at least once in high school.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/pearson-education-115026_Page3.html#ixzz3ROLwIiGK

Keep considering!!! Bipartisan action on this would be fabulous. It seems like a no brainer.

Republicans and Democrats alike have expressed sharp concern about the prominent role standardized testing now plays in schools across the nation. They’re considering scrapping the federal mandate that all states test all students in reading and math each year in grades three through eight plus at least once in high school.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/pearson-education-115026_Page3.html#ixzz3ROLwIiGK

Anonymous wrote:

Also, is it surprising, or a sign of something bad, that profits will go to for-profit companies? To whom else would profits go?

The problem is when those companies are on the committees that determine the educational changes (Common Core) and when they make changes for the benefit of their bottom line instead of for the benefit of the students. Do you understand how that might be a problem?

Simply put, the standards should not be written by those who stand to make money from them. It's called "conflict of interest".

Anonymous wrote:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/02/13/former-education-commissioner-blasts-common-core-process/

Former education commissioner blasts Common Core process — update
My experience with the Common Core actually started when I was asked to sign on to them before they were written. … I was told I needed to sign a letter agreeing to the Common Core, and I asked if I might read them first, which is, I think, appropriate. I was told they hadn’t been written, but they still wanted my signature on the letter.

Anonymous wrote:

So don't. Stop arguing about the Common Core standards, and start working for the solutions you want to see.

I am. I am supporting solutions that are not only better, but cheaper and more effective.

https://www.edreform.com/2013/02/whats-wrong-with-common-core-ela-standards/

What’s Wrong with Common Core ELA Standards?

By Sandra Stotsky (Originally part of the Common Core Validation Committee and one of five who refused to sign off on Common Core State Standards, Stotsky has since traveled to 30 states, sharing her story of why she considers the state standards not only mediocre, but “backward” in academic delivery.)

When it comes to credentials, Stotsky's list stretches almost as long as the number of states she's visited.

Over 45 states adopted Common Core’s ELA standards in 2010, in some cases before they were even written. Only in 2012 did some discussion about their implications take place in the media.

...

Intelligent people of all political persuasions need to demand a complete revision of these damaging national standards. They should also demand the selection of academic experts and well-trained teachers to do so. We might then have before us an English language arts and mathematics curriculum that promotes, not retards, intellectual development in all our students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is a great article and it tells how Common Core, a wolf in sheep's clothing, was brought into our states. The states were desparate for money, so they bought in -- most of them before the standards have even been written. Because how bad could they be, right?

To the Common Core supporters, you have repeatedly failed to show how this will help our students one iota. This package of standards is completely unproven, and yet you are on your knees worshiping it as though it was brought down from the heavens on stone tablets.

Nobody is worshipping the Common Core standards.

Meanwhile, the Common Core opponents have repeatedly failed to explain what "proven" would entail, and whether any other standards are "proven" at a level that meets their approval.

Also, it's a myth that the states adopted the standards before they were written. If you want to prove your claim, please provide the dates that each Common Core-adopting state adopted the Common Core standards.

So don't. Stop arguing about the Common Core standards, and start working for the solutions you want to see.

Also, is it surprising, or a sign of something bad, that profits will go to for-profit companies? To whom else would profits go?

$1-8 billion for the whole country? That's not a lot of money. The annual operating budget of just MCPS alone is $2.3 billion.

Anonymous wrote:

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative think tank, estimates implementing the new standards will cost the nation between $1 billion and $8 billion. Nearly all the profits will go to book publishers and test creators like Pearson and CTB/McGraw-Hill.

Shael Polakow-Suransky, the chief academic officer of New York City schools, has warned: "There's lots and lots of books that have got fancy, pretty stickers on them saying 'Common Core,' but they actually haven't changed anything in the inside."