Anonymous
Post 03/28/2015 09:34     Subject: PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them
Anonymous wrote:

Another poster. Why is it so important to distinguish whether a kid can identify long and short vowel sounds in kindergarten as opposed to first grade? Does this make any difference in the long run? Will the kid who can identify those sounds in kindergarten as opposed to first grade have better life outcomes? Really? It just sounds ridiculous to have standards be this specific to grades at those ages. Why are we spending money on this?

This poster who says that there are more important things to worry about in kindergarten is right. I just base this on common sense. I hope that's enough for the poster who asks "what do you base this on?" If not, we're really taking education to more absurd levels than I imagined.


We teach an awful lot of stuff in school for which there is no evidence that it leads to better life outcomes.

Also, it sounds like you object to grade-level standards in general. Did you also fight the individual state standards that preceded the Common Core standards? If not, why not?
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2015 09:30     Subject: Re:PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them
Developmentally inappropriate for Kindergarteners as a standard. And, yes, I know some K kids can do this. There are many things far more important for Kindergarteners.

What do I base my opinion on?

Education, training, and experience.


+1000 Please stay in teaching. We need you!!!
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2015 09:28     Subject: PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them


Another poster. Why is it so important to distinguish whether a kid can identify long and short vowel sounds in kindergarten as opposed to first grade? Does this make any difference in the long run? Will the kid who can identify those sounds in kindergarten as opposed to first grade have better life outcomes? Really? It just sounds ridiculous to have standards be this specific to grades at those ages. Why are we spending money on this?

This poster who says that there are more important things to worry about in kindergarten is right. I just base this on common sense. I hope that's enough for the poster who asks "what do you base this on?" If not, we're really taking education to more absurd levels than I imagined.
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2015 09:24     Subject: PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them
At our school the middle school class schedule was reversed every other day for something like 2 weeks for the PARCC testing. It throws kids off. It can be hard for kids to learn at their best when the whole day is changed around (and they are not wasting time taking endless long tests). When I was a kid the state assessments took a day or may be 2 tops. Why less time? Because we weren't required to write essay after essay to demonstrate our knowledge.

Think about the other side. Some huge number of staff are actually going to read and score all of these essays. Staff at Pearson. Imagine the labor cost that we are paying for this.
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2015 09:18     Subject: Re:PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them
Anonymous wrote:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3.b
Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.


Developmentally inappropriate for Kindergarteners as a standard. And, yes, I know some K kids can do this. There are many things far more important for Kindergarteners.

What do I base my opinion on?

Education, training, and experience.


You believe that it's developmentally inappropriate to expect on-grade-level kindergarteners to be able to do this by the end of the year?

What education, training, and experience do you have?
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2015 09:15     Subject: Re:PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3.b
Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.


Developmentally inappropriate for Kindergarteners as a standard. And, yes, I know some K kids can do this. There are many things far more important for Kindergarteners.

What do I base my opinion on?

Education, training, and experience.
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2015 09:08     Subject: Re:PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them
Anonymous wrote:
It says they should have some basic concepts of phonics and a few other things down but beyond that it doesn't actually shift any reading expectations forward.


"Some basic concepts of phonics"? Have your read them?

If a K teacher is working on all of these standards (and, for right now, we haven't even mentioned the math standards), the curriculum is totally inappropriate for K students.


Which phonics standards are inappropriate for kindergarten? This one?

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2.a
Recognize and produce rhyming words.

or this one?

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3.b
Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.

Or...?

Or do you think that there shouldn't be any phonics standards for kindergarten? If so, what do you base this opinion on?

Anonymous
Post 03/28/2015 09:06     Subject: Re:PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them
Anonymous wrote:

This. Choreographing the testing in a school is an incredible endeavor. The resources that go into this are huge. An individual kid or parent might not see it, but behind the scenes work is enormous. People are pulled from teaching for training (this happens at my school) and substitutes are brought in. Specific tests require specific instructions for the proctors. There are make ups and retakes and varying instructions for each type of test. There are IEP instructions for testing and ELL instructions to consider. There are even instructions for how to pack the tests to send them out (with more forms to get signed, etc.). It's a very consuming process that costs a lot of labor hours (that take away from teaching). It costs a lot of money that is not reimbursed by the feds. The pro CC poster likes to crow about how much the feds give to the locals, blah, blah, blah. NO. The locals are paying for these tests and they are not cheap. Same goes for buying the new materials to support the CC. Class sizes are increased and teachers go without raises because money has to be directed to this stuff (by law). They are redirecting money to the testing companies and away from the real teaching and learning. So, so sad.


The tests are required by the No Child Left Behind Act. Schools had to test before the Common Core standards were developed and adopted. Schools in states that did not adopt the Common Core standards have to test. If your goal is to get rid of the testing requirement in the No Child Left Behind Act, then you are wasting your time attacking the Common Core standards. Getting rid of the Common Core standards will not get rid of the tests required by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Also, there is no "pro CC poster". There are multiple posters on this thread who do not oppose the Common Core standards.
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2015 08:42     Subject: PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them


Top down management via standards and tests will do nothing but waste money and keep anyone with a brain from going into the teaching profession (if they weren't already driven from it). When will Hillary take a stand on this??? Please, Hillary, take a stand. Stand against the forced testing (NCLB mandate).
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2015 08:39     Subject: Re:PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them


W's legacy: Iraq and NCLB

Anonymous
Post 03/28/2015 08:33     Subject: Re:PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them
It says they should have some basic concepts of phonics and a few other things down but beyond that it doesn't actually shift any reading expectations forward.


"Some basic concepts of phonics"? Have your read them?

If a K teacher is working on all of these standards (and, for right now, we haven't even mentioned the math standards), the curriculum is totally inappropriate for K students.
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2015 08:28     Subject: PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them


^ Lots of that money is going out of the USA---Pearson is a British company. Why don't we pay our teachers more? Teachers actually spend the money they get---in the communities where they work---in the USA. They are not stockholders---they are stakeholders. Instead we have to pay for tests that make no difference.

We are making the economic gap wider while we say we want to close the achievement gap. It's all working so, so well. The students and parents are not blind to this.
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2015 08:24     Subject: Re:PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them
It took nearly a month to test all of the students in my school. Teachers were pulled to proctor tests. Our technology sucks so some testing days were total losses b/c the servers were down, etc. We will then have MSA science tests the week we get back from Spring Break for 2 grades and then in early May, we will repeat the PARCC testing ALL OVER AGAIN. I was pulled for testing for 10 days (mostly mornings). Schedules were changed to accommodate the testing. Our reading specialist is also our testing coordinator so she hasn't pulled her remedial groups since mid February or so. This is just one of many tests our kids take. Benchmarks in math and reading, ESOL testing, Wireless testing, etc etc. The list goes on and the testing for kids who are below grade level in reading is every 2 weeks or so. Every 2 weeks, teachers stop teaching to sit one on one with kids below grade level to test their reading level. It is never ending.



This. Choreographing the testing in a school is an incredible endeavor. The resources that go into this are huge. An individual kid or parent might not see it, but behind the scenes work is enormous. People are pulled from teaching for training (this happens at my school) and substitutes are brought in. Specific tests require specific instructions for the proctors. There are make ups and retakes and varying instructions for each type of test. There are IEP instructions for testing and ELL instructions to consider. There are even instructions for how to pack the tests to send them out (with more forms to get signed, etc.). It's a very consuming process that costs a lot of labor hours (that take away from teaching). It costs a lot of money that is not reimbursed by the feds. The pro CC poster likes to crow about how much the feds give to the locals, blah, blah, blah. NO. The locals are paying for these tests and they are not cheap. Same goes for buying the new materials to support the CC. Class sizes are increased and teachers go without raises because money has to be directed to this stuff (by law). They are redirecting money to the testing companies and away from the real teaching and learning. So, so sad.
Anonymous
Post 03/27/2015 23:24     Subject: PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

In my day, standardized testing took one afternoon. Today, it's weeks and weeks of testing disruption.



Weeks and weeks? My kid had five days of PARCC testing, over two weeks. I guess that's weeks, but it's not weeks and weeks.



It took nearly a month to test all of the students in my school. Teachers were pulled to proctor tests. Our technology sucks so some testing days were total losses b/c the servers were down, etc. We will then have MSA science tests the week we get back from Spring Break for 2 grades and then in early May, we will repeat the PARCC testing ALL OVER AGAIN. I was pulled for testing for 10 days (mostly mornings). Schedules were changed to accommodate the testing. Our reading specialist is also our testing coordinator so she hasn't pulled her remedial groups since mid February or so. This is just one of many tests our kids take. Benchmarks in math and reading, ESOL testing, Wireless testing, etc etc. The list goes on and the testing for kids who are below grade level in reading is every 2 weeks or so. Every 2 weeks, teachers stop teaching to sit one on one with kids below grade level to test their reading level. It is never ending.
Anonymous
Post 03/27/2015 22:40     Subject: Re:PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:


Of course it's measurable. Do you not know what "many" means? Would you be happier if the standard said, "K child should write at least 10 letters"?


For one thing, according to Merriam Webster, "many" is a large number that is indefinite. So, one K teacher may accept 10 and another may not. It is not a standard.

Now, I suggest you go look up "standard".


Here you go. What's your point?


: a level of quality, achievement, etc., that is considered acceptable or desirable

standards : ideas about morally correct and acceptable behavior

: something that is very good and that is used to make judgments about the quality of other things


Would you think that

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.1.a
Print many upper- and lowercase letters.

was a good standard if it instead said "Print 14 upper- and 10 lowercase letters", or would you then criticize it as overly prescriptive?


Obviously you must have intended that question as rhetorical, to make a point. OF COURSE they would criticize it as "overly prescriptive" - they already have been whining that Common Core is overly prescriptive for 100 pages. Where Common Core offers flexibility, they will whine that it's vague or unmeasurable and therefore impossible to implement, where Common Core provides specificity, they will whine that it's overly prescriptive and therefore impossible to implement. That is their M.O. - for lack of any actual argument, for lack of any actual consistency, they rationalize some way to oppose in these kinds of profoundly hypocritical ways to desperately try and find some way to twist and critique so that it's wrong no matter what, and 100 pages of this nonsense has already proven that abundantly.