Midknight Review -- new and revised: Common Core

Showing posts with label Common Core. Show all posts

Common Core - a Progressive scheme or a sincere but confusing effort at improving education.

<<< I don't know if the in-frame explanation helps, but the official contrast between old math and Common Core math seems unnecessarily confusing. Anyone in education ever heard of "occam razor" and the value it might have when writing a "new math" program? Good grief . . . . . . and to think that us old Boomer folks actually know how to add and subtract and fill out a job application, or do Millennials do those sorts of things anymore? ~ editor.

Ohio has become the latest state to abandon its multi-state, Common Core-aligned standardized test following widespread complaints about technical glitches and feared federal involvement.

The move came Tuesday, when Gov. John Kasich signed a new budget that prohibits any money from being spent on tests produced by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), a consortium of several states creating shared test questions aligned with Common Core’s math and English standards.

Editor's notes: my teacher friends tell me it is the tests that are so burdensome. Here in California, our teachers are allowed a lot of latitude as to how they will teach the curriculum. Their collective complaint, however, is the Common Core testing . . . "bizarre" is the word I hear most often.

This report seems to be confirmed with Ohio's decision to exclude Common Core testing.

Want to know more? There is an excellent article on Common Core, written by those in education, a non-partisan review that can be found, here. Although a balanced review, the article's conclusion sets the tone of the article in terms of critical takeaways:

" Unfortunately there's been too little honest conversation and too little democracy in the development of the Common Core. We see consultants and corporate entrepreneurs where there should be parents and teachers, and more high-stakes testing where there should be none. Until that changes, it will be hard to distinguish the “next big thing” from the last one."

Over the weekend, the NY Times posted an article that posited evolving concerns for Common Core, by liberal teachers in the Progressive of regions.

<<< Common Core, if implement under state control, features these six over-riding goals. If the program becomes an institutionalized effort by Central Planning to establish a national program, it should be considered as evil, an resisted at all cost. Why? Because, as a national and required program, it will be used by the godless in this country, to propagandize our young away from God and the traditional values of this great country.

Editor’s notes: I am not a teacher but I (we – my wife and I) have two daughters who are school teachers (7 kids who are professionals as listed: two teachers, two nurses, on lawyer, one ER doctor and one business owner). We (my daughters and I) have talked about Common Core, here in California. One is a high school teacher and the other, an elementary teacher. Neither sees serious problems with Common Core.

I am thinking that it is early in the evolution of this Federal Program to know exactly where this program will take us or how it will be used by the control freaks on the Left. Over the weekend, we have learned that even politically liberal teachers are seeing the need for re-consideration. There IS cause for concern, apparently.

The Common Core has been applauded by education leaders and promoted by the Obama administration as a way to replace a hodgepodge of state standards with one set of rigorous learning goals. Though 45 states and the District of Columbia have signed on to them since 2010, resistance came quickly, mostly from right-leaning states, where some leaders and political action groups have protested what they see as a federal takeover of local classrooms.

But the newest chorus of complaints is coming from one of the most liberal states, and one of the earliest champions of the standards: New York. And that is causing supporters of the Common Core to shudder.

Carol Burris, an acclaimed high school principal on Long Island, calls the Common Core a “disaster.”

“We see kids,” she said, “they don’t want to go to school anymore.”

Leaders of both parties in the New York Legislature want to rethinkhow the state uses the Common Core.

The statewide teachers’ union withdrew its support for the standards last month until “major course corrections” took place . . . . . Read the full article in the NY Times, here.
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Opening paragraph, a second version:

Nothing wrong with the posted goals of Common Core, but, to turn them into a nationalized educational push to bring all programs into a singular, compliant program, is to invite the control freaks on the Left, to reject local controls and parental supervision - THAT is the fear some have for this program. In some school districts, parents are not allowed in the classrooms and the taping of class lectures is illegal. Parents are not invited. THAT should always be resisted. There is never a time when parents should be excluded from the education of their children. There should never be a time, when parental opinions and moral values unique to the particular family, are disallowed. If you are a teacher, be certain that you are not a part of this threat.

Let's return the favor, shall we?

CLINTON: You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about. That’s why I believe if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and/or the senate, that’s when civility can start again. But until then, the only thing that the Republicans seem to recognize and respect is strength. And you heard how the Republican members led by Mitch McConnell, the president really demeaned the confirmation process.

The Stated Nonsense from the Left now includes these Progressive goals:

July 2, 2008, Obama had this to say: "We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

MICHELLE OBAMA: "Barack knows that we are going to have to make sacrifices; we are going to have to change our conversation; we're going to have to change our traditions, our history; we're going to have to move into a different place as a nation."

“ . . . . . . they have become a generation of activists possessed with that most American of ideas – that people who love their country can change it.” -- Obama the Radical

On September 30, Van Jones told MSNBC "I think everybody should hold onto your seats. October is going to be the turning point when it comes to the progressive fight back."