Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments What do you think of potential Common Core impact?

It's not a curriculum, it's a set of standards that can be used to guide curriculum development.

- A standard says "Any student in grade X should know math concepts A, B, and C."

The question of HOW the concepts are taught is not addressed in the standard. That's up to the curriculum. The developers of the curriculum merely need to know that their intended audience in grade X will be expected to learn those concepts. Beyond that, they have complete freedom of design.

A good analogy would be HTTP and web pages. HTTP is simply a set of standards that ensure web content providers to predictably and reliably communicate with web content consumers. Do all web pages look the same?

The press release from Louisiana says the following:


The curriculum is P-12, not Common Core.

The language does lend itself to confusion, because what we're really talking about here is Common Core State Standards. The P-12 curriculum was developed by an organization named Common Core. These things have similar names, but they are not the same thing.

I agree with some aspects of both sides of the Common Core argument. At first I thought CC made it sound like every child was going to be gifted by the time the standards were in place since education in general was going to be more "rigorous" (they really like that term I noticed). Then it seemed more like CC lowered the standards in order to allow all children to meet the goals. CC has taken a page from gifted education, in general, just in that CC does seem to go deeper and require higher-order thinking, but CC even mentions that they don't really have anything for those students that meet the standards prior to the set time they are supposed to. “The Standards do not define the nature of advanced work for students who meet the Standards prior to the end of high school” (English Language Arts Standards, p. 6).

However, I do think Common Core can be utilized well for gifted students IF a school district chooses to do so. I see no reason why a teacher can't just look at the standards for grade 4 (for instance) then assess the gifted student that has already met those standards and move on to the next column for grade 5 standards and so on. Will this happen - maybe, but it really shouldn't be that difficult!

Since most states are just now implementing CC it will take time to get everything up and going, so once again the gifted children will probably take a back seat to getting the majority of students with the program. Of course we will again hear about how difficult it is to differentiate within the classroom for 1 gifted student when the teacher has 19 other nongifted students.

I personally believe that for my children, implementation of CC, is going to mean more advocating this upcoming school year. I'm worried our school will tell us that the standards are more "rigorous" and in-depth, which should compensate for what our daughters need. Or they will tell us that they are too busy with all the changes they have to make to be able to differentiate within the classroom. I don't like thinking this way, but I'd be willing to bet money I'm right!

In our urban school district, we have a new superintendent. The fact that the new superintendent has a much different philosophy on education of gifted students than the previous two superintendents will have a much bigger impact on district practices for gifted students than the adoption of CC standards will.

Although I can see how an administrator could push through anti-gifted practices under the guise of CC.

amylou,

thank you, I've been looking at so many links in researching the Common Core, that I've gotten some of the links jumbled. I've backtracked through my link list and see that this where I first began to understand Common Core as having a specific curriculum component... there is a "placement" of certain academic content, for example "Grapes of Wrath", as shown at CCSS links including http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy and in the Appendices linked from that page.

To those who addressed the HSLDA, not the potential impact of Common Core on gifted students... yes the HSLDA does have their own agenda, they are well-known advocates for homeschool rights in the USA.

Is anyone else researching the Common Core? Have others read the standards? It appears this may be the framework within which any future educational advocacy for gifted kids may occur...? Are others trying to become familiar with it?

Clearly, their agenda goes way beyond "homeschool rights."


My personal opinion is that they have very little to do with gifted advocacy, because:

1) The standards represent a minimum level of expectations, and we're talking about kids who will, unless demotivated, naturally exceed expectations.

2) Standards don't impact the quality of education nearly as much as how they are implemented.

And if you're homeschooling, you're free to implement the standards however you like.

Absolutely! I want to know as much as possible about CC for the reasons I previously stated. If I need to advocate for my children, I want to know what I'm talking about and be able to confront any barrier the school may put up.

Each state and each district will pick curriculum based on the CCSS, so I'm also looking into what our district is going to use. Not only is our district implementing CC this upcoming year, but we are also going completely digital, so we are really jumping in with both feet.

If you haven't already you may want to look at what the NAGC and Parenting for High Potential have on their website regarding CC. I found that information useful. I also like this article - http://www.examiner.com/article/com...ot-obviate-the-need-for-gifted-education

Thanks for the links, 1frugalmom!

Well, adoption of Common Core has resulted in dismantling of the dedicated GT classroom for DS/DD during the coming year. However, GT math will remain in one classroom.

I am not particularly a CC hater, but I do think that the shift to a strong emphasis on nonfiction is a terrible idea. Reading fiction is important for developing empathy and thinking about other people's choices and situations; I personally believe that this is a crucial skill for citizenship.

My own kids are nonfiction gluttons, so the CC standards will let them slide through easier, but I really want them reading literature. There will have to be some afterschooling on this.

The new math standards are more "rigorous" for the part of kids who were not pushed through Algebra II before, and now will be. (And those parents are mighty concerned that their kids will flunk out of high school if they don't get there-- the worry is real for them). I am not sure they're any more rigorous for the kids who really need challenge.

I do think that our school system understands this problem and will try to differentiate, but have not been under CC long enough to get their feet under them yet. I am still hoping for more nuance in implementation.

I persist in asking the school district to treat the standards as a floor, not as a ceiling-- which is what standards ought to be. We shall see.

DeeDee

They sound a bit like our national standards though we have a national curriculum too (easy in a country with 4 million odd people). The problem is if you have a minimum standard you have to set it at a level that the vast majority can reasonably be achieved. A standard that can be achieved by 90% plus of students is unlikely to challenge those above the 99th percentile (or even the 80th to be fair). And for some reason the fact that it is the MINIMUM seems to be overlooked and instead it becomes the target.