Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Video criticizing Common Core - a bit disturbing!

Random note that PSAT is targeted towards the college-bound and could suffer serious sampling skew if different states encourage different levels of involvement. I know some states offer their own scholarships based on scores.

Back to the original bit, he may have pulled the bulk of his material from the "Dr" (in quotes because I wasn't sure if EdD gets that honorific or not.) She seems to have a huge axe to grind. Her rhetoric is sprinkled with such gems as the idea that because the non-fiction language arts CC has 10 standards vs. 9 for fiction means less than half time would be spent on literature. On the one hand, what a tragic mistake if curriculum was derived from such a shirt-sighted equal apportionment; on the other hand, I'd gamble the average adult spends a vastly larger percentage of their reading on non-fiction. In a similar vein she pities the poor English teacher who learned drama, poetry, etc. and is now faced with non-fiction and no skills for teaching it?

Add me to the group of "the more I dig into the Common Core Standards, the more questions I have." And I did some research - the guy does not seem to be lying about the National Governor’s Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers partnering with Achieve, Inc., (a non-profit that gets funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). Nor does he appear to be incorrect or lying about how the English consultant Sandra Stotsky feels about CC. He also does not appear to be lying about the “bribery” although you may disagree with his word usage. Honestly, whether I ultimately end up agreeing with the guy or not I think he did a pretty good job – I mean, he only had five minutes and he’s like 17 (?)

Anyway, I’m really enjoying the debate this has sparked here. I love hearing all of your opinions and viewpoints. I do not have much of an opinion … yet. BUT I am dismayed by my growing gut feeling that this is just another gimmick (or whatever you want to call it) and our children are the guinea pigs or the true “pawns,” if you will.
My son (8 years old) and I watched the video of the angry moms who pulled their kids out of school math. When the reporter showed the example math problem that was so hard for the girl, my son said “hmm that’s not hard for me, that’s actually the part I am starting to really like.” And I thought to myself that’s because that is the way his teacher is teaching him (he practices that in school all of the time this year). I, probably, as a student (and yes embarrassingly maybe even now) would find that method difficult … Most likely because I just wasn’t taught that way and found just solving math problems hard enough never mind making them up myself. (And, as an aside, I am not sure what math standards or curriculum I was taught to but I am horrible at math, started hating in 4th grade maybe? Maybe 3rd? And I am certain I was not taught well and I do have a higher IQ so I do believe I was capable but did need decent instruction, which I never really got.) So, I see how suddenly being expected to be able to do that method suddenly in middle school would be a problem and cause a panic. And I think to myself, “so, what will happen when my kids reach middle school will there be yet ANOTHER method/way that suddenly they have to be able to test to? Will they in a few years scrap this entire method/standards/curriculum whatever and suddenly have another one that teens will be scrambling to get up to speed on?” Then I think to myself, “well, I am just gonna keep getting my child tutored by the older gentlemen who taught math all his life and between that and the school he should be good no matter what happens.” But really, isn’t that kind of sad? What about those that don’t have that resource.

I am not an educator… I have no idea what the answer is, but it sort-of looks like total chaos out there right now in the education world and it’s a little scary because it’s our children it is affecting. Hopefully, it will all be okay and work out well!

Oh, this sounds like an intelligent plan/strategy! Where are the people like you in this mess?!?! We need more of this!

Madoosa, I have seen other statistics that indicate that there is no correlation between having higher standards and performance on these comparative exams. The problems in the US are not the standards as much as the number of kids that fail the existing standards in their state.

It is also my understanding that the main problem is in early childhood education, that there were no experts in this particular area in the development of the standards and that the standards for the earlier ages are inappropriate according to most experts in the field.

My solution to the crying over homework is to ban all homework until 9th grade (other than read each night or possibly review for content area test). There you go all work must be done at school...teachers have to help those not getting the work.

Oh yeah...and add daily recess.

I love when my kid cries over homework. That's how I know he's being challenged! I feel a little bad for the older kids, but not too bad because part of what you need to do in college is figure out how to learn on your own. This will be good college prep. If there are gaps they can just use google to teach themselves. Maybe google searching should be part of CC =}.

Maybe other kids can cry, shake it off, regroup and figure it out. My kids especially the one with anxiety and Asperger's can cry for hours stop try for a half hour and be a mess again for another couple of hours...throw up and then worry for another couple of hours.

Not exactly how I want to spend my evening.

School should be at school. After school should be time for exercise, seeing as there is no recess, arts, chores, and relaxing.

I would like to see some recent information to support this position, because it was my understanding that there was a lot of backlash against the standards for K-2 when they were first introduced in March 2010, and that the standards were subsequently revised based on those (quite legitimate, IMO) concerns.

Specifically, this criticism stated:


And if you look at the standards today, you can see that the K standards now say "Print many upper- and lowercase letters," and "Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding," respectively. The quoted standards were moved to 1st grade, and the reading standard comes with the caveat that the material should be "grade level"... without defining what that means, so that's left to implementers to decide.

So far every criticism of early education in Common Core that I've seen, even those written fairly recently, refers directly or indirectly to that obsolete source.

I can respond to this by relaying what I've been told (by a teacher) is happening in my local school: kindergarteners are made to sit through a 90 minute ELA block half of which is a power point presentation. Toys are out, naps are out. This apparently is statewide, or at least I've seen this 90 minute block announced on other state school's websites.

I find it quite ridiculous. I can barely sit through a 90 minute presentation.

I've heard other stories such as developmentally inappropriate language on tests, but right now they're just stories.

But this is a problem with the school (or maybe a number of schools), not the Common Core. The standards don't say anything about PowePoint presentations or long classes in kindergarten.

Yes, a 90 minute class in Kindergarten is ridiculous. I'd actually like to see that. Can you send a link?

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect kindergartners to be able to write capital letters. I remember doing that at that age. All the other kids at my table could do it. I don't remember obvious struggling (which I do remember in reading class the next year).