Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Common Education Standards

"46 States, D.C. Plan to Draft Common Education Standards by Maria Glod-Washington Post"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/31/AR2009053102339.html

I consider this great news as we live in a state (IL) with exceptionally low math standards which many schools exceed, but others strive (or coast) to meet.

I�m not sure I would be as pleased with this federal government intervention if our standards were already high like SC or MA.

So, do you think they'll use something like E.D. Hirsch's books "What your nth grader needs to know"?

If I understand the article correctly, it seems they intend to adopt international standards. I�m not familiar with those books, are they good?

The problem we have here (year after year) is that on average 17% of 3rd-8th grade district students cease being �proficient� when they enter the high school district (all within the same geographical area). This occurs due to the realistic standards of the hs level state test as compared to the rock bottom 3rd-8th grade state test standards. As a result, neither the K-8th nor the high school districts claim responsible for the new found deficits since the students met standards at the former and entered as deficient into the latter. Slick, huh?

Check out http://coreknowledge.org/CK/index.htm
Hirsch's core knowledge website. Especially look at "Lesson Plans" on the left side of the screen. The list of books for 4th graders fit what GS9 read this year on his own, honestly I can't imagine many other 4th graders reading them on their own, unless they are abridged versions. But I really like his approach to education.

This sounds similar to something I just read on a blog about something Obama said about creating a single national standard...about it being unacceptable that there are 50 different educational standards.

I think it sounds like it could be a good idea, especially if it brings lower states standards up. My biggest concern is for us homeschoolers. It isn't much of a jump from this idea to the idea of requiring all homeschoolers to use a standard curriculum to match the public schools. Many of us homeschool because that standard curriculum would fail our kids due to learning style.

Thanks for the link.

The 4th grade lesson plans seem solid, especially history and geography, with the possible exception of math. Most of the math and science lesson titles throughout the grade levels strike me as overly cutesy. Since you are such a fan, I�m sure they have more substance than the titles imply.

The literature requirements are better then the grammar intense English lessons from our kids� grade school. My ds doesn�t remember having to read any novels in fourth grade other than AR and excerpts from his literature book although, like your grandson, he has always read a lot on his own. In 5th grade he was required to read two novels, Loser and Island of the Blue Dolphins.

Haha, I never thought about the math & science titles sounding cutesy. GS9 and I like puns and plays on words, most of those titles would get us going!
Overall, I think the math concepts covered were similar to what was introduced in GS9's classroom, but his classroom didn't get in depth as much as Hirsch seems to plan out. GS9 is a couple years ahead, as he's doing pre-algebra at home. I'm not sure where his average classmate would place in Hirsch's plan.

JoAnnQN, I think it would really be troublesome if the federal gov't specified curriculum. That'd be stepping on our rights in a big way. I thought I saw in the linked article about how they were going to specify a standard but let it up the the school on how to teach to the standard.

We have 50 different states, a one size fits all standard is not likely to work. Due to the diversity of our nation some states will always perform better no matter where you place the bar.
The real question is what is the federal government's plan for districts who don't meet the standards.
Are they going to give low scoring schools more money or penalize them?
I pay my taxes here in Polk County, Florida, I want to have some power over the local education system.
If education goes Federal my vote only gets smaller!

I can't agree here, especially because individual classrooms typically have highly diverse groups students (intelligence, interests, age, socioeconomic background, race/ethnicity, etc. etc.). Thus, the argument that each state has different needs doesn't hold water. We'd have to address individual students to solve the problem, and as we all know, it doesn't happen. It's better to create overall standards and group by ability.

Arithmetic isn't region-specific and I don't see why what's taught should be different in different states. Science isn't far behind in that regard. I expect that there will always be room to teach state history and read works of local literature. Yet the goals can be the same: learn to read critically and understand the meaning of a long text. Learn about how events influence one another, etc. etc.

The most successful education systems in the world are based on national standards (example, top-rated Finland). Our practice of allowing individual school boards to set education policies means that we duplicate effort constantly and everywhere. This costs a fortune! The US School systems would save hundreds of millions or billions if we weren't wasting so much time and energy on the myth that local control is somehow better.

Seriously, how much influence do individuals actually yield over a school board? And what does one hope to gain from it? If parents need that much control (and some do, as our homeschoolers have demonstrated), then they can homeschool.

Also, this plan is being led by 46 governors, not by the federal government.

Val

I agree that national educational standards are necessary and I would also like to see higher standards set for teachers including more subject expertise and specialization.

I definitely have no illusions that my local school board is well versed on issues pertaining to internationally (or nationally) competitive education. With the exception of one newly elected representative for each local district, they have consistently equated better education solely to more spending while they seem to think that 18 is the average score for the ACT.

This article discusses buy in from the state governors, but president Obama and education secretary Duncan had certainly initiated and promoted the plan idea.