Hellobee Boards

@T.H.O.U.: I agree with your points about why common core is good.

But I think for it to work and be successful, the American public would need a gigantic cultural shift--- if people want longer school hours or more school days in a year, they would need to be okay with higher taxes (property, state, federal, somewhere) to pay for the added hours and days. The average joe on the street with no educational training would have to realize that they aren't experts on what works in teaching just because they attended school themselves, just as I am not a doctor just because I go to a yearly checkup-- and they would have to be okay with letting teachers do their job.

Parents would have to stop grade grubbing on behalf of their kids and start accepting that not everyone is going to make an A. If the parents in my current school district are indicative of the rest of the US, I can tell you that parents don't want a challenging curriculum, they just want their child to have an A. Not from earning it, but from "extra credit" and silly projects and makeups and redos.

If the US wants to compete with South Korea and Denmark, our entire society would have to radically change how we think about students and teachers. And I just don't see that happening right now when I read articles about education or talk to people that are not in education. In Korea, high school students stay at school till 10 pm studying. Can you imagine the outrage if a teacher in the US assigned enough work that it would take all night?

Having a set of national standards is nice but just a drop in the bucket of everything we need to do to make our kids globally competitive.

@T.H.O.U.: New York is pretty much all about Common Core testing as our teaching evaluations are now partially based on how the students perform on the Pearson-developed Common Core exams. I proctored the ELA for an elementary grade this year and I couldn't come up with appropriate answers for a few questions. The standards themselves aren't the glaring issue. We SHOULD have national standards but the focus on testing is absurd...at least in New York.

@Anagram: I absolutely agree common standards is just a drop in the bucket. Things mentioned like better pay and respect for teachers and respect for an education is a huge culture shift we need. But that's not going to happen overnight.

@Happygal: not a bad read but obviously one sided. It significantly glances over the actual development, review, and adoption process of the standards. I agree that the timeline and story includes a significant piece on the testing component, I do believe the standards were developed, reviewed and adopted separately from a test in mind.

@swedishfish: you are right. The standards are not raising the bar that much in many states. But in other states they will have to make a huge jump. There was a grade given to each state on prior standards and their alignment to the common core. I will see if I can find links.

@T.H.O.U.: true, Common Core and APPR have become intertwined here though as they were implemented at the same time. APPR is related to Common Core though because New York received RTTP money for its implementation.

@T.H.O.U.: It's not going to change overnight, sure, but why not focus on growing the process of teacher training and certification than creating standards right now? The focus is totally out of whack. You can have outstanding materials and standards, but that's not going to make a world of a difference if you don't have the best of the best teachers out there. Part of my job is going to schools around the country and observing materials being used in the classroom. I can tell you that even in schools where CCSS aligned standards are in place, poor teaching is taking still happening.

And yes, the article is one side. But Ravitch is extremely well respected in education, and her points are not merely her own opinion. She has no dog in this fight, so to speak. She addresses why people cannot speak about the process of the CCSS: "From the outset, the Common Core standards were marked by the absence of public participation, transparency, or educator participation." That's a problem.

@T.H.O.U.: Annual Professional Performance Review.

@Anagram: glad you enjoyed it. Ravitch is pretty bad ass. (Off topic question--are there any educational blogs that you like to follow? You seem like you may be in the know and could help me add some good ones to my list!)