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The concept of common core - basically a national curriculum - to insure that all students across all 50 states get a decent education, is not an evil concept. Not so long ago the disparity between what was taught in the various states was quite obvious. Students moving from one locale to another could be at a terrible disadvantage, and we live in a very mobile society.
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But then the concept fell apart. Instead of turning the process over to those involved in education (teachers, students, administrators, and parents), the business was turned over to bureaucrats and private enterprise. First they decided that children were just like the widgets that are turned out in any factory in the world - and that every student should turn out just like every other student. They applied literally none of the knowledge of human nature - ability, interests, social status, maturation level, etc. - and decided one curriculum should fit all. Just like the factory widgets, they would force every student to be quality inspected and simply discard those that didn't meet the standard.
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Some kids don't learn language as well as others. Some kids mature to the level of abstract thinking at a much earlier age than others. Some kids want to build airplanes - others want to fly them. Some are just going to fit in better as a maintenance worker, or custodian at the airport. There is simply no damn reason for every child in every state to start learning calculus in third grade.
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As for the factory workers (teachers), statistics have shown that 70% come from the bottom 30% of all college grads. And why is that? Mostly because Americans don't want to pay taxes for decent salaries and the better college students are moving into more lucrative fields. And you aren't going to get your best results in the factory when the workers are barely qualified for the job. As an old friend of mine says, "You aren't going to make chicken salad out of chicken shit."
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We need better teachers. We don't need one curriculum across all 50 states - we need 4 or 5 curricula across all 50 states so that children can find their niche in life. We need to recognize that children are all individual and that they are not tools (slaves) to be turned out for the big businesses in our corporatist world.
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-Bozo
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Now this...
A disturbing look at Common Core tests in New York (Click here to read more)
By Valerie Strauss June 27.
The promise of new standardized tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards was that they would show which students were ready for college and career and which weren't. But in New York, a look at the tests shows how the state is failing to meet that promise. This was written by Carol Burris and John Murphy. Murphy, a former English teacher, is the assistant principal of South Side High School in New York, and he coordinates the school's IB program. Burris, principal of South Side High School, has been chronicling the flawed implementation of school reform and the Common Core State Standards across the state for some time (here, and here and here and here, for example). She was named New York's 2013 High School Principal of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and in 2010, tapped as the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State. Her new book is "On The Same Track: How Schools Can Join the Twenty-First-Century Struggle Against Resegregation."
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By Carol Burris and John Murphy
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Congratulations to the New York State Education Department. Officials there have solved the college remediation problem. Their Common Core graduation tests are so "rigorous" and have a new passing score (for students graduating in 2022) set so high that only about 1 in 4 students will graduate high school. And the elite 25 percent who make it won't be going to community college, so the colleges with highest remediation rates can close.
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On what basis do we make such a claim? As Brooklyn principal, Liz Phillips, said in The New York Times, "We need to talk about the tests." Unlike the grades 3-8 tests, which are hidden from the public eye, the new Common Core high school tests can be seen-including the "passing scores" that will determine graduation, both now and in the future. Let's take a look at the tests, as well as the cut scores, in order to better understand the continuing march of New York's reformist lemmings right over the cliff of reason.
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First, let's talk about the Common Core Algebra Regents which was given primarily to 8th or 9th graders in early June. Passing the test is a graduation requirement for these students. In concepts tested, the exam was similar to the old Algebra Regents, with some traditional Algebra 2 topics making their way onto the exam. But in order to make the test 'Common Core', the questions became wordy and confusing. You can find the entire test here.
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Here is one example. Question 12 asks students to identify an equation, written as a function, given two roots. In the past, the question would have been phrased: "Given the roots -6 and 5, which of the following would be the correct equation?" Students are then given four choices.
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Here is the Common Core phrasing: "Keith determines the zeros of the function f(x) to be -6 and 5. What could be Keith's function?"
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This is but one example of a question that was made unnecessarily complicated and wordy in order to give the illusion of a 'real world' problem that requires deep thinking. And then there are the questions designed to give a window into the student's problem solving skills, such as question 34, which includes, "Describe how your equation models the situation." The "situation" refers to dimensions of a garden. How does an English language learner, with good math skills, begin to understand what that question is asking?
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Of equal importance is where the Common Core Algebra cut scores were set.
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New York State United Teachers President Karen Magee talks with reporters in a hallway at the Capitol on Thursday, June 19, 2014, in Albany, N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo says teachers shouldn't lose their jobs simply because their students performed poorly on the state's new Common Core tests, at least for a few years. Cuomo proposed legislation Thursday that would change how test scores are used in evaluations to prevent teachers deemed "ineffective" or "developing" from facing termination or a denial of tenure based solely on student test scores. Magee says Cuomo's proposal is a "reset button" that ensures teachers won't be unfairly judged based on the controversial new standards. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
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It was predetermined by the State Education Department that for now, the passing rate on the Common Core test would be the same as the traditional passing rate on the old exam. In order to keep the passing rate the same (about 74 percent), students only needed to earn 30 of a possible 84 points on the Common Core exam in order to pass. What would the passing rate be if the new "College Readiness" passing score were in place? That cut score was also determined. Ninth-graders, four years from now, would have needed 66 of 86 points; only 22 percent of the sampled test takers would have passed.[...]
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