Common Core testing obsessively while failing to teach
The Corporate Education Reform Industry and its allies like President Obama, Former President George W. Bush, presidential candidate Jeb Bush and Democratic governors Andrew Cuomo and Dannel Malloy have repeatedly claimed that the Common Core, the Common Core testing scheme, diverting scarce public funds to charter schools, privatizing public education and evaluating teachers based on the Common Core test results would be good for the nation’s public school students, their parents and the country’s future.
As a result of their ill-conceived policies billions of dollars in public taxpayer funds at the federal level and tens of millions of dollars here in Connecticut are being shifted away from classroom instruction so that corporate education reform companies can continue to make even more money. A new independent study authorized by Florida’s legislatures report recently reported that,
“[This year’s Common Core Test] passing scores were not established through a formal standard setting process and therefore do not represent a criterion-based measure of student knowledge and skills”
The statement is a condemnation of a failed testing system that some officials, especially here in Connecticut, continue to defend.
The new Florida report was authored by Alpine Testing Solutions and edCount, LLC and was conducted as a result of Florida House Bill 7069 which was signed into law on April 14, 2015.
The Florida law required that, “An Independent Verification of the Psychometric Validity of Florida’s 2015 Common Core testing program” be completed and that a reported on the issue be submitted by September 1, 2015 to Florida’s State Senate K-12 Education Committee. The development of the Common Core testing program in Florida is not unlike the situation in Connecticut.
Last year, as a result of growing public pressure, Florida’s Legislature and Governor tried to convince the public that by renaming their Common Core Program they were moving away from the centralized Common Core Standards and Common Core tests that were part of the SBAC and PARCC Common Core operation. SBAC and PARCC are the two national entities developing and managing the Common Core and Common Cores testing programs.
In the case of Florida, the name was changed to the Florida Standards Assessment, while in Connecticut Governor Malloy and the Connecticut General Assembly replaced the term “Common Core” with the softer, gentler notion that our state’s students were being buried by the, “Common Core State Standards in Connecticut.”
But in neither case was the change anything more than cosmetic.
https://archive.is/KprOj
Why the disagreements? Many conservatives are outraged at attempts to "federalize" the curriculum. Jeb Bush, an ardent supporter of Common Core, is being vilified for his support – with Donald Trump going so far as to say that support of Common Core will "kill Bush". Chris Christie, a vocal supporter of the Common Core in 2014, now says his views have "evolved" and opposes it. Ted Cruz chimes in, "We need to repeal every word of Common Core!" On the left, Hillary Clinton called the arguments around Common Core "very painful, because the Common Core started off as a bi-partisan effort," but she has avoided taking much of a position. Others on the left express concern about the increasing number of hours that will be spent on testing, lack of teacher preparation, and inadequate curriculum materials.
As with many issues in politics, very few people – even those with fierce opinions – understand what Common Core is or have actually plowed through the nearly 200 pages of the standards documents. And almost no one is asking the right questions: Are these the right standards? Will they increase or diminish students' motivation to learn? And, finally, how do we assess student performance against these standards?
In an effort to implement the policy mandate of "all students college ready," the Common Core state standards have been designed to align with college admissions requirements. Because colleges require all applicants to take advanced math – at least Algebra II – this is the math standard that all students in the country will now have to meet, requiring mastery of obscure algebraic procedures that the vast majority of adults never use. In English, high school student writing will be limited to essays on the assumption that skill in writing essays is what is required for college.
The ability to tell stories – an essential tool for making one's point in the adult world – is not in the curriculum.
https://archive.is/yJ9WR
So what is the alternative? Is Common Core, to paraphrase the old line about democracy, the worst system except for all the others?
It's a simple formula: fewer, higher, more flexible performance standards, which are developed and graded by real teachers, plus less formulaic testing and stress = more real learning.