Beware the "common core standards" in govt schools

[Mimi]

Parents - beware of Common Core Standards. It is probably already in your state/school system. Currently, it is being pushed for Math & English, but the plan is to get these standards in use for ALL subject areas.

newswithviews.com/iserbyt/iserbyt114.htm

By Charlotte Iserbyt
February 19, 2013 NewsWithViews.com
**
MASONIC SNAKES IN CATHOLIC EDUCATION**
snip:

Regarding Catholic schools accepting the national Common Core curriculum, I am afraid we will have to understand that the Catholic Bishops are part of it…willingly part of it. I don’t like to say that, but the Bishops are not stupid. They are following directives from the Vatican that is up to its eyeballs in Masonic snakes.

That criticism does not mean that I am not a solid, believing traditional Catholic. Perhaps the deceit I have seen in American public education, and how good teachers have been lied to, how the whole community and nation has been lied to, has made me into a skeptic and a cynic regarding what is going on.

The changes in education began a bit prior to Vatican II in the very early sixties. Vatican II and American public education went down the same ungodly New Age humanistic path to Liberation theology, Liberation education, Liberation sex, Liberation drugs and alcohol, Liberation marriage and family values, Liberation U.S. Constitutional system, Liberation you-name-it.

The Common Core is being pushed all over the US. There is someone in the Rockford Diocese promoting it for all Catholic schools! Parents need to get going:

• gather information (email me if you need a handout or see

stopcommoncore.com/

• contact your diocesan Chancellor & arrange to meet with staff
• spread the word
• alert your local school board (find conservative members)
• email ALL fellow Catholics in your address book re Common Core

Also dangerous (and related) is the International Baccalaureate. This is anti-religion, anti-American and teaches children to be Global Citizens as the primary goal. It is part of the UN Agenda 21 goals, part of which is to institute neo-pagan Earth Worship to replace Christianity. See what their own documents have to say about it:
unp.un.org/details.aspx?entry=E93020&title=Agenda+21:+Earth+Summit±+The+United+Nations+Programme+of+Action+from+Rio
An Anti-Agenda 21 site: Freedom Advocates
freedomadvocates.org/frequently_asked_questions_/

Then there is C-Scope (as if there were not already enough things to fight...).
It is entirely digital - NO way for parents to review what is being taught & can be changed at any time.
C-Scope web site:
[cscope.us/](http://www.cscope.us/)

Stand Up Fight Back (against C-Scope)
[standupfightback.us/exciting-developments-concerning-cscope-fight-still-far-from-over/#sthash.P9mT1T01.DsyoqETt.dpbs](http://www.standupfightback.us/exciting-developments-concerning-cscope-fight-still-far-from-over/#sthash.P9mT1T01.DsyoqETt.dpbs)



> We at Stand Up Fight Back believe this to be a big win for the grass-roots activism but we must continue to work to insure no lessons are taught teaching irrelevant or revised history to children. - See more at: [standupfightback.us/exciting-developments-concerning-cscope-fight-still-far-from-over/#sthash.P9mT1T01.DsyoqETt.dpuf](http://www.standupfightback.us/exciting-developments-concerning-cscope-fight-still-far-from-over/#sthash.P9mT1T01.DsyoqETt.dpuf)





Above all - PRAY for our country, our precious children, and homeschool if you possibly can!

Mimi

 

[mommamaree]

Thank you for these links. I will look into this as the common core standards have become an almost obsessive focus in our parish school. We are most likely going back to homeschooling next year. We do NOT like what we have seen with regards to CCS.

 

[robwar]

Parents - beware of Common Core Standards. It is probably already in your state/school system. Currently, it is being pushed for Math & English, but the plan is to get these standards in use for ALL subject areas.

newswithviews.com/iserbyt/iserbyt114.htm

By Charlotte Iserbyt
February 19, 2013 NewsWithViews.com
**
MASONIC SNAKES IN CATHOLIC EDUCATION**
snip:

The Common Core is being pushed all over the US. There is someone in the Rockford Diocese promoting it for all Catholic schools! Parents need to get going:

• gather information (email me if you need a handout or see

stopcommoncore.com/

• contact your diocesan Chancellor & arrange to meet with staff
• spread the word
• alert your local school board (find conservative members)
• email ALL fellow Catholics in your address book re Common Core

Also dangerous (and related) is the International Baccalaureate. This is anti-religion, anti-American and teaches children to be Global Citizens as the primary goal. It is part of the UN Agenda 21 goals, part of which is to institute neo-pagan Earth Worship to replace Christianity. See what their own documents have to say about it:
unp.un.org/details.aspx?entry=E93020&title=Agenda+21:+Earth+Summit±+The+United+Nations+Programme+of+Action+from+Rio
An Anti-Agenda 21 site: Freedom Advocates
freedomadvocates.org/frequently_asked_questions_/

Then there is C-Scope (as if there were not already enough things to fight...).
It is entirely digital - NO way for parents to review what is being taught & can be changed at any time.
C-Scope web site:
[cscope.us/](http://www.cscope.us/)

Stand Up Fight Back (against C-Scope)
[standupfightback.us/exciting-developments-concerning-cscope-fight-still-far-from-over/#sthash.P9mT1T01.DsyoqETt.dpbs](http://www.standupfightback.us/exciting-developments-concerning-cscope-fight-still-far-from-over/#sthash.P9mT1T01.DsyoqETt.dpbs)



Above all - PRAY for our country, our precious children, and homeschool if you possibly can!

Mimi

I know a number of Catholic parents that are sending their children to charter HS that are offering an international Baccalaureate degrees. I checked your links about stop common core but I didn’t see specifics on why common core standards are evil and to be fought.
I think I would like more specifics than this is bad. I know that many parents that are sending their children to an IB charter HS see them as an alternative to Catholic HS which they find too expensive as well as they are tired of the petty favoritism that is ramped in Catholic schools. The heavier and more advanced curriculum is very appealing to a number of these parents. I guess I want more specifics than stating something is evil and run for the hills.

 

[1ke]

Parents - beware of Common Core Standards. It is probably already in your state/school system.

Beware conspiracy theorists and their easy access to website building such as those you reference. Websites that purport to combat “Vatican Masonic snakes” lack credibility.

Can you list **specific **objections to any of the CCSS in English or Mathematics?

Curr

ently, it is being pushed for Math & English, but the plan is to get these standards in use for ALL subject areas.

This is factually incorrect. From the CCSS website:

CCSSO and NGA are not leading the development of standards in other academic content areas.

There is someone in the Rockford Diocese promoting it for all Catholic schools!

The Diocese of Rockford has indeed decided to adopt the CCSS for its benchmarking and testing. That is not “all Catholic schools”. That is one dicoesan decision.

Do you have any actual, factual objection to the CCSS?

Also dangerous (and related) is the International Baccalaureate. This is anti-religion, anti-American and teaches children to be Global Citizens as the primary goal.

IB has been around for a very long time. Many public and private schools offer this curriculum, either as its sole curriculum or as an option within the school.

Can you provide any factual evidence of it being anti-religion, anti-American or why being a global citizen is problematic (we are, after all, all citizens of planet Earth).

If something is being taught that is incompatible with Catholic teaching, this needs to be brought to the attention of the local bishop, who has authority over his Catholic schools.

Throwing around accusations of the Vatican being full of “snakes” is not a credible critique of the IB program.

Then there is C-Scope (as if there were not already enough things to fight…).

It’s a curriculum management system. Very common these days, as would be expected with the advent of technology. Do you expect teachers to be using paper and pencil?

 

[anp1215]

The U.S. needs a common core system. It won’t fix every problem, but it will help combat the issue we have now, of students transferring between districts and/or states with different standards, and finding themselves far behind/ahead of their new peers.

 

[mommamaree]

Beware conspiracy theorists and their easy access to website building such as those you reference. Websites that purport to combat “Vatican Masonic snakes” lack credibility.

Can you list **specific **objections to any of the CCSS in English or Mathematics?

Curr

This is factually incorrect. From the CCSS website:

CCSSO and NGA are not leading the development of standards in other academic content areas.

The Diocese of Rockford has indeed decided to adopt the CCSS for its benchmarking and testing. That is not “all Catholic schools”. That is one dicoesan decision.

Do you have any actual, factual objection to the CCSS?

IB has been around for a very long time. Many public and private schools offer this curriculum, either as its sole curriculum or as an option within the school.

Can you provide any factual evidence of it being anti-religion, anti-American or why being a global citizen is problematic (we are, after all, all citizens of planet Earth).

If something is being taught that is incompatible with Catholic teaching, this needs to be brought to the attention of the local bishop, who has authority over his Catholic schools.

Throwing around accusations of the Vatican being full of “snakes” is not a credible critique of the IB program.

It’s a curriculum management system. Very common these days, as would be expected with the advent of technology. Do you expect teachers to be using paper and pencil?

Thank you as well for your intelligent rebuttal. I will say that CCS has me quite uneasy as I see it being implemented in our parish school. Definitely lots to research and consider this spring.

 

[1ke]

Thank you for these links. I will look into this as the common core standards have become an almost obsessive focus in our parish school. We are most likely going back to homeschooling next year. We do NOT like what we have seen with regards to CCS.

What specific objections do you have to the CCSS? I have reviewed the Mathematics standard, and in the case of the state I live in they are a definite improvement over the old state standards which were laughable.

 

[Em_in_FL]

What specific objections do you have to the CCSS? I have reviewed the Mathematics standard, and in the case of the state I live in they are a definite improvement over the old state standards which were laughable.

I agree, what I’ve seen discussed has raised standards and expectations.
I was very impressed with the mathematics section…

 

[JackieMom]

The Vatican is up to its eyeballs in Masonic snakes?

 

[VeritasLuxMea]

I don’t understand why you would post all this without clearly outlining a single objection to the common core.

 

[mommamaree]

What specific objections do you have to the CCSS? I have reviewed the Mathematics standard, and in the case of the state I live in they are a definite improvement over the old state standards which were laughable.

I am concerned about several things.
1- speed of implementation. CCS was implemented in our parish school after a summer prep for our teachers, but no prep for the students. Consequently, the transition has caused an enormous amount of consternation by parents and teachers, and frustration by the students.
2- too much busy work. Rather than focus upon doing a few problems well, kids are given pages of busy work to do at school, followed by pages of busy work for homework. Recently, we went through a week where every day the students in 2nd grade had 10-12 pages of math homework every night. This led to hours of homework for the 2nd grade class.
3- national curriculum standards means less local control. This goes against the principle of subsidiarity, as I understand it. Decisions about education should be made with (name removed by moderator)ut at the local level, from the actual teachers and parents of the children. Submitting to a national standard purports to give a minimum standard to provide uniformity and allow for excellence. What really happens when curriculum is decided on a national level, is that locally, teachers and parents find their hands are tied.
4- these CCS curricula are already becoming enforceable by a body that has no actual authority politically or in any other real way, simply because the CCS group has convinced several of the standardized test writing bodies to entirely rework the math sections of the tests in order to favor CCS. Which means if the CCS curricula are not adopted at the local level, the math scores WILL be artificially lowered, simply because tests are written to favor CCS curricula schools. Then parents and administrators will be led to believe their schools are failing.
5- the CCS curricula are not focusing upon computation. Rather they are focusing upon introducing a variety of mental solving tools to arrive at the same answer, with the acknowledgement that most computation is done by computer or calculator. The teachers admit that computation (as in basic arithmetic) will no longer be taught by them at school. Not even in the first grades!
6- the CCS were designed with college as the destination in mind. It is a top-down standards approach. No problem with that as an option for a school to choose, or even as one option within a school system, but herding ALL kids through a college prep curriculum from kindergarten up is irresponsible. The fact remains that the majority of students will NOT be going on to college, whether due to intellectual ability, financial reasons, personal preferences, etc. We NEED to maintain a set of standards that acknowledges this reality, and focuses upon math skills absolutely necessary to real life…which includes memorization of math facts and computational proficiency.

I was initially delighted by the switch to CCS, but now, after several months of seeing the curriculum, and doing some thinking and reading and watching, and with my background as schoolteacher/homeschool parent/parish school parent…well, I am very concerned. The reasons I list here are just in brief, and merely the tip of an iceberg, in my view. I could probably talk your ear off on this issue, but my fingers are about to fall off, so I will leave it here for now.

 

[Em_in_FL]

I am concerned about several things.
1- speed of implementation. CCS was implemented in our parish school after a summer prep for our teachers, but no prep for the students. Consequently, the transition has caused an enormous amount of consternation by parents and teachers, and frustration by the students.
2- too much busy work. Rather than focus upon doing a few problems well, kids are given pages of busy work to do at school, followed by pages of busy work for homework. Recently, we went through a week where every day the students in 2nd grade had 10-12 pages of math homework every night. This led to hours of homework for the 2nd grade class.
3- national curriculum standards means less local control. This goes against the principle of subsidiarity, as I understand it. Decisions about education should be made with (name removed by moderator)ut at the local level, from the actual teachers and parents of the children. Submitting to a national standard purports to give a minimum standard to provide uniformity and allow for excellence. What really happens when curriculum is decided on a national level, is that locally, teachers and parents find their hands are tied.
4- these CCS curricula are already becoming enforceable by a body that has no actual authority politically or in any other real way, simply because the CCS group has convinced several of the standardized test writing bodies to entirely rework the math sections of the tests in order to favor CCS. Which means if the CCS curricula are not adopted at the local level, the math scores WILL be artificially lowered, simply because tests are written to favor CCS curricula schools. Then parents and administrators will be led to believe their schools are failing.
5- the CCS curricula are not focusing upon computation. Rather they are focusing upon introducing a variety of mental solving tools to arrive at the same answer, with the acknowledgement that most computation is done by computer or calculator. ** The teachers admit that computation (as in basic arithmetic) will no longer be taught by them at school. Not even in the first grades! **
6- the CCS were designed with college as the destination in mind. It is a top-down standards approach. No problem with that as an option for a school to choose, or even as one option within a school system, but herding ALL kids through a college prep curriculum from kindergarten up is irresponsible. The fact remains that the majority of students will NOT be going on to college, whether due to intellectual ability, financial reasons, personal preferences, etc. We NEED to maintain a set of standards that acknowledges this reality, and focuses upon math skills absolutely necessary to real life…which includes memorization of math facts and computational proficiency.

I was initially delighted by the switch to CCS, but now, after several months of seeing the curriculum, and doing some thinking and reading and watching, and with my background as schoolteacher/homeschool parent/parish school parent…well, I am very concerned. The reasons I list here are just in brief, and merely the tip of an iceberg, in my view. I could probably talk your ear off on this issue, but my fingers are about to fall off, so I will leave it here for now.

Some of this seems like CCS is not being properly implemented in your school.
No computation taught in the early grades? That’s ridiculous. The CCS distinctly lists basic arithmetic in the early grades.

 

[mommamaree]

Some of this seems like CCS is not being properly implemented in your school.
No computation taught in the early grades? That’s ridiculous. The CCS distinctly lists basic arithmetic in the early grades.

This is not about local decision-making. Remember I mentioned loss of local control? The problem is with CCS-based curricula. The curriculum itself, in the subject of math, has eliminated memorization of math facts and times for teaching basic arithmetic. The teachers do not have the authority or time to teach math facts and basic math skills. They have informed parents that is something parents will have to do at home. This is one of a myriad of problems associated with choosing to follow a national (read-not locally chosen) curriculum/set of standards.
I was a schoolteacher for years before becoming a parent, and I now also have several years experience dealing with selecting homeschool curricula and with being a parent in a parish school. Selecting curricula and developing lesson plans NEEDS to remain part of local decision-making. When schools submit to a national body, they lose the right to make such decisions.
Our parish school has already found itself forced into CCS-based curricula precisely because the testing bodies have rewritten math sections, favoring CCS-based curricula. The math scores were artificially lowered in a single year. The math sections were not asking kids to solve arithmetic problems. Instead, they were being asked to creatively solve math problems, and to have an entirely new and different math vocabulary than what has ever been seen before in elementary math. Change the vocabulary, change the approach to problem-solving, and POOF - like magic, you have got yourself a lot of failing schools who are lining up to buy the new curricula based on the new “standards”.

 

[1ke]

I am concerned about several things.
1- speed of implementation. CCS was implemented in our parish school after a summer prep for our teachers, but no prep for the students. Consequently, the transition has caused an enormous amount of consternation by parents and teachers, and frustration by the students.

This is certainly concerning, but not an actual product of the standards. This is a product of poor planning and management on the part of the school administrator.

2- too much busy work. Rather than focus upon doing a few problems well, kids are given pages of busy work to do at school, followed by pages of busy work for homework. Recently, we went through a week where every day the students in 2nd grade had 10-12 pages of math homework every night. This led to hours of homework for the 2nd grade class.

Unfortunate. But again, this doesn’t actually have anything to do with the standards.

3- national curriculum standards means less local control. This goes against the principle of subsidiarity, as I understand it. Decisions about education should be made with (name removed by moderator)ut at the local level, from the actual teachers and parents of the children. Submitting to a national standard purports to give a minimum standard to provide uniformity and allow for excellence. What really happens when curriculum is decided on a national level, is that locally, teachers and parents find their hands are tied.

NCTM put out standards for Mathematics in the 1980s. They’ve updated them over the years. This is nothing new.

The standards are pretty broad, and nothing that isn’t already in textbooks. I don’t see them as tieing teacher’s hands (from what I have seen). States already had standards, so that certainly was already imposed upon the local level.

Plus, as a private school it is totally optional for your school to adopt them. I suggest you ask your administration what process they used for evaluating the standards.

4- these CCS curricula are already becoming enforceable by a body that has no actual authority politically or in any other real way, simply because the CCS group has convinced several of the standardized test writing bodies to entirely rework the math sections of the tests in order to favor CCS. Which means if the CCS curricula are not adopted at the local level, the math scores WILL be artificially lowered, simply because tests are written to favor CCS curricula schools. Then parents and administrators will be led to believe their schools are failing.

States have the option to go their own way. Texas for example, has not adopted CCSS and has developed their own tests based on their own standards.

5- the CCS curricula are not focusing upon computation. Rather they are focusing upon introducing a variety of mental solving tools to arrive at the same answer, with the acknowledgement that most computation is done by computer or calculator. The teachers admit that computation (as in basic arithmetic) will no longer be taught by them at school. Not even in the first grades!

I think this is false. I just reviewed the 1st grade standards and computation is certanly present. Third grade standards require knowing multiplication tables for 1 digit numbers from memory-- I was in 3rd grade in 1974 and that was the same standard then. Standards call for addition and subtraction with 3 digit numbers. I see long division in the 4th grade standards. I don’t see anything radical nor the elimination of computation.

6- the CCS were designed with college as the destination in mind. It is a top-down standards approach. No problem with that as an option for a school to choose, or even as one option within a school system, but herding ALL kids through a college prep curriculum from kindergarten up is irresponsible. The fact remains that the majority of students will NOT be going on to college, whether due to intellectual ability, financial reasons, personal preferences, etc. We NEED to maintain a set of standards that acknowledges this reality, and focuses upon math skills absolutely necessary to real life…which includes memorization of math facts and computational proficiency.

I do not disagree, in principle. The reality is, however, that the standards the states have already set for graduation requires these types of courses. Regarding computation and math facts, see again my investigation of the standards above.

I have a degree in math education, taught math in Texas, and although no longer teaching in public school I can assure you I have not seen one thing in the standards so far that were not already being taught in Texas schools (which ironically has not adopted CCSS) 20 years ago when I was teaching! And where I live now, the CCSS are light years ahead of the state standards. I often lamented to my DH how low the standards were here compared to TX.

I was initially delighted by the switch to CCS, but now, after several months of seeing the curriculum, and doing some thinking and reading and watching, and with my background as schoolteacher/homeschool parent/parish school parent…well, I am very concerned. The reasons I list here are just in brief, and merely the tip of an iceberg, in my view. I could probably talk your ear off on this issue, but my fingers are about to fall off, so I will leave it here for now.

I think you should. It may not be the standards, but how the teachers are teaching. I don’t see anything in these standards that would have changed one thing in my teaching.

I’m not saying these, or any, standards are perfect. I simply disagree that they are diabolic.

 

[1ke]

This is not about local decision-making. Remember I mentioned loss of local control? The problem is with CCS-based curricula. The curriculum itself, in the subject of math, has eliminated memorization of math facts and times for teaching basic arithmetic.

No, no, no.

The standards are NOT a prescribed curriculum. Someone is not being honest with you. The standards do call for computation and memorization of math facts.

If your district has purchased a “curricula” (is that a textbook series, lesson plans, or what?) that eliminates computation or math facts, it is actually at odds with CCSS.

The teachers do not have the authority or time to teach math facts and basic math skills. They have informed parents that is something parents will have to do at home. This is one of a myriad of problems associated with choosing to follow a national (read-not locally chosen) curriculum/set of standards.

This is a load of cr*p someone at your school is selling.

The standards are NOT a curriculum. They do not prescribe what teachers teach nor how they teach it. They certainly DO specify computation.

Have you looked at the actual standards? They are NOT detailed. They do not dictate what you propose above. I don’t know what your school is doing, but it is not in line with the actual CCSS.

I was a schoolteacher for years before becoming a parent, and I now also have several years experience dealing with selecting homeschool curricula and with being a parent in a parish school. Selecting curricula and developing lesson plans NEEDS to remain part of local decision-making. When schools submit to a national body, they lose the right to make such decisions.

And it is, the CCSS do not dictate any of that.

Our parish school has already found itself forced into CCS-based curricula precisely because the testing bodies have rewritten math sections, favoring CCS-based curricula. The math scores were artificially lowered in a single year. The math sections were not asking kids to solve arithmetic problems. Instead, they were being asked to creatively solve math problems, and to have an entirely new and different math vocabulary than what has ever been seen before in elementary math. Change the vocabulary, change the approach to problem-solving, and POOF - like magic, you have got yourself a lot of failing schools who are lining up to buy the new curricula based on the new “standards”.

By curricula, do you mean text books?

 

[mommamaree]

No, no, no.

The standards are NOT a prescribed curriculum. Someone is not being honest with you. The standards do call for computation and memorization of math facts.

If your district has purchased a “curricula” (is that a textbook series, lesson plans, or what?) that eliminates computation or math facts, it is actually at odds with CCSS.

This is a load of cr*p someone at your school is selling.

The standards are NOT a curriculum. They do not prescribe what teachers teach nor how they teach it. They certainly DO specify computation.

Have you looked at the actual standards? They are NOT detailed. They do not dictate what you propose above. I don’t know what your school is doing, but it is not in line with the actual CCSS.

And it is, the CCSS do not dictate any of that.

By curricula, do you mean text books?

I do understand that standards are not curricula. I am sorry if I did not demonstrate that I understood that. I have looked at the standards, and I have viewed the curricula purchased that has been selected by our school to meet these standards. But some of your points have me thinking hard again, which is why I always appreciate your (name removed by moderator)ut in threads. Perhaps, the problem is the selected curricula, as well as the agenda of the parish school admin…
The teachers were opposed to this curriculum. Some of them have been dragged along despite all objections. They have been forced to implement a totally new curriculum, which is radically different from anything they have ever attempted to do with students before, and they are spending upwards of 5 hours a day of class time teaching this, just to stay caught up with the lesson plans they have been instructed to follow. All in pursuit of immediate improvement of math scores for the school.
The parents are concerned that young children are in school 7 hours every day, with 2 more hours of math homework on a nightly basis.
The curriculum (textbooks and workbooks and lesson plans) do NOT, in fact, allow any in class instructional opportunities for computation. This was stated in a public meeting of parents and teachers, by several of the teachers, and not contradicted by the principle who was also present. We were told to do all math facts practice with our children 5K through 3rd grade, at home. That they would NOT be spending any time on it at school.
Anyway, I am not as much of an expert on math standards as you, and I often find reason to seriously consider what you say, so obviously I have no intention of disagreeing. I do like how this conversation has helped me to crystallize some of my thinking about what I object to in our parish school. I will continue to follow this conversation as i do my research. We will most likely be homeschooling next year, and this topic will be important for us as we select our math curriculum.
Thank you sincerely!

 

[1ke]

If that is what is going on in your school, I would be up in their business so far it would make their heads spin. I do not know what is going on, but the curriculum the teachers are being required to follow is not CCSS. Maybe CCSS is a convenient foil for someone else’s agenda, maybe it is a misunderstanding, maybe it is a curriculum selling itself as CCSS.

I don’t know, but I sure would be finding out. Two hours of homework in one subject for that grade level is way out of line.

I have not looked at the standards in great detail, but from what I did look at, I could not see anything out of the ordinary. And, I joined a CCSS group on LinkedIn about 6 months ago and have not seen anything you describe talked about.

I would be in the adminstration office TOMORROW demanding an explanation, and I would not take “CCSS requires it” as an answer, because that is a lie.

Clearly, you have a background in education and you certainly are concerned about your children.

 

[Em_in_FL]

1ke has come through - as always!!

All in pursuit of immediate improvement of math scores for the school.

Indeed, it seems as though your school’s focus is in the wrong place. The focus should be on making sure the kids LEARN the fundamentals. Obviously implementation is failing if the teachers are having this sort of reaction.

Our principal actually told us, ahead of time, that we should expect school scores to fall - because the bar has been raised. It simply is *impossible *to compare this year’s scores to last year’s. I think this is a healthy way of approaching the new standards - seeing that expectations are higher, and that we should continue to strive for upward improvement against the new standards.

 

[AnneTeresa]

No doubt there is a lot wrong with our education system, but common core standards isn’t the problem. I think it is a good thing to have standards. Have you ever been in some of the worst schools in the country? I have and they are a huge shock. Education varies state to state, district to district, building to building. There’s nothing wrong with having some common standards–it is an attempt to raise the bar overall in quality of education. I work in the education field at the higher education level and believe me, there is no uniformity in what a high school degree represents. I read the article and don’t see that it makes any valid points. Rather, it seems like a kind of overreaction to anything that the “government” is involved in, like education.

 

[1ke]

Also, mommamaree, if a school administrator or teacher says they “can’t” teach X because it is not in the CCSS, they need a new occupation because they do not understand the role of standards or their role as an educator.

I went down a bunny trail last night on CCSS and did more research. I looked at curriculum guides posted on several state websites. Again, curriculum guides are very general, broad documents. In CA for example, their curriculum guide incorporate CCSS but in the chart it refers to numerous standards with California modifications.

For example, the CCSS standards for units of measurement only refer to metric measures. The CA standards copy the CCSS standards but everywhere measurement units are referred to they add the phrase and English units and underline it as a California modification.

So all this stuff about not deviating and not being able to teach computation is total bull.