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Common Core was created in a corporate environment. In fact. At the end they realized for marketing purposes, they didn’t have a math expert on board. They called one in..
He calls himself the only the only math content expert on the Validation Committee reviewing the standards…
So,… Texas hauled him into committee to get his take on these math standards…. He was polite.
“Common Core standards are“, as he told the Texas state legislature, “in large measure a political document that . . . is written at a very low level and does not adequately reflect our current understanding of why the math programs in the high-achieving countries give dramatically better results.”
The Common Core math standards deemphasize performing procedures (solving many similar problems) in favor of attempting to push a deeper cognitive understanding — e.g., asking questions like “How do you know?”
Common Core math standards bear little resemblance to the national curriculum standards in countries with high-achieving math students: they seem to avoid cognitive understand like an epidemic, and focus on performing procedures (solving many similar problems)….
Remember doing 40 math problems at once? Now they do two or three. (Time is spent on explaining why math works the way it does)….
Would you the reader, prefer to learn that 2 +2 = 4 so you can use that later, or would you rather understand that when you later see 534 + 567 what you have is 534 blocks pushed against 567 blocks… As to how many, you never learned that… You know there are a lot of blocks pushed together though because that’s what adding does….
Was anyone thinking when they came up with Common Core Standards? Really?
Why is this new, unvalidated math approach suddenly appearing in all our schools?
Because it is… SURPRISE!… On the test that validates schools, teachers and students, and now our teaching institutions of higher learning.
Because this unvalidated math approach (which flat out doesn’t work btw), is at the core of what’s on the test, we have to teach false mathematics to our children to keep the scores up… We need those scores up so we look good comparing ourselves to other nations who teach math out of textbooks from the 1930′s. The bright question needs to be asked. ”Shouldn’t we be doing what they are doing?”
If we had to teach creationism, we’d all be up in arms. Consider this Common Core math program as the Mathematical Creationism…
Student: ”Teacher… how did they come up with that theorem?”
Teacher: ”Oh, I don’t know… It’s just there!… Nobody knows where these things come from. Accept it for what it is…”
When I was in 8th Grade we had to prove the quadratic equation. Those of us that did it perfectly, got A’s. Those who came close got B’s. Those that got 3/4 of the way, got C’s… But all of us were exposed to doing that… We know where that comes from, because we put ourselves through the same steps Brahamgupta did in 674 BC.
It’s the difference between evolution…. and creationism… Common Core took the easy route…
Although proponents (like Mike O) may insist that Common Core does not get in the way of local input into curriculum choice, it does. Whatever is on the test becomes the core of that year’s teaching. Local Schoolboards have no input as to what will be on the test. So though they may meet and discuss, and send up a report, it turns out it is just busy work. The test was already made.
The major objection to the Common Core standards is that they are not evidence-based. Their effect on academic achievement is simply unknown, because they have not been field-tested anywhere in the world, except on the students of Delaware and Tennessee… And in both cases, student achievement is failing.
Surprise to us, WE are the front lines for this very experimental application, one incidentally that is not backed by any of those scholars here or abroad who study education, but is instead rabidly supported by those who once spent the night in a Holiday Inn Express, paid for by two private companies or as they call themselves, trade organizations:
- National Governors Association Center for Best Practices
- Council of Chief State School Officers.
The standards and assessments are copyrighted and therefore cannot be changed or modified by the states.”
Why do these standards have so much professional endorsement?
If someone asks you to sign on in support of improving education, by raising test scores across the country, are you going on record as saying “No”? Neither did 59 Delaware Senators and Representatives who haven’t the slightest clue of what common cores consists….. but couldn’t be held up in an election year as being against better standards….
No one knows what Common Core is….. Here are three questions you need to ask, the next time any public official such as Democratic State Senator David Sokola says he supports better education thru Common Core.
Have you seen the lesson plans (homework)?
Have you personally taken the tests?
Have you talked to any parent who currently has a child in a Common Core curriculum?
If the answer is…. no, No, NO! He is a stool. He doesn’t even know what he is talking about, and therefore should not be believed about anything he is saying…
It is time to demand that our Legislature publicly take the tests they, by their inaction and complacency, are forcing upon our children… damaging them for life…..
Common Core has never, never, never, ever, been tried before…. And my gosh! it is horrible…. Really bad.
Seriously. I like the package… but the product when you unwrap it… really stinks…
The educational department of the University of Delaware is ranked 31st in the nation... That is at least out of 5000 accredited teaching schools…
Not only that, they are 31st in the top ranked educational teacher training country in the entire world… Apparently there is no educational crises in America when it comes to teachers receiving top notch training.
What just passed last Thursday in Delaware, now requires the University of Delaware, again now ranked 31st in the top educator nation in the world, 
to be judged solely on how its teachers administer Common Core when they go out into the field…
Common Core?
Just how good is this Common Core we are talking about?
New Attack on Common Core From Pennsylvania Democrats
Common Core Standards attacked by Republicans
‘Common Core’ Standards Come Under Attack By Lucas Johnson, Associated Press
Nation at Risk Anniversary, Common Core Under Attack
Common Core State Standards Under Attack
The RNC’s Attack on Common Standards
The War Against the Common Core
911: Common Core Under Attack
Rotten to the Core: Conservatives spearhead drive at RNC meeting to stop Common Core
Washington Post: Common Core is in Trouble
Common Core Standards Facing Increased Opposition
Indiana Among States Acting to Oppose Common Core Standards
Lisa Nielsen: Is the Common Core an Attack on Progressive Education?
Common Core: Education Without Representation
The Common Core: The Good, the Bad, the Possible
Your Children Need a Néw Brain for Common Core
Kentuckians Against Common Core Standards
Toynbee Predicted Privatization
One would think someone in Legislative Hall would have at least looked into Common Core before mandating that the 31st best teaching institution in the best ranked nation for turning out good teachers, would have to be judged on its effectiveness by the results of a program everyone is having so much trouble with.
Progressives are against it. Tea Party Advocates are against it. Democrats are against it. Republicans are against it.. Red States are against it. Blue States are against it. How could this be? Could it be possible they all have children?
In fact, it appears there is no one who is in favor of common core, across this entire great nation we are so fortunate to live in… No one except 59 Delaware legislators, who apparently didn’t get the memo…..
(from) John Kowalko May 19, 1:00 pm
With all due respect, I didn’t have to be awakened to the horrors of this poorly written and intended piece of legislation. I argued against it in the House Committee to no avail and spoke with some of the supporters, (DSEA), to attempt to alert them of its flaws.
The reality of this is that the administration, through its DOE policy head, was not honest, (on the floor, or in any of discussions leading up to the bills disposition), about the support it had from “higher ed. institutes” in Delaware.
The DSU Provost’s response (on the House floor, during debate) to the question “did your institution participate in crafting this legislation” was an unequivocal “NO” and my investigations lead to evidence that none of the institutions of higher learning participated in crafting this ill-conceived piece intended to reflect positively on the DOE and administrations abdication to RTTT compliance.
If you paid close attention as to how the alleged support was phrased/explained you can see the reality of the situation. DOE implied/suggested that a lack of pronounced objection implied “full” acquiescence to DOE’s contrived policy and this is at the least “intellectually” dishonest. If you ask yourself why none of the higher ed institutions voiced any trepidation in the matter I advise you to look at The calendar and note that starting this week the Joint Finance Committee meets to rule on recommended and suggested budget money increases for these institutions and only a fool would feel confident in challenging anything that might put them at a disadvantage in that arena.
As for the DSEA, I tried to make them understand that this legislation can and will be used as the first (and perhaps only) validation of “component 5″ test score evaluations of teacher effectiveness but I imagine I wasn’t convincing enough.
So I am copying you and your readers some of the talking points raised in support of the Potter/Kowalko amendment and in opposition to the bill.
Feel free to post or send this comment and content anywhere you please.
Respectfully,
Rep. Kowalko
SB 51 purports to be a method to set high completion requirements, high-quality teaching experiences and ongoing evaluation of teaching program participants and to prepare prospective elementary school teachers in age-appropriate literacy and mathematics instruction. The bill also requires new educators to pass both an approved content-readiness exam and performance assessment before receiving an initial license.
While these ambitions are laudable, (and when we address the bill we can speak to its ability or lack thereof, to do that), this bill, as written intrudes into the arena of subjectively judging, with no verifiable proof or proven data, the ability of students to succeed in the programs of education studies. It contrives to prematurely eliminate students from entering into their chosen career path by legislating away their choices and options. All schools of higher education have relatively strict requirements and acceptance standards merely to be accepted as students and some have even more rigorous standards for acceptance to education pathway courses. We might presume that a quantifiable measure of success in the matters of teacher preparation and certification and educator evaluation can be achieved by this legislation but the chapters that prejudge and preclude individuals from participation in these programs should not be a matter of the imposition of laws that deny opportunity and access and violates the principles of individual rights. The schools are well positioned and qualified to make those judgments that best serve their own programs and those impositions should be removed from this bill before passage.
The current system works. Between the entrance and exit requirements, UD and DSU already winnow out over two-thirds of the students interested in teaching careers.
I’m usually done with a piece of legislation when it doesn’t go my way.. I always shared a disdain for those who lose and refuse to accept reality for what it is… But I’ve received so many questions over SB51, that I’ll break protocol, to discuss it for one last time…
The main question I’ve received most often, is why did I take on this unattainable cause. Surely one could see the writing on the wall when the Senate voted? Wasn’t it a waste of time?
Oddly, no. And I’m perplexed a little as to why I feel that way. Because it did suck up a lot of time and it had only two people vote against it in the entire General Assembly, and two abstentions (one principled and one physical.) So I’m going to try and work it out here, in type, as to why it was important to lead a fight against it. One that if one was keeping score, turned out to be an unmitigated disaster.
The reason for SB51″s success, was its stealth. It was out of committee, in the Senate, out of the Senate, in the House committee, and on the House floor, each time with very little notice. In fact, it wasn’t until after it had passed the Senate that I began hearing how bad this bill really was. Perhaps in a regular year, that would not have occurred. Someone would have read the bill earlier as it hit the docket and passed that information along. It should be noted this is an extraordinary year. The recomposition of this General Assembly has made many big changes possible. Gay Marriage, Background Checks, Reporting Stolen Firearms, Repeal of Death Penalty, Kinder-Morgan, Assault Bans, Bans of High Capacity Clips, have kind of sucked the wind out of the room when it comes to a bill that says something sensible like we should be hiring smart teachers instead of dumb ones.
One of our most progressive commentators said something like “I can see no one having a problem with that.”
And indeed. This bill seemed to have everyone on board. DSEA, that educational labor union who represents teachers, RODEL who represents the corporate Investors, the Governor who put this prominently in his state of the state address, both parties whom neither wanted to be seen as being against better education, the Chamber of Commerce and those who fund the entities inside the Community Service Building on 10th Street, progressives, conservatives. There was no one who seemed not to want to rubber stamp it…
It took a lot of work to wake up even three people to contest it…. And that is a start….
With overwhelming support, my goodness, in percentage terms…. 93% of the entire General Assembly was in favor. That ironically was the same percentage of Delawareans that wanted Offshore Wind over the objections of 4 well place members of the Executive Committee back in 2007-8…
How can anyone “credible” be against such a good bill with “overwhelming” support?
I would say there is one common thread among those who first voiced opposition and carried the water for trying to educate the public about this bill. And if you agree or disagree, please feel free to chime in. This is an informal piece.
Anyone who has experienced Common Core, who has actually experienced it, would be against this bill. I experienced it by helping a student with their homework assignment. Teachers and administrators experience it in their professional capacity. School Boards experience it by being in the cross fire between the DOE and parents who are as upset as I was with the crap that is being passed off as “learning.”…
Obviously from the results of the vote, very few people in Delaware have experience Common Core. Once you see what it has done to your kids, you are outraged. Outraged. There is no other accurate description….
So the vote in support of SB51, was primarily based, if I could extrapolate, on ignorance. I too would have been right there with them if I had not had the cathartic experience of meeting Common Core face to face. Once one does, one quickly learns to hate it. For many, many years I have been privy to a lot of grumbling from educators over each new “program of the year”, but never, never have I experienced a deterioration in a student’s drive to do well, as I have seen across the board with Common core…. “A” Students just giving up and settling for “C’s”, because of the capriciousness of the teaching and those learning materials that come in “packets.”
Here is what has to happen. These tests and packets need to get leaked to the public. Once seen and ridiculed, the proper perspective and potential damage from Common Core becomes clearer. Further more, every single member of the educational committees of both the Delaware Senate and House, should take this bill. Then the General Assembly would finally be in alignment with where the parents will be next year.
This year was really the first where Common Core was trialed. Next year it will be much more extensive.
So when one says that our teaching colleges and universities will be rated by how well their student teacher’s students do on Common Core tests over the next five years, quite a bit of that sentence totally depends on how good or bad Common Core is… I can tell you… it’s really.. really… bad.
Common Core is no better than “No Child Left Behind.” That too was a landmark piece of legislation to make teachers accountable to teaching, and not sending unprepared students up the ladder. It was hailed as the crowning achievement of American Society. Those very few who looked at the detail, and questioned how it would work, were laughed at as being among those who wanted to “leave children behind.” But guess what? When that was implemented in full across the nation, it didn’t work. Students did worse instead of better. Gee, the educational structure asked? How can this be? Answer was, it didn’t work in Texas under then Governor George W. Bush, either. They just tweaked the test scores.
Common Core is no better. In fact, it is probably worse. And there are many reasons why, which have been discussed on this blog many times, as well as on Transparent Christina, Kilroy’s of Delaware, Delaware Way, and Seventh Type… It “can” be better, but those pieces are being squashed under “bigger” principles, such as busting the teachers union, paying off Wall Street investors, making fistfuls of dough out of charter schools and vouchers… Big money has got its roots into education and is now trying to choke off all competition from good crops..
This bill’s overwhelming victory is not the end…. In fact, I think it may just hasten the end of Common Core, instead of extending it… I think so because I know how bad this program is.. I know there is no way you, once you experience it’s insanity, its inadequacy, and its ineptitude, will be supportive of common core… You can’t be.. No one like being inside a Kafka novel. We have nine months to educate Delaware what Common Core will do to your children. Nine months… If we are wrong, and the public does not by then demonize this program, then perhaps it is good that this bill passed.
But I’ve seen Common Core face to face… so I sincerely doubt that outcome….
Then, come next January, January 2014 an election year no doubt, we again will see these familiar words with a lot of support behind it.
“Section 1. Amend the title of Chapter 12, Title 14 of the Delaware Code, by making insertions as shown by underlining and deletions as shown by strikethrough as follows:”……
Today is School Board Elections…Polls are open 10-8… If anyone is sponsored by Markell or Rodell or RTTT or WSFS, don’t vote for them.. If anyone is sponsored by DSEA, they are on the students side. They are safe.
So go out and vote like a goat… Be… B-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-D
Look, I’m the most skeptical person ever, But even I was skeptical when I saw the News Journal had this headline posts… (probably corrected by now.)… Red Clay needs Minnehan on board ….
Courtesy of You Know Who
Yes, I’m sure they do, but she is running for a School Board spot in Christina. At least her signs are all over Newark. If someone had just checked, inside the article this word…. C…H…R…I…S…T…I…N…A is featured rather prominently, in the first sentence no less… :) If anyone had doubts, they would go to this link, the News Journal Listing of School Board Elections, and see there in Christina District E …. Minnehan.
So the question any skeptic should ask, is…. was this done on purpose? If so, why?
The why is the easiest to answer. She will augment the independent streak that Christina District has going. If you are new to education, you probably don’t know this: there are two sides. It’s not Democrat versus Republican… although it could be, but those lines of partisanship do not reach into our school districts. In education, one either puts “Student’s First” or “Business First” … The biggest battle going on in education now, is whether the money we are paying for education, should go to a) teachers and supplies and those that put the two together, or b)should that same money go to a business, who then keeps a big part of that money for itself, and replaces those high paying jobs with ones reflecting minimum wage… Students versus Business.
Minnehan puts students first.
But wait. As Kilroy points out, the News Journal FORGOT two district races in Red Clay.. Hmmm. three errors all aimed at Red Clay…
The skeptic in me says the News Journal wants Red Clay voters to show up looking to vote Minnehan, and not seeing her, mark the others at random. If done, the “business” side of education, those “Wall Street darlings”, may though the confusion, get a extra votes on top of their core, which could upset the election, thereby making Red Clay more interested in which business gets to come in and profit, instead of whether students even graduate…
Minnehan is good, for those in Christina. Those in Red Clay need to go here…
Although it was not as they envisioned. The gun was brought inside a backpack of a middle school aged child. Relax, no one died. He was a good kid and never had any intention of using it. Just thought it was super cool and wanted to show it off along with the ammo to his friends… (He didn’t even know it was a real gun.)
The 13 year old as of Friday was being held in the New Castle County Juvenile Detention Center on $39,000 secured bail. And the courts will determine the severity of his penalty.
Of course parents are concerned. In typical parental fashion they said…. “we need metal detectors at every school. .
So, let us work through that premise. Start with how can that be done? Electronic metal detectors are expensive, and we have a lot of schools. Currently the Department of Educations website is listing 213 schools... Now for economic reasons, we would at first need only one security site or pass-through site per building, through which everyone enters, and everyone leaves… Once the initial investment is paid for, then incremental units at other entrances and exits can be later added.
So the number is 213 security machines… Here at Detectronix we have an assortment of walk through metal detectors. Since most of our state’s students are familiar with jails from visiting family members, perhaps the one that is most secure for our schools would the same brand use for jails, sensitive enough to detect a loaded revolve inserted up the anus or vagina. That costs $4199. However, recognizing a future need after the December 14th Newtown shootings, Detectronix has made a commitment to mass produce a cheaper version which will pick up a hand gun and pinpoint it to a general area of the body. That reduced rate is $2499. This cheaper version is more than adequate to isolate incoming weapons, in all but the most sophisticated ploys. Considering the savings, it is the one I would recommend, the Detectronix 6-Zone Walk Through Metal Detector …
Total state cost for walk-through metal detectors? Pretty cheap, just a half a million or exactly $532,500… ($894387 would be the more expensive choice) This does not include the fee charged for the entity that places the phone call, at 10% that would be another $53,250 dollars….
A electroinic security system needs to be manned to be effective. Otherwise it could beep on every student passing through with no accountability. One must assume the station should be manned all day. Even though nothing much happens at any schools entrance after the opening bell, still, if one were intent on bringing a gun to school for say, the purpose of revenge. he would obviously time his arrival at some point after he knew the metal detector was shut down. So personnel must be stationed until close.
The average school day is 7 hours… Multiplied by 5 days per week and it is a thirty five hour job, add half an hour every day to set up and tear down, and it becomes a full time position. At salary it averages $39,000 per year. Add the FICA and supplementary benefits costs, the total package runs to: $40,677 per school…. If contracted out to a guard service, the average rate if including fees and contract costs, averages close to $50 per hour used. The contracts per year would range around $78,000 per school… but at the benefit that all liability falls upon the service and not the educational department of the state of Delaware.
So for manning these position, Delaware has two options, government versus private, and as it always works out in everything in life, government is the cheaper. $8,664,201 versus $16,614,000
So for a minimum of $8,664,201 a year in personnel costs plus the $532,500 in buying and installing the metal detectors, the first year estimate for that should be close to $9.200,000 dollars with $8,664,201 being spent every year thereafter.
If this is levied to property owners, the average property owner will be charged, of course assuming that Senior Citizens don’t get out of the fee for policies they support, the fee is $0.0001 per square foot or one/hundredith of a penny per square foot. {$8,664,201/(2490 X 27,878,400)} If one exempts state land, or makes other exemptions, that cost will rise per private property owner as is to be expected. …
Or if one wishes to allocate that cost per resident, then the assessment rounds up to {$8,664,201 / 917,000} = $9.44 per inhabitant. That is the price of security. A family of 4 should be willing to ante up $37.79 dollars for keeping children safe…
But, the argument gets quickly raised, as it does with money, … shouldn’t those responsible for creating the problem be the ones to pay for its solution? Those would be owner of guns. We can’t publish the amounts for confidentiality reasons. But the gross sales of Miller’s Gunshop alone as reported this quarter to the Delaware Dept of Revenue, argues that a fair assessment on all gun and ammunition sales at at sales tax rate of 10% would be more than adequate to cover implementing the security of all of Delaware’s schools.
The $8 million a year should not out of a child’s education. It should come from those those actions are the direct creation of the problem in the first place.
So lets securitize our schools, and make the NRA and all gun owners pay for it… Fair is simply fair. If we had a registry of all weapons in this country, we wouldn’t be having this problem. As history will one day determine, the fault lies with no one but the NRA that this common sense legislation was never implemented …..
The problem behind Common Core, or as Mike O rightfully calls the misuse of Common Core, is that all we have are rumors. If the rumors are true we have a disaster in the making. Well, the rumors are true and the test that was turned in to a British Paper (excellent move) proves it.
According to the newspaper that has seen the test,
It’s full of long, dense, off-the-wall nonfiction passages on making wind tunnels, soil formation and studying whales. There are two short stories, both set overseas. And there’s a vague selection from a poem about loneliness that students must interpret before choosing among four answers that contain two arguably correct selections.
Students got 90 minutes to complete the 32-page test, which contained 42 questions based on six written passages.
The News asked testing experts, teachers and parents to analyze the test, which state and city education officials have kept under lock and key. Everyone who saw it was left dumbfounded by the killer questions.
“You might as well just put ‘failure to students’ at the top of the exam,” said Tracy Woodall, a stay-at-home mom whose son is a fifth-grader at Public School 1 in the Bronx. “There’s no way they’re going to pass this.”
The questions on the fifth-grade reading test, designed to test comprehension, were enough to stump a city high-school teacher who reviewed it.
“Have these students had an opportunity to build up to that complexity? The answer is no,” said the teacher, who asked for anonymity for fear of getting sacked. “This test is coming at them like an anvil to their face.”
Aaron Pallas, a testing expert at Columbia University, ran the new fifth-grade exam though a computer analysis program and found that it was actually calibrated for the “middle of sixth grade.” Numerous families boycotted the new exams, and the national teachers union boss called for a moratorium on consequences from the high-stakes tests until they’re better-understood.
We are killing education in America by purposefully making the test so they make children fail, and then use that to fire teachers and close schools because their test results are so poor.
Not only was I shocked that Sublime was something of which Delaware Liberal was unaware, but I gathered they were also unaware of the problems Common Core and Obama were placing upon local educators… So I was going to sit down and write the entire history of 21st Century American Education….
But I found this, and it is a very nice beginning of the weekend, so I am instead going to default to a better writer Valerie Strauss oif the Washington Post, who does a real nice wrap up that if my progressive friends will read, will make them understand what the problem is with Obama’s, Arne Duncun’s, Jack Markell’s, and Mark Murphy’s approach to education….
Here is the link again…
Let’s see, any new news on RTTT and the failure of our current educational program?
Nope. They are still asleep. But the blogs are where it’s at. They’ve been busy….
Stop Blaming Teachers For Your Own Incompetence
We Should Stop Trying To Emulate China: We’re Better Than That
Somehow it seems like Deja Vu and Global warming all over again. The News Journal is ignoring the evidence world-wide, and focusing only on what one tiny enclaved establishment wants them to hear…
So sad.
