Monday, December 14, 2009

Problems with the Common Core National Standards

Ze'ev Wurman and I wrote an op-ed that we published Dec. 11 as a guest column on Jay P. Greene's Blog. The post was entitled: "Alternative Needed to Common Core: An Additional Consortium for ‎Common Standards."

We noted that some critics have pointed to the federalism problem. For example, the Texas chief state school officer describes the Common Core national standards as

an effort “by the U. S. Department of Education” to impose “a national curriculum and testing system” and “a step toward a federal takeover” of public schools across the nation.

But Ze'ev Wurman and I focused on the the problems of process and content.

In terms of process, we pointed to the longtime secrecy about who was doing what and the secrecy about the drafts of the standards themselves. We pointed to the tight timeline and asked whether it allowed enough time for public comment.

We argued that although the process had been flawed, the situation is, unfortunately, even more troubling on the content side.

The proposed English-Language Arts “college and career readiness” standards (which we are told are not high school graduation standards) are largely a list of content-free generic skills. Rather than focusing on what English teachers are trained to teach (quality literature), the drafters seem to expect English teachers to teach reading strategies presumed to help students to cope with biology or economics textbooks.

In mathematics, the standards are perhaps even worse. While essentially all four-year state colleges require at least three years of high school mathematics, including Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry or above, CCSSI’s standards require only Algebra 1 and few bits and pieces from Algebra 2 and Geometry. In other words, students who graduate from high school having taken only math coursework addressing those standards (and presumably having passed a test based on them) will be inadmissible to any four-year college around the country.

The remedy we proposed was an alternative consortium of states.

That consortium would be composed of states whose standards have been highly rated by academic experts– like California or Massachusetts — together with states like Texas and Alaska whose reluctance to jump on the Common Core bandwagon has been clearly vindicated.

35 comments:

  1. Hello Bill,

    My name is Ivone and I would like to ask you to join our affiliates program. Could you please give me an e-mail account where I can write to you?

    Thank you very much,

    Ivone

    ReplyDelete
  2. the problem with being standardized is that it's not really that standard..what im trying to say is, there are some things that should be exempted from certain standards..the purpose of just having standards is for organization

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for this informative post. I'm learning a lot from this blog.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Learning a lot from this blog. Thanks for this informative post.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Webmaster,

    This is Ivana Williams. Today I have visited your site:ed-policy.blogspot.com and found some interesting information. We think our visitors will be benefited by your sites information. Hope by exchanging link we will be able to promote each other sites.

    Please add the following link info:


    Title : Distance learning courses in Trinidad

    URL : http://www.rdi-usa.com/Achieve/Distance-Learning-Trinidad.html

    Description : Distance learning in Trinidad has made its mark on the global platform for its upsides for both students and professionals. Wishing to pursue a study program online, you had better consult RDI to get updates on distance learning courses in Trinidad.

    Once done, please let me know the page where you have added our link and also send me your link info as well , we will add your link immediately.Thanks for your valuable time to read our mail. I will look forward to hearing from you soon .

    Best regards,

    Ivana Williams
    Webmaster

    ReplyDelete
  6. Most countries that do well in PISA and similar tests have children right from the age of 4 compete for high scores to be "successful". Isn't it same in our schools in the US for sport? How hard do we push our kids in sport and why does it become a problem when it comes to studies? Children practice hours when it comes to basketball or baseball or... but not the same for studying subjects like Math & Reading &... The only way to turn out bright kids is to create a sense of competition early and get them to work to get promoted to the next grade. Practice through sites like www.icoachmath.com helps.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great website, looks very clean and organized.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your site is good Actually, i have seen your post and That was very informative and very entertaining for me. Thanks for posting Really Such Things. I should recommend your site to my friends. Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks a lot for this post. It's cool!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Amazing post! Thanks a lot for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Blogs are so interactive where we get lots of informative on any topics...... nice job keep it up !!

    ReplyDelete
  12. very good post! need to say you did a great job and i really appreciate it!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for this post! It's really cool.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank you so much for this post.I found lots of interesting information here. And thanks for sharing it's really wonderful and useful =)))

    ReplyDelete
  15. great) liked everything very much) keep it up and dont stop)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks for sharing such an interesting information. I think this is really a very nice post. Thanks for the great content!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks for sharing the blog.
    Leather Jackets

    ReplyDelete
  18. We think our visitors will be benefited by your sites information.

    ReplyDelete
  19. English teachers to teach reading strategies presumed to help students to cope with biology or economics textbooks.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The Texas chief state school officer explains the Common Core nationwide averages,

    http://www.ukdissertation.co.uk/Dissertation_Introduction.htm

    ReplyDelete
  21. We pointed to the tight timeline and asked whether it allowed enough time for public comment.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I just wanted to let you know that your blog is brilliant! Thank you for putting all this effort into writing such rich, informative posts.
    Movers In Dubai
    International Movers

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thank you for sharing this wonderful informatonand your writing is providing a good thoughts to readers and even giving good writing ideas like a professional essay writing service of online.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I hope I got a great chance to visit site like this. Best wishes and I will try to get this in future also.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hotmail is an email account of Microsoft Corporation. Like Google's Gmail, it is full of features usually xuyen.Neu of an email you want to register an account please follow these basic steps:
    Hotmail login

    Hotmail review

    Sign in to hotmail

    Log in to hotmail

    Recover hotmail password

    Tank Trouble is a very interesting flash game about tanks, about war and about destruction
    TANK TROUBLE | TANK TROUBLE 2

    One Penguin Takes it personally when he is surfing the web and stumbles upon a web site telling him that he cant fly, after that he sets his mind to research and practice flying until he can prove the world that he can..
    Slitherio | LEARN TO FLY | LEARN TO FLY 2

    Strike Force Heroes is a new game action-packed shooter from the creators of Raze; with 3 game modes, 15 campaign missions and over 65 weapons.
    Strike Force Heroes | Strike Force Heroes 4

    ReplyDelete
  26. Many thanks for sharing the information in your blog

    supersmashflash2s.com

    ReplyDelete
  27. opinion outpost is a trusty survey site. After you sign up and complete your profiles they begin to send you surveys. Solo A Star Wars Story Han Solo Jacket

    ReplyDelete
  28. bear it is our everlasting tear. In it, we all find our share So, tell me more of sadness and I’ll tell you of gladness. Infinity War Iron Man Jacket

    ReplyDelete
  29. Caranya dengna melakukan deposit sebesar 25-100ribu anda sudah bisa memainkannya dengan secara leluasa. sebelum bermain kami sarankan untuk anda sekalian supaya tidak lupa
    asikqq
    dewaqq
    sumoqq
    interqq
    pionpoker
    bandar ceme terpercaya
    hobiqq
    paito warna
    http://199.30.55.59/asikqq78/
    data hk 2019

    ReplyDelete