Common core was put in our school behind the backs of parents over 3 years ago. We are told common core is "just a set of standards", this is a lie. According to Bill Gates, who has spent millions promoting common core, it is an "experiment" and we won't know for years if it will even work. It isn't working. He also said that the tests and curriculum will align with the standards, which are not tested standards. I have seen the insane math for three years, the "test prep" and the slimy way this was all brought about in our local school. If common core is so great, why spend million "promoting" it, because it is a product, your children consumers. This is not about education and people need to stop common core, it is cognitive child abuse and your children lab rats for these big companies and the federal government.
Jonathan Bolding - 9 years ago
Do our students deserve high standards?
Should we have standards at all?
Does the data support the need to adopt a new set of standards?
Who will suffer while we battle it out?
I am an educator that firmly believes in my students ability to rise to the high expectations set before them. The TN Diploma standards began to lay the foundation for higher standards and embedded rigor in each lesson. I think about "Alex," my highly gifted student bored to tears when presented with novel tasks that do not require much depth or thought. When I began implementing the TN Academic Standards in my classroom, I saw a new light in his eyes. The emphasis on critical thinking, problem solving, and real world applications offered a pathway to new challenges that revived his learning experience. Alex is one of many. Our students deserve high academic standards and educators that approach each child with a growth mindset. If we did not have standards, what would drive instruction? Hiow would we measure student success. Is it fair to say our students aren't capable when we are just now able to assess how they are progressing against TN Standards through an aligned assessment?
At the end of the day we must have standards and those standards must be assessed. Our children do not have the luxury of waiting for stakeholders to engage in embittered discussions surrounding the appropriateness of standards that have been in imeplementation for roughly 3 years. As one of the fastest improving states in the country, we will NOT continue to make traction lost in conversation. My students cannot wait for a decision, a vetting of newer standards, teachers to be trained on other standards and re-aligning standards to yet another assessment. Their futures are at stake!
BeBe - 9 years ago
The headline news for today's paper is 'A Common Core Conundrum.' In the report was a third-grade teacher giving her young students a trial of essays to write. The teacher hand-picked the subjects of the essays. Education is a building block and a strong foundation must be laid by early education teachers. Each year every subject, every teacher is to build upon that foundation.
My lack of understanding in this third-grade teacher is the hand-picked subjects she chose. In a building block education system the foundation laid is very important to build on. In no way can these subjects be built upon for American nor World Government, Social Studies, Geography, U.S. History, U.S. Political Science, etc.
Great facts as they are, where is the foundation laid for branching into Founding Fathers, Discovery of America, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, etc.? Are we now teaching a new history, new government, or deleting the foundation in which to build upon. Maybe you can understand my conundrum.
Kate Read Ezell - 9 years ago
My support of the Common Core is the result of teacher interviews (at state-sponsored summer training sessions) and principal/administration conversations as a member of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce Education Report Card committee. To a person, people doing the work support the standards. Acknowledging the challenges implicit in the conversion process and that nothing is perfect, the Standards are a net plus, that is to say Tennessee's students are better off with them than without them. I sincerely hope that the legislators will keep them in place, not disrupt the transition, and move quickly to pair them with relevant testing tools.
Jen - 9 years ago
This is a dumb survey. What kind of response is, "Teachers are what matters, not common core"??? STUDENTS are what matters! The fact is that Common Core is developmentally inappropriate in the younger grades and not nearly high enough in the upper grades.
Ditch common core. It is not higher standards. Standards won't magically fix the real problem for students in our schools: Poverty.
Missy - 9 years ago
As a teacher, I want standards that will prepare Tennessee's students to be academically prepared to function in our world today. The Literacy standards within Common Core are very good. Students are expected to think, draw conclusions, make connections, and be able to write their responses. Less multiple choice is a very desirable goal for testing; we need to make sure students are explain and describe their thought processes.
The Math standards need some changes. They are not all bad; some of the methodogy for teaching the desired skills is the real problem.
Common Core is needed so that students across the United States are being taught content and skills that are necessary for future academic and/or workplace endeavors. By using common standards, students who move will not be at a disadvantage due to different expectations from state to state. Common standards also allow for comparison between states or counties within states on a level playing field when making judgements as to whether students are achieving or not.
The real problem is high stakes testing. It is unfortunate that politicians want to use unreliable and invalid data to judge students, teachers, and schools. The sum total of anyone's abilities should not be a number determined based on 2 hours of Math testing, 2 hours of Literacy testing, 1 hour of Science testing, and 1 hour of Social Studies testing each year. Ludicrous!
Jennifer - 9 years ago
The Common Core Standards themselves are not the problem. The problem is the high stakes testing that is causing anxiety and stress not only on teachers, but also on students and their parents. The tests are currently not aligned to the Standards being taught. Students are expected to take ownership of their learning, but when it comes to the end of the year testing - all eyes are on the teachers. Teachers are hired and fired over test results...that are simply invalid and unreliable. This is unethical, and it has drastically lowered teacher morale across the state. New tests (including Tennessee Ready) are coming...so it is possible that this will improve the current testing situation. Either way, teacher morale needs to be addressed state wide. Wonderful teachers are leaving the field or becoming burned out, while questionable teachers are falling through the cracks and staying employed. The field of education has always been political, but educating our children - my child - is NOT a political game.
Carolyn Pippen - 9 years ago
This question forces people who support Common Core to imply that they think standards are more important than teachers. That's some of the most blatant survey bias I've ever seen.
Common core was put in our school behind the backs of parents over 3 years ago. We are told common core is "just a set of standards", this is a lie. According to Bill Gates, who has spent millions promoting common core, it is an "experiment" and we won't know for years if it will even work. It isn't working. He also said that the tests and curriculum will align with the standards, which are not tested standards. I have seen the insane math for three years, the "test prep" and the slimy way this was all brought about in our local school. If common core is so great, why spend million "promoting" it, because it is a product, your children consumers. This is not about education and people need to stop common core, it is cognitive child abuse and your children lab rats for these big companies and the federal government.
Do our students deserve high standards?
Should we have standards at all?
Does the data support the need to adopt a new set of standards?
Who will suffer while we battle it out?
I am an educator that firmly believes in my students ability to rise to the high expectations set before them. The TN Diploma standards began to lay the foundation for higher standards and embedded rigor in each lesson. I think about "Alex," my highly gifted student bored to tears when presented with novel tasks that do not require much depth or thought. When I began implementing the TN Academic Standards in my classroom, I saw a new light in his eyes. The emphasis on critical thinking, problem solving, and real world applications offered a pathway to new challenges that revived his learning experience. Alex is one of many. Our students deserve high academic standards and educators that approach each child with a growth mindset. If we did not have standards, what would drive instruction? Hiow would we measure student success. Is it fair to say our students aren't capable when we are just now able to assess how they are progressing against TN Standards through an aligned assessment?
At the end of the day we must have standards and those standards must be assessed. Our children do not have the luxury of waiting for stakeholders to engage in embittered discussions surrounding the appropriateness of standards that have been in imeplementation for roughly 3 years. As one of the fastest improving states in the country, we will NOT continue to make traction lost in conversation. My students cannot wait for a decision, a vetting of newer standards, teachers to be trained on other standards and re-aligning standards to yet another assessment. Their futures are at stake!
The headline news for today's paper is 'A Common Core Conundrum.' In the report was a third-grade teacher giving her young students a trial of essays to write. The teacher hand-picked the subjects of the essays. Education is a building block and a strong foundation must be laid by early education teachers. Each year every subject, every teacher is to build upon that foundation.
My lack of understanding in this third-grade teacher is the hand-picked subjects she chose. In a building block education system the foundation laid is very important to build on. In no way can these subjects be built upon for American nor World Government, Social Studies, Geography, U.S. History, U.S. Political Science, etc.
Great facts as they are, where is the foundation laid for branching into Founding Fathers, Discovery of America, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, etc.? Are we now teaching a new history, new government, or deleting the foundation in which to build upon. Maybe you can understand my conundrum.
My support of the Common Core is the result of teacher interviews (at state-sponsored summer training sessions) and principal/administration conversations as a member of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce Education Report Card committee. To a person, people doing the work support the standards. Acknowledging the challenges implicit in the conversion process and that nothing is perfect, the Standards are a net plus, that is to say Tennessee's students are better off with them than without them. I sincerely hope that the legislators will keep them in place, not disrupt the transition, and move quickly to pair them with relevant testing tools.
This is a dumb survey. What kind of response is, "Teachers are what matters, not common core"??? STUDENTS are what matters! The fact is that Common Core is developmentally inappropriate in the younger grades and not nearly high enough in the upper grades.
Ditch common core. It is not higher standards. Standards won't magically fix the real problem for students in our schools: Poverty.
As a teacher, I want standards that will prepare Tennessee's students to be academically prepared to function in our world today. The Literacy standards within Common Core are very good. Students are expected to think, draw conclusions, make connections, and be able to write their responses. Less multiple choice is a very desirable goal for testing; we need to make sure students are explain and describe their thought processes.
The Math standards need some changes. They are not all bad; some of the methodogy for teaching the desired skills is the real problem.
Common Core is needed so that students across the United States are being taught content and skills that are necessary for future academic and/or workplace endeavors. By using common standards, students who move will not be at a disadvantage due to different expectations from state to state. Common standards also allow for comparison between states or counties within states on a level playing field when making judgements as to whether students are achieving or not.
The real problem is high stakes testing. It is unfortunate that politicians want to use unreliable and invalid data to judge students, teachers, and schools. The sum total of anyone's abilities should not be a number determined based on 2 hours of Math testing, 2 hours of Literacy testing, 1 hour of Science testing, and 1 hour of Social Studies testing each year. Ludicrous!
The Common Core Standards themselves are not the problem. The problem is the high stakes testing that is causing anxiety and stress not only on teachers, but also on students and their parents. The tests are currently not aligned to the Standards being taught. Students are expected to take ownership of their learning, but when it comes to the end of the year testing - all eyes are on the teachers. Teachers are hired and fired over test results...that are simply invalid and unreliable. This is unethical, and it has drastically lowered teacher morale across the state. New tests (including Tennessee Ready) are coming...so it is possible that this will improve the current testing situation. Either way, teacher morale needs to be addressed state wide. Wonderful teachers are leaving the field or becoming burned out, while questionable teachers are falling through the cracks and staying employed. The field of education has always been political, but educating our children - my child - is NOT a political game.
This question forces people who support Common Core to imply that they think standards are more important than teachers. That's some of the most blatant survey bias I've ever seen.