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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 7:49:07 GMT -5
Depends on where you are. PA has no state curriculum so it depends on how your local works.
But even so, it doesn't stay the same. Think NCLB and CC... I taught 8 years and went through 2 recruited of scope and sequence, and choosing of new texts. Not to mention rewrites and interpretation updates of IDEA.
Every year year your class will also be a new mix of regular, special, ESL, etc. students.
Even if you are expected to uniform goals, getting all the students there is never a uniform task.
Actually, i dont see any reason CC would be more manual driven? Although I don't know how all districts are implementing.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 8:51:12 GMT -5
No, Common Core is about all kids having the same skill outcomes. If anything, that would require more differentiated instruction.
Again. I'm not sure if that's how it's being implemented. But that is the goal.
Have you you actually read the common core guidelines? They aren't content specific...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 8:55:14 GMT -5
For instance, 4th grade Language: English Language Arts Standards » Reading: Literature » Grade 4 PRINT THIS PAGE Standards in this strand: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.4 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.5 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.6 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.7 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.8 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.9 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.10 Key Ideas and Details: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions). Craft and Structure: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.5 Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.6 Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narrations. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.7 Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.8 (RL.4.8 not applicable to literature) CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.9 Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures. Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grades 4-5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. www.corestandards.org
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 9:04:12 GMT -5
Can you tell me the names of the documentaries you've watched? There is a lot of BS out there. It's complicated by inconsistent implementation. But frankly there is nothing I can see scary about Common Core itself, I mean, read the actual CC website... What there is scary?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 9:12:15 GMT -5
Yeah, I don't generally get info except for law summaries from HSLDA. I'm usually not on the same page as they are, and am not happy with how they are trying to attack pa homeschool law right now.
But I'll take a look at the links. They have a definite 'worldview' and agenda though.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 9:15:24 GMT -5
What about the 'data mining' is scary?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 9:27:26 GMT -5
So, here is part of one of the first paragraphs from the fear mongering 'data mining' article:
" All 50 states have had statewide longitudinal databases in place to track their students’ scores on assessments for the past decade. Yet the authors of the Common Core are clear: the success of the standards hinges on the increased collection of student data.3 Every state that agreed to the Common Core in order to receive Race to the Top (RTTT) funding committed “to design, develop, and implement statewide P–20 [preschool through workforce] longitudinal data systems…”4 Data collection must follow the 12 criteria set down in the America COMPETES Act and record, among other things, student demographics, reasons that untested students were not tested, and student success in postsecondary education 5..."
First, if you go to source 4 you will see that it is NOT RTTT finding that is dependent on this system, but SFSF funding...
Second, if you go to source 5, you will see the very first of the 12 criteria is "An unique identifier for every student that does not permit a student to be individually identified (except as permitted by federal and state law)" .... Wonder why they left that one out?
Anyway, when point one is misconstrued and the the first two sources I look up are misquoted and/or mischaracterized, i stop and throw away the 'article'... Feel free to check the rest of the sources yourself though... Don't believe everything you are told.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 9:40:40 GMT -5
Yeah, I don't generally get info except for law summaries from HSLDA. I'm usually not on the same page as they are, and am not happy with how they are trying to attack pa homeschool law right now. But I'll take a look at the links. They have a definite 'worldview' and agenda though. I have been trying to fact check their assertion that public universities will not be able to offer remedial classes, and so far it looks like it could be legit. There is a page from the federal register regarding applications for states to receive grant money for implementing the standards. It says that the states that submit applications with "commitments from public IHS" will receive preference for getting money from the Comprehensive Assessment Systems grants. "In addition to meeting the need for assessment systems that can be used to determine whether students are college-and career-ready, this grant category seeks to ensure that the results from those systems will, in turn, be used meaningfully by institutions of higher education (IHEs). Under this grant category, we intend to promote collaboration and better alignment between public elementary, secondary,and postsecondary education systems by establishing a competitive preference priority for applications that include commitments from public IHEs or IHE systems to participate in the design and development of the consortium’s final high school summative assessments and to implement policies that exempt from remedial courses and place into credit-bearing college courses students who meet the consortium-adopted achievement standard (as defined in this notice) for those assessments. An application that addresses this priority will receive competitive preference points based on the extent to which it demonstrates strong commitment from
the public IHEs or IHE systems (as evidenced by letters of intent) and on the percentage of direct matriculation students (as defined in this notice) in public IHEs in the States in the consortium who are enrolled in those IHEs or IHE systems." www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2010-04-09/pdf/2010-8176.pdfSorry, I did mean to derail this thread. I am still very curious to learn what lesson planning entails. Can you explain to me your problem with the above?
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Knee Deep in Water Chloe
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Post by Knee Deep in Water Chloe on Jul 8, 2014 13:15:11 GMT -5
Do not speak of what you do not know. Out of genuine interest, can you (or somebody else familiar with the process) explain a little about this? I was under the impression that teachers do not get to choose what they teach. I thought they received some sort of manual that they had to follow, even more so now that common core is is being implemented. This is a pretty detailed topic. I've got about 15 minutes, and I've got to go shower and start my day. I'll try to come back later to elaborate or answer any more questions you might have. These are all very separate paragraphs: 1)In some places, yes, curriculum is scripted and teachers are not supposed to go "off" of it. However, in places with more local control and in which the administration honors the professional opinion of the teacher, the teacher actually designs the curriculum themselves based on what students need to learn. Yes, there are text books, but when that's not what students need, the teacher must decide and find what content to deliver. Finding and organizing those materials can take a while. The general opinion when it comes to payroll--if someone is designing curriculum from scratch it will take 50% of the amount of time to design it as it does that the teacher is spending with the class. So, if a class is 60 minutes, then 30 minutes of prep to completely design that lesson. 2) Designing a lesson is not simply "what" is being taught. It is "how" it is being taught. Teachers who simply lecture are no longer acceptable. So, when someone has written a lecture and uses the next year, that's not best practice. Students must be engaged learners. How is the teacher going to engage them? Whole group discussion, independent small group discussion, rotating small groups, partner work, interactive projects assignments? Then, how are those groups/pairs/trios etc going to come into existence? What assessment is going to be used to know whether or not they learned it? That stuff cannot come from a script. Some "in a box" curriculums do come with assessments, but they're not always pertinent. 3)CCSS is absolutely not a curriculum. It is a set of standards. Please, please, please, read the actual document. It explicitely states that this is "what" to teach as learning goals. It is not a script, not a curriculum, and not how to teach. 4)It is rare that a teacher has exactly the same teaching assignment two years in a row. It is also rare that a teacher has the exact same students at the exact same age level two years in a row ( ). So, a teacher cannot teach the exact same way two years in a row and have children learning the same way. There is a HUGE difference between a teacher teaching and children learning. When we discuss accountability, only the latter matters. 5) On a personal note, I would be incredibly bored if I taught the exact same thing the exact same way day in and out and year in and out. I don't want to read/teach the same novel each year. I also want to try new instructional techniques and grow as a professional. Using the same lesson plans hinders those professional attributes. Be back later.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Jul 8, 2014 13:40:54 GMT -5
Charter Schools. Are they controversial where you live? We don't have many charter schools. We live in a fairly large school district (27,000 kids), and there is one charter school. That one is OK, because it's a Spanish immersion school with the target demographics being spanish speaking kids. A few years ago, a African American leader tried to get a charter school going for primarily African American kids. The kids would have been in school from 8-6, offered services they need to catch up to perform at grade level, get afterschool help with homework, had to wear uniforms, decent meals, It went no where, because the teachers union wouldn't allow the extended hours and it was unthinkable to suggest that you hire folks to teach that weren't a part of the union. So, yes, they are controversial. The white, middle class and above members of the school board like to pretend that there are no performance issues. Right now, it seems like what they are doing is helping the hispanic population, so that's OK to spend the money. Our district has no idea how to help low performing African American students. So rather than try and do something, they sit and do nothing. It's very frustrating to watch. I WISH we had more public school options. Then we could have avoided private school.
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Jul 8, 2014 14:01:39 GMT -5
I hope it won't drive you guys crazy if this thread covers a few topics that fall under "education". The common core discussion is going to be moved here from another thread that I started to take off topic and I also wanted to talk about a few other things as well. Charter Schools. Are they controversial where you live? How does the funding work? There was a lot of coverage recently from a newspaper claiming that charter schools in my state have little transparency or accountability, while spending nearly $1 billion in state taxpayer funds. I was a little surprised at all of the charter school hate that I saw from people I know. I kept reading comments that charter schools should be shut down if they have "poor performance", but no mention of the public schools that perform poorly. The benchmark used is available online. They ranked all of the schools in the state. The elementary school closest to me that my kids would attend (and that I attended as a child) was ranked in the bottom 10th percentile. It was crappy when I went there. Nobody ever talks about shutting it down. But what did happen is a charter school popped up nearby and gave parents another choice. The families I know that made the switch are happy. NJ curriculium is has actually always been very similiar to what is in CC. It has been implemented, and was always the intention from my understanding, that it was a set of standards that all students should have learned by the end of each year or class. In lower grades it is by grade year nd HS by class. So students take a test at the end of the year, it could be the ASK test or the Ohio test or a new one to quantify what the students have learned that year. The test is not about what an individual child did though. It only really tests the whole school accurately. That is actually where the "data mining" comes in. It tells the people going over the numbers what income level, English language learners, ect they have. They have done this for as long as I can remember. I actually remember this when I was a kid 40 something years ago so it isn't something new. I actually LOVE the end of course tests. The premise is actually quite simple and achieves the purpose desired. they decide what should have been learned in a course say Biology 1. then they do a test to test that knowledge. Then the schools do have to tell the teachers what will be tested on at the end of the year and they do have to adjust to that. To me that is a good thing. It forces the schools to teach based on what colleges and HS's have decided that students should learn in that class. I have never understood why people hate "teaching to the test". As long as the test accurately reflects what the students should have learned it is exactly what they should have been teaching all along IMO.
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Jul 8, 2014 14:29:22 GMT -5
I think some people believe that teachers are teaching the exact facts on the test. Or that are expected to be on the test. And nothing else. Certainly not how to study and learn. I have no idea if that's actually happening or not. My DD starts 1st grade in fall. I know she had some form of testing in Kindergarten and her school is using CC but it's a German Immersion School. I don't know how they determine what the standards they're testing for are.
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Jul 8, 2014 14:40:11 GMT -5
I think some people believe that teachers are teaching the exact facts on the test. Or that are expected to be on the test. And nothing else. Certainly not how to study and learn. I have no idea if that's actually happening or not. My DD starts 1st grade in fall. I know she had some form of testing in Kindergarten and her school is using CC but it's a German Immersion School. I don't know how they determine what the standards they're testing for are. I never heard of a school knowing the exact questions type of thing. but they do know the concepts that are supposed to have been learned that year. I will say though that my DD said all those tests were super easy so maybe I'm biased.
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The Captain
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Post by The Captain on Jul 8, 2014 15:02:32 GMT -5
I hope it won't drive you guys crazy if this thread covers a few topics that fall under "education". The common core discussion is going to be moved here from another thread that I started to take off topic and I also wanted to talk about a few other things as well. Charter Schools. Are they controversial where you live? How does the funding work? There was a lot of coverage recently from a newspaper claiming that charter schools in my state have little transparency or accountability, while spending nearly $1 billion in state taxpayer funds. I was a little surprised at all of the charter school hate that I saw from people I know. I kept reading comments that charter schools should be shut down if they have "poor performance", but no mention of the public schools that perform poorly. The benchmark used is available online. They ranked all of the schools in the state. The elementary school closest to me that my kids would attend (and that I attended as a child) was ranked in the bottom 10th percentile. It was crappy when I went there. Nobody ever talks about shutting it down. But what did happen is a charter school popped up nearby and gave parents another choice. The families I know that made the switch are happy. I love this idea! In my area (in general, not available in every town) parents have 4 options but not always choices: 1. Public schools - quality varies greatly but publicly funded 2. Magnet schools - basically a public school that you have to apply to get into. They perform so well in many areas there are lotteries to get into and a lot of contention about giving preference to people from areas that are "underserved". The competition is brutal. They are publicly funded. 3. Charter schools run by private organizations funded by public dollars - still very rare in my area but the few I know of seem to perform comparable to the corresponding public school option. 4. Private schools - supported by parents paid tuition and/or private organizations. They are not required to report publicly performance statistics (which I don't agree with) but DD's school did and they outperformed the local public options by a mile. We didn't have access to magnet schools in our area and to get DD into the charter school we would have had to enroll her as a kindergartener and have her bused 50 minutes each way. We were not willing to do that to her so we enrolled in private school and were very happy with the quality of her education. Her private HS option was in a risky area (so she'd have to be bussed home, couldn't stay for after school activities) and the tuition right now is 10-12K a year for what we felt was a mediocre education (VERY limited AP and honors classes). Getting DD into a better school district was the #1 reason we moved. We figured it would be easier for her to transition into middle school (which is fed from 5 grade schools) then into HS which is fed from the one middle school. I've said many times I'm grateful we have options and I feel for the parents that don't.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 15:07:53 GMT -5
So, here is part of one of the first paragraphs from the fear mongering 'data mining' article: " All 50 states have had statewide longitudinal databases in place to track their students’ scores on assessments for the past decade. Yet the authors of the Common Core are clear: the success of the standards hinges on the increased collection of student data.3 Every state that agreed to the Common Core in order to receive Race to the Top (RTTT) funding committed “to design, develop, and implement statewide P–20 [preschool through workforce] longitudinal data systems…”4 Data collection must follow the 12 criteria set down in the America COMPETES Act and record, among other things, student demographics, reasons that untested students were not tested, and student success in postsecondary education 5..." First, if you go to source 4 you will see that it is NOT RTTT finding that is dependent on this system, but SFSF funding... To be eligible for RTTT funding, states must follow the data collection criteria set by SFSF. Can you cite for me please? Because the citation they linked to their quote on RTTT didn't mention RTTT at all...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 15:10:58 GMT -5
Could you also address what you find problematic in SFSF criteria?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 16:06:41 GMT -5
Ok, so those criteria will be a part of assessing grant applications for specific federal education money. I'm not sure what exactly that has to do with common core? Or what exactly you are afraid of?
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Formerly SK
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Post by Formerly SK on Jul 8, 2014 16:14:18 GMT -5
I hope it won't drive you guys crazy if this thread covers a few topics that fall under "education". The common core discussion is going to be moved here from another thread that I started to take off topic and I also wanted to talk about a few other things as well. Charter Schools. Are they controversial where you live? How does the funding work? There was a lot of coverage recently from a newspaper claiming that charter schools in my state have little transparency or accountability, while spending nearly $1 billion in state taxpayer funds. I was a little surprised at all of the charter school hate that I saw from people I know. I kept reading comments that charter schools should be shut down if they have "poor performance", but no mention of the public schools that perform poorly. The benchmark used is available online. They ranked all of the schools in the state. The elementary school closest to me that my kids would attend (and that I attended as a child) was ranked in the bottom 10th percentile. It was crappy when I went there. Nobody ever talks about shutting it down. But what did happen is a charter school popped up nearby and gave parents another choice. The families I know that made the switch are happy. NJ curriculium is has actually always been very similiar to what is in CC. It has been implemented, and was always the intention from my understanding, that it was a set of standards that all students should have learned by the end of each year or class. In lower grades it is by grade year nd HS by class. So students take a test at the end of the year, it could be the ASK test or the Ohio test or a new one to quantify what the students have learned that year. The test is not about what an individual child did though. It only really tests the whole school accurately. That is actually where the "data mining" comes in. It tells the people going over the numbers what income level, English language learners, ect they have. They have done this for as long as I can remember. I actually remember this when I was a kid 40 something years ago so it isn't something new. I actually LOVE the end of course tests. The premise is actually quite simple and achieves the purpose desired. they decide what should have been learned in a course say Biology 1. then they do a test to test that knowledge. Then the schools do have to tell the teachers what will be tested on at the end of the year and they do have to adjust to that. To me that is a good thing. It forces the schools to teach based on what colleges and HS's have decided that students should learn in that class. I have never understood why people hate "teaching to the test". As long as the test accurately reflects what the students should have learned it is exactly what they should have been teaching all along IMO. OMG THANK YOU!!!!! I have felt the same way for years but I thought I was the only one.
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Formerly SK
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Post by Formerly SK on Jul 8, 2014 16:20:46 GMT -5
3)CCSS is absolutely not a curriculum. It is a set of standards. Please, please, please, read the actual document. It explicitely states that this is "what" to teach as learning goals. It is not a script, not a curriculum, and not how to teach. I'm honestly not trying to be difficult. I'm sincerely trying to understand all of this. Is there any truth to this claim made by the HSLDA: "The consortia receiving millions from the federal government to write standardized assessments are also being paid to produce curriculum guides for their 42 member states. The Performance Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) consortium stressed in its application for a supplemental Race to the Top award that it would develop “model instructional units” for teachers. It received $15.9 million to fund these efforts.5 U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan affirmed that “PARCC…will be developing curriculum frameworks.”6 Similarly, the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium promised to build “curriculum materials…to support states’ transition to the Common Core State Standards” and was rewarded with $15.9 million.7 The efforts of the federal government to develop curriculum models confirm the analysis of two members of the Common Core Validation Committee who refused to sign the standards: the Common Core is “a laudable effort to shape a national curriculum.”8" They cited this document: www.edweek.org/media/parccsupplementalproposal12-23achievefinal.pdfPage 4 of that document talks about PARCC creating prototypes and units ("Each model unit could include components such as: instructional materials; formative activities"). The problem is that *because* CCSS isn't a curriculum, states/schools are struggling to come up with one on their own. They often don't have time to reinvent the wheel, so they are looking for private companies or states to give them one. Sure it would be wonderful if there was all the time in the world to design a new, unique curriculum based on the increased standards, but there isn't. The two elementary principals I know are just trying to find the best curriculum (private or public) they can find to implement CCSS as best they can. Try not to get paranoid about govt control as it's a red herring. Honestly, anything that increases academic standards in our schools is EXCELLENT.
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The Captain
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Post by The Captain on Jul 8, 2014 18:32:03 GMT -5
I'm not paranoid but I do have a skeptical nature, ESPECIALLY when it involves my children. I like to ask a lot of questions and trying to get accurate information about common core has been difficult. I guess we will find out pretty soon whether or not it's a success. The Captain (why can't I tag some people? I couldn't tag Underwater Cloe either) -Do you think that charter schools are rare in your area because of state laws? Have you ever read anything about the cost of charter school spending (per student) vs public school spending (for your area)? @wrongsideof30 - there is a bug right now with the tag feature that proboards is working on. If you hover your cursor above a poster's name their board name will come up and you should be able the type that with the "@" in front to call them out. (I just tried that with you, let's see if it worked). In my area the charter schools get from 75% to 125% of the same dollars per pupil as the public schools. They are extremely unpopular with the local teacher's unions (charter schools do not have to hire union teachers and do not have to follow the same tenure rules) who are fighting them left and right. There is also the initial start up capital required to acquire or rent a building. That, IMHO is the biggest barrier to entry for the private charter schools. For a short time it seemed like we might have a win-win when the chicago public school system was starting to lease unused buildings to charters, but the teacher's union is fighting that now as well. Because you know, they are in it only for the kids. articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-01-22/news/chi-amid-protests-cps-considers-up-to-17-new-charter-schools-20140122_1_charter-schools-andrew-broy-charter-expansionCPS is closing schools left and right in areas with declining enrollment. Some of those areas are the same places where charter schools want to open. The argument is they will take the "best" students and leave the public school system with the "dregs" thus lowering the public scores even more. Not sure how much I buy into that. Based on the (admittedly I did not verify) information posted on the charter association website, they seem to outperform the public schools by a decent margin in several key areas. incschools.org/charters/why_charter_schools/faq/how_compare/
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 19:01:42 GMT -5
What information about common core do you think you are missing and/or need to make you feel comfortable? What do you think is/will happen?
I think ink the scripted thing is a local school district decision, unless a state has a state curriculum... In that case I'm not sure what happens.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 22:10:08 GMT -5
Alabama just adopted Common Core, but we gave it a different name because CC is so politically unpopular. It is called "College and Career Readiness Standards."
It really is just a series of standards. This is what our students are expected to be able to do. Think of it like this. When I teach the same works as before, I might ask for evidence that Beowulf was basically a pagan story retold by Christian monks. That is not the same type of question as "What Halloween costume was Scout wearing when she was attacked?" (To Kill a Mockingbird). When I was adapting the 9th grade exam for my online class, there was not a single question about the texts they had read. The questions referred to the texts, but they gave examples and asked what literary device was being used or what could be inferred. It is an entirely different mindset. The online course uses a curriculum that is not designed by the individual teacher although we can adapt and/or supplement it.
However, on the local level we have a curriculum that says what standards using what works will be covered each quarter. That is so a student can easily transfer between the two high schools and/or the alternative school. The curriculum only offers choices the last quarter when it is too late to transfer, but those are still fairly rigid choices. We can teach a modern British novel (1984) or a modern British play (Pygmalion). Some of that has to do with the fact that we must have rationales for every book taught.
Because students have a school-issued Ipad, we did not adopt textbooks for the kids for English. We are using the online version from our last adoption, which isn't geared to CCRS. Common Core (or CCRS) requires a lot more non-fiction, which simply isn't present in the older adoption. So the classroom teacher has to find that and incorporate it. I spent a lot of time last year looking for grade-level nonfiction that related to what I was teaching.
I felt really abandoned as a classroom teacher by not having a teacher's edition geared toward CC/CCRS. I really wasn't even sure that the lessons I designed met the standards. I reached out and was chastised for not attending free workshops during the adoption year (even though we were told we weren't adopting) to get free teacher's editions.
So I decided to spend pretty much ALL of my supply money ($150) to buy the current teacher's edition of the previously adopted text. That means all other supplies would be on me for the year. Unfortunately, the cost was $10 more than I had in supply money. I contacted the publisher's rep to see if I could pay the extra $10 myself (split payment because I cannot donate $10 to myself), and she offered me the book for free. It has really helped clarify things for me.
For teachers always using these standards or using them for a while, I am sure it is not as hard as it is for teachers who have just encountered them for the first time and without any support.
We are still teaching to the test, though. We just call it teaching to the standards. Our kids get tested three times a year . . . beginning, middle, and end. My students are the exception since they are seniors and out of here at the end. We also have end of course tests and the ACT for all juniors.
Don't kid yourself. In most states, there is still a whole of testing going on.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2014 6:17:31 GMT -5
Susana, is your testing subject specific? PA is switching to subject specific for high school. Ie you take Algebra 1, you test Algebra 1... I prefer this type of testing...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2014 7:15:35 GMT -5
Testing in English is subject specific, but not necessary course specific. They are testing for the acquisition of skills more than anything else. So it doesn't test for knowledge of, say, British literature. The test cares that you can read difficult texts, not which difficult texts you read. Really, the AP English literature test has always been like that. You can substitute any work of comparable quality for the works they suggest in the writing prompt.
Mathematics may be more course specific. I don't know that part of the curriculum at all.
The other test is the ACT. That's a good example of being subject specific but not tied to a particular course. It tests what you learn throughout high school, not what you have learned by the time you take it for the first time.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jul 9, 2014 7:55:13 GMT -5
Did the OP get deleted? This thread is weird.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2014 8:13:35 GMT -5
Thyme, the op is actually a few posts in,.. Posts from another thread were moved here and time wise placed earlier than the op.
Susanna, yes the 'English' test is actually a literature test I think, and is skill based. Right now we are working on requiring Algebra1, Lit and Biology for graduation. With others coming on line later...
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The Captain
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Post by The Captain on Jul 9, 2014 8:17:49 GMT -5
Did the OP get deleted? This thread is weird. Thyme - the topic of common core was brough up in another thread and it was suggest the posts would get better discussion in a new thread. @wrongsideof30 agreed that made sense (she was the poster who brough up common core) and a new thread was started and key posts were moved. I think it started in the "A teachers hours" thread.
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Jul 9, 2014 8:19:24 GMT -5
Thanks for the explanation. I wondered too but just assumed that after starting the topic, wrongside bailed on it and then came back (sorry wrongside, I often look before I leap but clearly not here...)
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GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl
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Post by GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl on Jul 10, 2014 9:08:18 GMT -5
I am the absent, disinterested parent in this discussion. My kids are at the tail end of high school, so I haven't followed the CC issue at all. So excuse the dumb question: will CC testing (PARCC is one of them, correct?) replace NCLB testing? Is CC just the long-discussed move to standardize NCLB nationally?
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GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl
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Post by GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl on Jul 10, 2014 10:00:06 GMT -5
I'm not paranoid but I do have a skeptical nature, ESPECIALLY when it involves my children. I like to ask a lot of questions and trying to get accurate information about common core has been difficult. I guess we will find out pretty soon whether or not it's a success. OMG!!! We are the SAME person, LOL!! Just tell me why you honestly need all of this info about my kid. Just be honest with me. Seems like a simple enough request but, man, you would think I was asking for the code to the detonator on the biggest nuclear bomb we have. @@. Seems to me they might generate much-needed parental support if they were simply open and honest with us. Instead, my cyniscm generates all kinds of nefarious scenarios in my mother bear brain. Oh well, THAT's on THEM. My kids are out of school in 2 years. I wish the rest of you well.
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