The Hechinger Report reviews what has happened in Kentucky, the first state to adopt the Common Core standards.
In the first year, test scores plummeted. They have started to inch up, but the achievement gap between white and black students has grown larger.
“Kentucky stepped into the national spotlight in 2010 when it became the first state to adopt the standards after the Obama administration offered federal money to help pay the costs. (Over 40 other states and the District of Columbia eventually adopted the Common Core.) On Kentucky’s previous state tests, tied to its old standards, over 70 percent of elementary school students scored at a level of “proficiency” or better in both reading and math. Once the state introduced the Common Core-aligned tests in the spring of 2012, that percentage dropped 28 points in reading (to 48 percent) and 33 points in math (to 40 percent), according to the Kentucky Department of Education. Middle and high school students’ scores also dropped.
“Of course, we knew that the tougher standards had to be followed up with extra attention to students who were behind,” said Sonja Brookins Santelises, vice president of K-12 policy at the Education Trust.
“Scores have been edging up ever since. By spring 2015, 54 percent of Kentucky elementary school students were proficient in the English language arts and 49 percent were proficient in math.
“Despite that improvement, within those numbers are hidden divisions that have existed for decades. Breaking the scores down shows that African-American students fare much worse than their white peers.
“In spring 2015, in the elementary grades, 33 percent of black students were proficient in reading, versus 58 percent of white students; in math, the breakdown was 31 percent to 52 percent, according to Kentucky Department of Education figures.
“And those gaps, in many cases, have widened, according to an analysis of state testing data by The Hechinger Report and the Courier-Journal.”
Education Trust, which has received many millions from the Gates Foundation, is one of the strongest supporters of the Common Core standards, which were funded by Gates. Since Education Trust has long been the leading exponent of the view that raising standards and making tests more rigorous would close the achievement gap, the situation in Kentucky is a bit awkward for them.
There is still no evidence, despite the billions spent on Common Core, that it raises achievement or closes gaps between races. Common sense would suggest that making tests harder would cause the kids who are already scoring low to score even lower. A student who can’t clear a four-foot bar is going to be in big trouble if you raise the bar to six feet.
But Common Core was never related to common sense. It was about a theory, which decreed that all students would one day be college-and-career-ready if school work was more rigorous. And this far, the theory is failing.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I am not surprised. Recently one of my seventh graders –a child of farm workers — stumbled over the expression “lack of water”. What does that mean, I asked? “A lot of water?” he said. There were context clues, like “arid”, but he didn’t know what that meant either. What this kid needs is a much bigger vocabulary, Professionals’ kids get this, early on, from lots of exposure to adult show and tell about the world. This is the secret to professionals’ kids success: their parents are constantly telling them things. (the Hart-Risley study found that a professional’s four year old has heard 35 million more words than a kid from a welfare home). Once kids acquire a critical mass of world and word knowledge, they can plunge into the world of independent reading where they can further build their general knowledge base which will, in turn, make them better readers. But many of our kids lack the critical mass of “starter” knowledge that allows them to read independently. Common Core does nothing to build this “starter kit” or world knowledge. Instead it’s premised on the false idea that practice and training in metacognitive reading strategies makes good readers. It’s all ornery reading exercises; little didactic instruction about the world and the words that describe it. In fact I’ve heard on more than one occassion the essence of Common Core summed up as “Less lecturing”. In Kentucky we’re seeing the fruits of this “workouts” approach to reading instruction. All around America we have kids staring incomprehendingly at texts and we’re failing to give them the tool they need to unlock the meaning: broad general knowledge.
your story reminds me of when I was taking a course in assessment years ago. Our assignment was to give the IQ (I for get the name) test. I was testing a very bright young lady from a very well off family. As we moved along, one of the questions was, “what is a candelabra”. She knew the answer, but I always wondered how many kids from the Liberty City area of Miami would have a clue.
That one question changed my whole perspective on standard tests.
A native Spanish speaker may be able to understand candelabra from a cognate in Spanish. If the child does not know the word in L1, he will be lost. I had a similar problem with ELLs taking a science test, which they were allowed to take in their native language. Not only does this format assume the student can read fluently in his native language, he would also have to have a sophisticated, scientific vocabulary to understand the questions. Background knowledge and language associated with that knowledge are so important.
Trump will put an end to that, I suspect. English only in the USA.
And that is exactly why children are sent to school. In order to expand their vocabulary and their horizons because not all families theoretically have the ability and vast knowledge historically to expand their child’s knowledge.
It is your mission as the credentialed, licensed, educational professionals to impart such expanded knowledge to the students in your classrooms; starting with a solid foundation in the skills they need to learn how to read, write and do math problems;
especially those foundational skills one needs knowledge of in every day life – such as how to make change, calculate sales tax or read well enough to comprehend the information regarding what the precautions are for the materials one maybe exposed to in their daily employment or how to figure out how much over the counter medicine to give to themself and more importantly their small children.
I have seen young adults unintentionally almost overdose their children with over the counter meds ( and I hate to imagine what could happen if they were something more extreme in side effects if miscalculated dosages were given.)
School begins in the womb.
Maybe we need a standardized test there, too. I wouldn’t pure it past the Reformers.
What a hoot. Probably so. “Amniotic Testing Service” a division of Pearson. Maybe they’ll be able to do IQ testing on the fetus early enough for mothers to abort the dumb ones.
I am sorry. Not every child is going to be ready for college in thec13 years of public schooling. It is absurd.
I was just reading an article about kindergarteners who can’t read by the end of the year. It is ridiculous. And, ot isn’t “shameful” if your child does not read “on time”. Developmentally speaking, a child will learn to read “on time” for him/herself. For one thing, the age spread for students creates the likelihood that they will not all reach the milestones on the same day or week or month. For example, a teacher can’t force a child who can’t hold a pencil correctly to write correctly. And that is ok. It will occur in its own time. Every learning objective can be achieved in its own developmentally appropriate time, if the child has no medical, physical, nutritional, or mental impairment that prevents it from occurring.
Becoming “college ready” is often the result of being mature enough to do the work. And, yes, the so-called rigor that has been put in place will push some students to achieve more in a shorter time. It will serve to make other children guve up and become very depressed, feeling stupid.
I know that there were times in my schooling where it seemed impossible to understand what was being taught because I wasn’t yet ready. I was a very good student, too. Yet, if I was pushed beyond my limits, I would shut down. I’ve seen it time and again with students who hit that wall. We are not helping them by assuming that they can learn immediately simply because they are being taught using the best practices and presented with Common Core materials. If they aren’t ready, they won’t “get it”.
“Not every child is going to be ready for college in thec13 years of public schooling. It is absurd.”
Agreed. And furthermore, what would we do if every kid went to college? We can’t employ all the college graduates we have now.
Easy. We adjust college to meet the needs of kids that want to go. Why isn’t more vocational training part of “college”?
Deb.
A “solution” to college/career readiness has been crafted by Gene Wilhoit who was the head honcho of education in Kentucky before leaving that job to head up the Council of Chief State School Officers. His first major achievement there was to join with David Coleman of Student Achievement Partners in getting Bill Gates to fund the fledging Common Core initiative (morphed from the American Diploma Project).
In 2013, Wilhoit retired from the CCSSO, became CEO of Student Achievement Partners, then landed back in Kentucky, at the University of Kentucky where he directs National Center for Innovation in Education (CIE), founded with grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Flora Hewlett Foundation.
The CIE is a promotion and support center for the “states as they implement Common Core State Standards.” It is also deeply engaged in promoting tech-based solutions to college and career readiness by supporting the “leaders of the Innovation Lab Network so that they are more rapidly and effectively translating local innovations into policy.”
The Innovation Lab Network is an alliance of 12 states, operating under the auspices of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) where Wilhoit still has credibility as a mover and shaker. The aim of the network is to get state education agencies to invest more resources in “college readiness” via “personalized and performance-based learning, anytime/anywhere—no need for real live teachers, just an internet connection…and students/districts enlisted as guinea pigs.
Wilhoit is also an advisor for the scale up of TeachingWorks at the University of Michigan, a Gates-funded initiative to reduce teacher prep to essential skills free of theory, just practical know-learned from extensive practice in a virtual classroom with a small class of avatars.
Recall that the Common Core initiative included a lot of talk about “college and career readiness” but that was largely a rhetorical move, no strong evidence.
So, with the aid of grants from the Gates Foundation and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation that general idea is undergoing reconstruction but is now attached to the idea that so-called personalized and performance-based learning, anytime/anywhere can help kids manage transitions.
The intellectual leadership for this work is provided by Wilhoit and some the key people associated with the launch and marketing of the Common Core.
The not very pleasant surprise is to see that Linda Darling-Hammond has teamed up with Wilhoit and one of his colleagues at CIE to map the territory. Report: Darling-Hammond, L., Wilhoit, G., & Pittenger, L. (2014). Accountability for college and career readiness: Developing a new paradigm. https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/accountability-college-and-career-readiness-developing-new-paradigm.pdf
This widely cited paper includes a horrendous “accountability” dashboard on page 39.
Short answer: The Common Core as not served Kentucky well but is not dead in the water yet, as many believe it should be. And that failed initiative is perpetuated in promotions of college and career readiness.
Deb,
So when the students reach high school and are still reading at a level or more behind grade level where they should be because the instruction offered to them has been deficient an, and the schools are not offering effective remedial instruction, how much longer are they to hold out for it???? If you as the teacher do nothing to catch them up when they are not cognitively challenged and should be able to learn the skills based upon an average or gifted IQ? My foster son was one of those children. His deficits were repeatedly ignored by multiple schools and teachers because of his demographics that so many of you blame as the reason you can’t be wxpcted to help them! Yet when the bar was raised and he began to get the PROPER INSTRUCTION he has improved academically beyond anyone’s expectations of being possible. And the only thing that changed was the instruction. Because even if we had also ignored his educational struggles like everyone else apparently chose to do, this progress and potential would never have been realized me alone become his reality.
So please don’t continue to blame the children for their learning struggles as we personally have experienced oberwise and we are not alone as I can introduce you to bio-families who are considers professionals that have experienced similar situations with the current public education system that they are having to battle with in hopes of getting the proper instruction provided in the schools throughout NYS and the nation.
I have even met elementary school teachers who were unable to help educate their own bio-children lean to read and write because they were not provided with the proper methodologies as part of their college curriculum through Master degrees and beyond, nor did they bother to learn how to teach their child and then share that knowledge and pass it forward. Instead they had their child tutored in the OG method but never chose to learn it themselves even after seeing its effectiveness with their own child. It’s beyond professional neglectful at that point and becomes malpractice imho.
BILLIONAIRE Deformsters truly could care less.
$$M spent, $$$M made by all, DATA sold, PEARSON MADE $$M, publishers thrilled…oh, children, learning, achievement gap, educated, abuse of teachers and students?
That is so RTTT ago!
BILLIONAIRES are happy & happiness may trickle down to our undereducated, stressed out and humiliated children.
May the last RealTeachers turn off the lights in our starved and shuttered public schools. Charters galore – excluding low performing children.
Where to go?
What’s next for BILLIONAIRES? Next $$B!
Trust me, they are brainstorming as we lick our wounds.
Recently my little grandson became very ill. The doctor said “It looks like viral meningitis” and we all freaked out. Once in the hospital, tests showed that he an infection of the lymph nodes. Once the correct diagnosis was made, he was given the right antibiotics and was completely well in a few days.
In education we are aware of the symptoms (achievement gap) but fight blindly (Common Core, teacher evaluations, charter schools, tests etc.) with strategies that are not proven to correct the problem. It is no surprise to any experienced teacher that Common Core would not help any low performing child. Why would it?
We DO know many of the causes for low academic performance: problems in gestation, low birth weight, untreated illnesses, lack of stimulation in first years of life, inappropriate instruction, etc. etc.. If we truly want to see improvement in the achievement gap, we MUST address the causes.
Take just one variable: visiting new places. We know that the high-achieving child often has many opportunities visiting other states as well as many interesting places near home (libraries, beaches, museums, theater, etc.). If we cared enough to equip all classrooms with good technology, we could offer our students daily virtual trips to the oceans, to the great museums of the world and to countries all over the world. If I’m not mistaken, the top private and suburban schools already do this..
There is good news in the air. People are beginning to see that nonsense such as Common Core is not going to make much of a difference in anyone’s education, least of all the children of poverty. Instead, more and more people are saying “The effects of poverty hurt the educational outcomes for children.” Once we accept the causes of the achievement gap, and choose strategies that address them directly, we’ll begin to see some real progress. Until then we are just wasting our money (again).
Linda,
“In education we are aware of the symptoms (achievement gap)”
Please define “achievement gap”. TIA, Duane
I accept the commonly used definition of achievement gap, that is, children of privilege usually score higher on almost every measurement of scholastic achievement (standardized tests, teacher tests, teacher informal assessment, SAT etc.) than children of poverty. What does it mean to you?
I agree, Duane, that we need a new phrase. In the Orwellian world of the reformistas, talk about achievement can only mean test scores. I think we are all on the same page on this but I think the phrase “opportunity gap” is pretty lame too. Thoughts?
“Of course, we knew that the tougher standards had to be followed up with extra attention to students who were behind,” said Sonja Brookins Santelises, vice president of K-12 policy at the Education Trust.”
Where’s the evidence they “knew” that? Has anyone in ed reform offered any additional support to public schools to help with students who are behind?
I haven’t heard a word from ed reformers in this state about the new standards other than obsessing over the tests or the test scores.
The Hechinger Report also reported on one school in Kentucky (Field Elem) that is closing the gap between students with disabilities and general education students with “highly individualized instruction”. I was fascinated to read that this had been accomplished in a class with SIX students, a teacher, and 2 teacher aides. They talk about using data to analyze the students’ progress on learning objectives, etc., but the fact is that it’s not that hard a task to identify the issues students have in a room with a 1:2 ratio. The rest of the article describes things that are not out of the ordinary, but are being to made to sound extraordinary.
The secret is out!
“1:2 ratio”—who knew?
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As per the POV of Education Trust [from the posting]: “raising standards and making tests more rigorous would close the achievement gap.”
Those in favor of self-styled “education reform” often come very close to saying that the tests are themselves an important (if not most important) part of the learning process so that making mandated tests harder inevitably means students are learning more.
It’s a fool errand. The tests are designed to produce a score spread. As long as the clients—those who rent or purchase the standardized tests—want (ignore their words) achievement gaps, those who design, pre-test, produce and deliver them will deliver (within narrow margins of error) what their customers want.
A variation on that old rheephorm mantra: “if you’re going to teach to the test, make sure it’s a test worth teaching to.”
Rigged, a scam, call it what you will: it’s a polite way of saying that public education and all those in it get sucker punched.
What is CCSS and its aligned test-to-punish regimen really, not rheeally, about? From a charter member of the rheephorm establishment, Dr. Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute:
[start]
If the standards are better than those that many states had in place, swell. If more common reading and math standards make things easier for material developers and kids who move across states, that’s fine. But I don’t think that stuff amounts to all that much.
n truth, the idea that the Common Core might be a “game-changer” has little to do with the Common Core standards themselves, and everything to do with stuff attached to them, especially the adoption of common tests that make it possible to readily compare schools, programs, districts, and states (of course, the announcement that one state after another is opting out of the two testing consortia is hollowing out this promise).
But the Common Core will only make a dramatic difference if those test results are used to evaluate schools or hire, pay, or fire teachers; or if the effort serves to alter teacher preparation, revamp instructional materials, or compel teachers to change what students read and do. And, of course, advocates have made clear that this is exactly what they have in mind. When they refer to the “Common Core,” they don’t just mean the words on paper–what they really have in mind is this whole complex of changes.
[end]
Click on the link for more context and info.
Link: https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/the-american-enterprise-institute-common-core-and-good-cop/
From inside the belly of the …
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Has Common Core affected teacher preparation programs at the teachers’ colleges?
Yes, Gates recently funded five three-year teacher education initiatives designed to “scale up” programs that include the common core and also strip teacher prep down to “essential skills.” One of the grant winners was the misnamed Relay Graduate School of Education, built around Doug Lemov’s no nonsense discipline, beginning in Kindergarten, and perfected practice of 60 plus specific skills. A TachingWorks program at the University of Michigan has a smaller list of skills. Two of the Gates funded programs use virtual classrooms and scripted avatars to train teachers, who also work from scripts at the beginning of their training with this system.
Thank you, Laura. One right close to home. I might just go check it out his summer. I spent many unhappy days in that Ed. School.
John H. Underhill harlanu2@gmail.com
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Laura H. Chapman – Wilhoit’s highly financed Deformsters career is one slippery, slithery, slimy path. Sharknado comes to mind. The overwhelming ever-expanding Deformsters movement will never run out of $$ & Gates’ bottom feeders swarm endlessly, from one job to another. Total takeover is frightening. Nothing will stop them, because it is not about children or education …ALL ABOUT BILLION$!