Archives for category: Common Core
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NY PTA: Parents Outraged by CCSS, But…

By dianeravitch
February 7, 2014 //
29

A reader directed our attention to this curious phenomenon. The Néw York PTA conducted a survey showing that parents in the state are outraged by the botched implementation of the Common Core, yet the NYPTA remains strongly committed to CCSS.

The militant dedication of CCSS enthusiasts says something interesting: in the absence of any concrete evidence for the success of this initiative, why are their hopes so high? Why do they share the same talking points? why are they so certain that CCSS will be successful at making every child college-and-career-ready, in what are their hopes and boundless enthusiasm founded? Could it be Gates funding? Or could it be the triumph of marketing over critical thinking? Of hope over experience?

Says the reader:

“New York PTA gave a survey with results definitively anti-CCSS. But their conclusions are from another world. They still strongly support CCSS.”

Click to access Report_CCLS_Survey_Jan_2014.pdf

The National PTA has received at least $2.5 million from the Gates foundation, some of it specifically designated for promoting CCSS. In this statement, National PTA explained its position with this convoluted logic.

 National PTA has not received funding from any association to advocate for the Common Core State Standards.
 National PTA applied for and has received grants from several associations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and GE, to help fund its efforts to educate and support parents and educators across the country as the Common Core State Standards are implemented in classrooms.
 National PTA is committed to ensuring that parents and educators are knowledgeable about the standards and new assessments and also is committed to supporting them every step of way as states transition to the standards.

Now, there is clear and consistent reasoning!

BUT: Most PTAs do not get Gates funding to promote Common Core. Most PTAs are authentic parent voices.

If you want to save our schools, work with parents, work with your local PTAs.

The road to success depends on collaboration! Teamwork! All hands on deck to stop privatization!

Categories Common Core, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates

Why Mandatory Online Testing?

By dianeravitch
February 4, 2014 //
98

From a reader:

“FYI. Tennessee computers across entire state crashed on second day of writing test. Attached is letter from admin of White Station High School in Memphis. Thought you’d be interested:

White Station High School
February 4, 2014

Dear Parents,

We started our state writing assessments yesterday. Everything flowed smoothly. Today the online portal crashed statewide. As a result, today’s testing had to be stopped and no juniors scheduled for testing today were able to complete testing. We have been told there can be no testing done tomorrow either. We hope to resume testing on Thursday. Students who were originally supposed to test today will test Monday, February 10, 2014 and students who were supposed to test tomorrow will test Tuesday, February 11, 2014. We will keep you posted related to any other possible changes.

Thanks so much for your patience with us. We planned this one down to the smallest detail and then technology failed us. It is frustrating but we will regroup and make it work. Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Carrye Holland
White Station High School”

Categories Common Core, Technology, Computers, Testing

New York: Legislative Leaders Call for Two-Year Delay of Testing

By dianeravitch
February 4, 2014 //
29

Legislative leaders in the Assembly and Senate in Néw York called on the Board of Regents to delay implementation of Common Core testing for at least two years.

In addition,

“At the same time, the Senate backs a one-yuear moratorium on the proposal to share student data through the controversial third-party vendor inBloom.

“In addition, students, parents, teachers, privacy experts and school administrators have raised serious concerns about the ability of unauthorized third-parties to access personally identifiable information (PII) of students, teachers and principals that will be collected on the state-wide Education Data Portal (EDP). Therefore, we reiterate our call for the Regents to delay operation of the Education Data Portal for at least one year.”

This proposed delay is a sharp rebuke to Commissioner King and Regents Chancellor Tisch, who have shown no willingness to bend to the criticism of parents and educators.

Categories Common Core, Data and Data Mining, New York, Privacy and Privacy Rights

The All-New Online Common Core PARCC Tests: Not So New After All

By dianeravitch
February 4, 2014 //
115

An early version of the PARCC common Core tests have been released, and bloggers are underwhelmed.

Chris Cerone thinks they look more or less like the same old standardized tests, but way more expensive.

Blogger Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters wrote:

“They just released computer based sample PARCC items.

http://www.parcconline.org/computer-based-samples

Go directly to the test items in grades 3-5, grades 6-8 and high school.

Last night I looked at the sample HS ELA questions and got such a headache! I couldn’t answer the second question, glanced at others, and then quit.

It was based upon a very difficult poem.”

At the end of the day, how many billions of dollars will be spent for new computers, new bandwidth, and professional development? How many arts programs will be eliminated, how many social workers, guidance counselors, and librarians laid off?

And will we wonder if this vast new expenditure was worth it?

Categories Common Core, Technology, Computers, Testing

Peter Greene: Common Core and Planned Obsolescence!

By dianeravitch
February 4, 2014 //
47

Peter Greene, a teacher in Pennsylvania, sees the incredible marketing opportunities associated with Common Core. And he worries that the marketing department has missed some even more spectacular opportunities to sell CC-aligned products:

True– “CCSS” has been stamped every printed object that a school might potentially buy. Every book and worksheet now touts its CCSS-ness. Heck, there are elementary level bulletin board decorations out there that are CCSS ready.

But I think the Architects of the Reformatorium have missed some opportunities. Why not the Official Soft Drink of CCSS? Why not a CCSS clothing line– polo shirts will probably sell well, but I see a natural market for CCSS straightjackets as well. When can I expect to see a Happy Meal with CCSS action figures inside? I can think of many fun things to do with a little plastic David Coleman action figure. Many, many fun things.

Think of the licensing opportunities. Plush Arne Duncan dolls. CCSS board games– as your piece moves around the board you must stop every other square to take a test, then at the end, each piece is repeatedly weighed to see which has added the most value while going around the board. A CCSS blimp [insert your own hot air joke here]. So many missed opportunities.

But wait! What if there is an update? What if Arne announces CCSS 2.0?

Well, then, “school districts across the country (well, public ones, anyway) will need to upgrade their software, books, materials, programs-in-a-box, training programs, etc etc etc ka-ching ka-ching ka-ching.

“When it comes to marketing and money streams, tie-ins, licensing, and spin-offs are great. But nothing beats planned obsolescence.

 

Categories Common Core, Humor

Good News: Los Angeles Gets Price Cut from Apple, with No Curriculum

By dianeravitch
February 2, 2014 //
52

Los Angeles, which was teaching the nation what not to do with technology, is getting a new deal from Apple for its iPads.

Apple will cut the price.

Apple will sell L.A. new iPads instead of obsolete models.

The iPads will not be loaded with pre-set Pearson curriculum.

Howard Blume of the LA Times writes:

“The Los Angeles Unified School District will pay substantially less for thousands of iPads under the latest deal with Apple. The cost of the tablets that will be used on new state tests will be about $200 less per device, although the computers won’t include curriculum.
The revised price will be $504, compared to $699 for the iPads with curriculum. With taxes and other fees, the full cost of the more fully equipped devices rises to $768.

“The iPads are part of a $1-billion effort to provide a computer to every student, teacher and administrator in the nation’s second-largest school system. In response to concerns and problems, officials have slowed down the districtwide rollout, which began at 47 schools in the fall.

“L.A. Unified has also been under pressure to contain costs; it recently became clear that the district is paying more for devices than most other school systems. The higher price results mainly from L.A. Unified’s decision to purchase relatively costly devices and to include curriculum.

“District officials recently restarted negotiations with Apple and achieved two concessions. The first is that Apple would provide the latest iPad, rather than a discontinued model for which L.A. Unified was paying top dollar. The second is that Apple agreed to consider a lower price on machines for which curriculum was not necessary.”

The reason that L.A. is spending $1 billion on iPads is for Common Core testing. This raises the question as to how much Common Core testing will cost the nation. If Los Angeles alone–with about 670,000 students–will spend $1 billion, how many billions will the nation spend? $80 billion? How often will the tablets and iPads need to be replaced? What will be cut to pay for them? Does this vast new outlay explain the energetic support of the tech industry for Common Core?

Categories Common Core, Los Angeles, Technology, Computers

States Finding New Names to Rebrand Common Core

By dianeravitch
January 31, 2014 //
105

Lyndsey Layton at the Washington Post reports that the name “Common Core” has become so toxic in some states that officials are calling it something else. This is known as old wine in new bottles.

She writes:

“Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) used an executive order to strip the name “Common Core” from the state’s new math and reading standards for public schools. In the Hawkeye State, the same standards are now called “The Iowa Core.” And in Florida, lawmakers want to delete “Common Core” from official documents and replace it with the cheerier-sounding “Next Generation Sunshine State Standards.”

In the face of growing opposition to the Common Core State Standards — a set of K-12 educational guidelines adopted by most of the country — officials in a handful of states are worried that the brand is already tainted. They’re keeping the standards but slapping on fresh names they hope will have greater public appeal.

At a recent meeting of the Council of Chief State School Officers, one of the organizations that helped create the standards, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) urged state education leaders to ditch the “Common Core” name, noting that it had become “toxic.”

“Rebrand it, refocus it, but don’t retreat,” said Huckabee, now the host of a Fox News talk show and a supporter of the standards.”

This report stands in sharp contrast to the post by Vicki Phillips of the Gates Foundation on Andrew Rotherham’s blog “Eduwonk,” which claimed that the Common Core has great “momentum” and is unstoppable. Rotherham noted that his organization has received funding from Gates to promote Common Core.

There is a distinct smell of failure in the air.

Categories Common Core, Resistance

Maryland Superintendents Protest Rushed Implementation of “Reforms”

By dianeravitch
January 31, 2014 //
17

Valerie Strauss reports that almost all the superintendents in the state of Maryland signed a letter protesting the rushed timetable for Arne Duncan’s favorite reforms.

She writes:

“Nearly all of the superintendents of Maryland school districts have signed a statement that criticizes federal and state education officials for forcing them to implement several major reforms, including the Common Core State Standards, on what they say is an unrealistic timetable.

“The document, approved by 22 of Maryland’s 24 superintendents from districts educating more than 800,000 students, asks for more time and resources to put the reforms in place, including the use of new Common Core tests expected in the 2014-2015 school year. The statement (which you can read here) represents the first time that such a high percentage of schools chiefs in Maryland have come together to publicly call out education officials over school reform.

“Parents, elected officials, community leaders and pundits are reacting sometimes with alarm as local school systems throughout the state deal with the challenges of implementing the many components of education reform,” says the document, obtained by The Washington Post. Carl Roberts, executive director of the Public School Superintendents Association of Maryland and a former superintendent, organized the joint statement but would not identify the two superintendents who did not sign on.

“Though affirming that they wholeheartedly support the Common Core standards as “a more rigorous path through pre-kindergarten to grade twelve for all students,” the superintendents wrote that there are serious problems with the introduction of the reforms. They specifically cited the fact that Maryland plans to continue using an outdated test — the Maryland School Assessments — while the state has shifted to a new curriculum that isn’t aligned with the old test. They also said it is inappropriate for new test-based teacher evaluations and accountability measures to roll out before the reforms have been fully put in place.”

It bears noting that Duncan’s faith in evaluating teachers by test scores has not worked anywhere it has been tried. In New York, for example, tens of millions of dollars (perhaps more) were spent to determine that 1% of teachers were “ineffective,” and that 1% might have been misidentified. The Common Core standards have not yet been validated for any purpose, except on paper. Some 500 early childhood experts have declared them to be inappropriate for the early grades.

The federal government apparently wants everyone to jump into the deep end of the pool, whether they can swim or not, and without looking to see if the pool has any water in it.

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Common Core, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

Connecticut Teacher: Why I Want to Quit Teaching: UPDATE

By dianeravitch
January 31, 2014 //
68

[Note to readers: I abridged this article to comply with copyright limits. Please open the link and read the article in full at the Hartford Courant, which had the good sense to publish it.]

Thanks to the punitive actions and policies of the U.S. Department of Education and the states, there is a new genre of writing by teachers, explaining why they are quitting. The most famous was written by Kris Neilsen of North Carolina, whose letter of resignation went viral, was viewed by hundreds of thousands of people, and went around the world.

This column was written by Elizabeth Natale, a middle-school teacher in Connecticut. This state has one of the best public school systems in the United States, yet its governor and state commissioner continually bash teachers and public schools, while lauding charters and showering them with extra money. The leaders are certain that public schools and teachers are failing and need tough measures to shake them up. In time, what the leaders are doing will be revealed as a mighty hoax whose goal is to increase market share for charters.

Natale writes:

“Surrounded by piles of student work to grade, lessons to plan and laundry to do, I have but one hope for the new year: that the Common Core State Standards, their related Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium testing and the new teacher evaluation program will become extinct.

I have been a middle school English teacher for 15 years. I entered teaching after 19 years as a newspaper reporter and college public relations professional….

Although the tasks ahead of me are no different from those of the last 14 years, today is different. Today, I am considering ending my teaching career.

When I started teaching, I learned that dealing with demanding college presidents and cantankerous newspaper editors was nothing. While those jobs allowed me time to drink tea and read the newspaper, teaching deprived me of an opportunity to use the restroom. And when I did, I was often the Pied Piper, followed by children intent on speaking with me through the bathroom door.

I loved it!

Unfortunately, government attempts to improve education are stripping the joy out of teaching and doing nothing to help children….

The Smarter Balance program assumes my students are comfortable taking tests on a computer, even if they do not own one…

I am a professional. My mission is to help students progress academically, but there is much more to my job than ensuring students can answer multiple-choice questions on a computer. Unlike my engineer husband who runs tests to rate the functionality of instruments, I cannot assess students by plugging them into a computer….

My most important contributions to students are not addressed by the Common Core, Smarter Balance and teacher evaluations. I come in early, work through lunch and stay late to help children who ask for assistance but clearly crave the attention of a caring adult…

Teaching is the most difficult — but most rewarding — work I have ever done. It is, however, art, not science. A student’s learning will never be measured by any test, and I do not believe the current trend in education will lead to adults better prepared for the workforce, or to better citizens. For the sake of students, our legislators must reach this same conclusion before good teachers give up the profession — and the children — they love.”

Categories Common Core, Connecticut, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

Gates Foundation Cheers the Growing “Momentum” of Common Core

By dianeravitch
January 31, 2014 //
69

The Gates Foundation has spent $200 million or so to pay for the Common Core standards. Gates paid for everything because the U.S. Department of Education is prohibited by law from doing anything that might control, direct,or supervise curriculum or instruction. Of course, this did not stop Arne Duncan from shelling out $350 million to pay for new online tests of the Common Core. The tests will certainly influence, direct, and control curriculum and instruction, which is expressly forbidden. But why quibble over the law?

As you read on, recall that Gates paid for everything: the writing, development, evaluation, implementation, and promotion of the Common Core. There are very few education advocacy groups that have not received millions from Gates.

Now Vicki Phillips, who directs the education program at Gates, has written an article to remind us–in case the PR machine is offline–why we desperately need Common Core, why teachers and other educators are warmly embracing it, and how wildly popular it is. She admits that she is baffled by people who call on states and districts to slow down, stop or reverse this wonderful progress. Maybe that refers to Randi Weingarten and the teachers of New York.

One thing is clear, if inadvertently. The standards and the testing are portrayed as integral to states’ ability to evaluate teachers by test scores. All the pieces fit together. You are not supposed to have just the standards, you must have the whole package. That is the Gates Foundation’s vision.

Phillips is obviously unsettled by the controversies erupting in state after state, from left and right, about the standards and the tests. But she does not mention of the public hearings in New York, where thousands of parents berated the Common Core. The foundation seems to be in denial about the pushback against its prize program, the linchpin of wholesale change.

Common Core, she assures us, will get all students ready for college. But how does she know that? What if Common Core creates the results nationally that it did in New York, where only 3% of English learners passed? Where only 5% of students with disabilities passed? Where more than 80% of African American and Hispanic students failed? What if most students can’t clear the bar that the Gates Foundation raised so high? What will our society do with the many students who give up or fail? Will the Gates Foundation tell us what to do to help them? And when everyone goes to college, will the college diploma be devalued? Will there be jobs for them, or will they be truck drivers and retail clerks with a diploma and a load of college debt?

Just wondering.

Categories Common Core
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