Archives for category: Common Core
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NAISON: Time for Commissioner King to Resign

By dianeravitch
October 14, 2013 //
21

When John King was booed at his first parent meeting, he got angry. He expected parents to listen to his wisdom, gleaned from his three years in a no-excuses charter school that is known for kicking out non-conforming students.

Most state superintendents understand that they are public servants, meaning they serve the public. John King thinks he was chosen to give orders to schools, teachers, principals, and superintendents. He confuses leading the State Education Department with leading a no-excuses charter school, where he can suspend or expel anyone who doesn’t follow his orders.

But the parents did not get the message. when he sternly lectured them about the glories of the Common Core and Common Core testing, the parents booed and jeered him.

He canceled all future meetings with parents so he can stay in Fortress Albany. There, his employees know how to take orders.

Mark NAISON, co-founder of the BATs, says King should resign. Now. He has made it clear that he doesn’t like children other than his own, and that he knows nothing about education, only testing.

Categories Common Core, New York, Testing

Dr. Joseph Ricciotti: How CCSS Ruins Kindergarten

By dianeravitch
October 13, 2013 //
26

Dear Diane,

As an outgrowth of reading your new book, “Reign of Error” and reading your blog, I have written the op-ed piece below to the Connecticut Post.

Thank you for all you do in your support of public education.

Regards,

Joe Ricciotti

The Developmental Inappropriateness of the CCSS for Kindergarten Children
Ricciotti, Joseph

To:
edit@ctpost.com
To the Editor,

I recently had an opportunity to talk to a kindergarten teacher who taught in an urban school district in Connecticut immersed in implementing the Connecticut Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and was amazed at the changes that have occurred with kindergarten education over the years. As a former elementary school principal, kindergarten was always my favorite grade level as I enjoyed the innocence, naturalness and spontaneity of young kindergarten children and how much they loved school. Most amazingly was how impressively gifted and talented the kindergarten teachers were in accommodating to the intellectual, social, physical and emotional needs of these young children. It was inspiring to see how these kindergarten teachers planned lessons and activities that were intellectually challenging and creative yet very developmentally appropriate and how positively these precious young children responded to the lessons which enabled them to make giant strides and progress in their kindergarten year.

Unfortunately, education reformers such as Connecticut Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor don’t seem to think much about what is developmentally appropriate for kindergarten children in the zealous implementation the Connecticut Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Moreover, Commissioner Pryor and other reformers are thinking of how can we get these kindergarten children into college as their main focus. In the place of developmentally appropriate activities suitable for young children, Pryor and other “education reformers” want these kindergarteners to begin to work on “academic skills” instead of a kindergarten where creative play as well as language and number development use to be some of the central themes of the curriculum for these young children. Sadly, what we are are also experiencing with the Common Core Elementary Standards for these very young children is stress as many of these vulnerable young children are not prepared for this level of education.

In a recent speech given by the noted child psychologist, Dr. Megan Koschnick at the American Principles Project (APP) in Washington, DC, she cited how the CCSS “will cause suffering, not learning, for many, many young children.” Likewise, Dr. Carla Horowitz of the Yale Child Student Center claims ” the Common Core asks small children to behave like little adults and they are not little adults.” Noted child development expert, Dr. David Elkind wrote two books, “The Hurried Child” and “Miseducation” citing how schools have had a downward extension of the curriculum which have impacted children in their early years of schooling with inappropriate and test-driven instruction. He also believes that “miseducation” in the early years ” can leave the child with lifelong emotional disabilities.”

A parent of a kindergarten child in Palm Beach County, Florida shares her daughter’s experience in which she had her first test. According to the parent, each student taking the test in this kindergarten class was separated by a cardboard wall and were given a five page test on numbers. When the parent inquired from the teacher why these kindergarten children required testing, the teacher responded, “they have to be prepared for testing in first grade. ” In New York City, testing of young children has reached the point of absurdity in which many parents of preschool children are known to pay tutors $200 an hour preparing them for an entrance exam in order to enhance their chances of obtaining a place in one of the elite New York City private schools. One wealthy New York City couple even celebrated their daughter’s high test score with a catered bash at their Hampton’s home with the child’s closest preschool friends.

As Diane Ravitch, education historian and research professor of education at New York University, in her new book “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools” points out that “since the advent of No Child Left Behind, many schools have cut back on every subject that was not tested.” Hence, according to Dr.Ravitch, we find that many public schools are cutting back on other subjects such as history, literature, dramatics, art, music and foreign languages at the expense of basic skill subjects which are the ones that are tested. The subjects being eliminated were once the norm in ordinary public schools, as Dr. Ravictch belives that programs such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race To the Top (RTTT) have undermined the ideal curriculm in many public schools, especially in the more impoverished urban schools. The amount of testing for children of all ages in Connecticut schools including the very young in Connecticut will only intensify as Commissioner Pryor implements the Connecticut Common Core State standards which will also, in part, be used for the assessment of Connecticut teachers. Needless to say, the stakes are very high for teachers, students and parents.

Ms. Ann Policelli Cronin, an experienced high school English teacher in Connecticut believes that much of what has been written about the CCSS is “based on a faulty premise about their quality.” She disputes what New York Times editorial writers Charles Blow and Bill Keller have written concerning the importance of the CCSS as Ms. Cronin believes, “the Common Core State Standards will diminish student learning in high school classes and will inhibit good teaching.” When parents and teachers examine who are the staunchest supporters of the CCSS, they will find the likes of Bill Gates, Arne Duncan and Jeb Bush who, in addition to advocating for the implementation of the CCSS in schools across the country, are among the most vociferous leaders of the corporate education reform movement.

If it hasn’t become obvious to Commissioner Pryor, CCSS could become another failed experiment of the education reformers as was the case with NCLB and RTTT, only its victims will be the many young children in public schools exposed to inappropriate developmentally curricula. The recent primary elections for the Board of Education in Bridgeport and for the mayoral race in New York City do not bode well for Commissioner Pryor and for his friends in the corporate reform movement.

One message that is quite clear from these elections is that the general public is starting to realize that more testing will not improve student learning and that the reformers’ obsession with testing has only made the country’s education worst, not better. As David Lee Finkel, a middle school teacher in Florida said, the general public, parents and teachers “want a public education system that isn’t an industrial factory spitting out test takers but want schools that are places for deep thinking, learning, creativity, play, wonder, engagement, hard work and fun.”

The public choice is becoming quite clear as an outgrowth of these recent elections as the high-stakes testing era may now be in its twilight years.

Joseph A. Ricciotti, Ed.D.
Teaching Internship Program Director
Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions
Fairfield University
jricciotti@fairfield.edu
203-254-4000, ext. 2284

Categories Common Core, Connecticut

Anthony Cody Explains Why New York Parents Booed Commissioner John King

By dianeravitch
October 12, 2013 //
51

Few people have been more enthusiastic about the Common Core as StateCommissioner John King.

King brooks no dissent.

When he held the first of his meetings with PTAs in upstate New York, he lectured for over an hour, then encountered a hostile reception from parents.

Why?

Read Anthony Cody’s account and watch the videos.

John King has canceled all other scheduled PTA meetings.

The public is not buying what he is selling.

Here is another video from the same meeting.

Mr. King forgets that parents know more and care more about their children than he does.

Categories Common Core, New York

Parents Boo NY Commissioner John King and Boo the Common Core Too

By dianeravitch
October 12, 2013 //
78

New York Commissioner John King thought it would be a good idea to hold a series of town halls with parent groups around the state.

No doubt he expected to be showered with praise for his leadership in quickly implementing the Common Core.

He was in for a big surprise. He was met with outrage by parents who do not like the Common Core, hate the testing, and despise the State Education Department for imposing it on their children and teachers.

The parents booed and jeered. They ridiculed everything the commissioner said.

Anthony Cody has some of the video here; parents have sent me many more. They all show the same spectacle: the state commissioner as the object of angry parents.

Commissioner King has canceled all future public meetings with parent associations.

Did he learn anything? Will he reconsider the course that the state has embarked upon?

Don’t count on it.

The authoritarian mindset is impervious to change.

Lesson: in a democratic society, there are no shortcuts to the democratic process. This is supposed to be a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Bill Gates and Arne Duncan do not own our minds or our children. They are not for sale. The public will be heard.

Categories Common Core, New York, Parents

Mother: My Son Is Not a Test Score

By dianeravitch
October 9, 2013 //
35

I received an anguished letter from a mother of a child with autism. She here describes–very movingly–her efforts to help him and the efforts of his teachers to help him. And when she reaches the point where he is assessed by New York’s new Common Core tests, she is in a rage. The New York State Education Department says he is a failure. She knows he is not. She knows how hard he has worked to achieve and learn. She knows how hard his teachers have worked on his behalf. My child, she says, is not a test score.

Every parent, teacher, and administrator should read her letter. So should Commissioner John King. And so should the members of the Board of Regents. See your handiwork. See what you have done.

Here is her letter:

Friday, October 04, 2013  

My son is not the ELA or Math score, so why does NYS assess him and his teachers on this? WHY?

Let me start with this- I am not a teacher. I am a true single mom of a child with High Functioning Autism.

 
The Backstory

My son was diagnosed with Autism at 22 months and was lagging greatly in his developmental growth across the board. Right after he was diagnosed he started receiving services at home. Several months later I brought him back to the Developmental Pediatric Doctor and it was clear and recommended he start full time early invention. So he was registered at a school that specialized in educating kids with Autism. And starting at age 3, from 9am – 3pm, 5 days a week for a year and a half, including summers, my son attended Crossroads. It was a 45 minute van/bus ride and bless his little heart, no naps and no free play were allowed. Work. Work. Work. He worked his behind off. He made leaps and bounds. At age 4 1/2, I put him in a mainstreamed preschool that was closer to home and that following September, at age 5, he started Kindergarten in a mainstreamed public classroom. He still received his services daily and at that point his diagnosis was changed to High Functioning Autism. He made it to 1st. He made it to 2nd.

2012-2013 School Year

Last year, in 3rd grade, he took the state exams for the first time, the NEW CCSS exams. His IEP states he is allowed time and half for all tests, including the NYS Exams. That means if a child is permitted 70 minutes, my son gets 105 minutes (70 + 35). When all of this test taking was happening last year, to be honest, he didn’t feel or realize the pressure that many of his friends felt; simply put “he just didn’t get it.” Right now he doesn’t have it in him to see the big picture; I know he will at some point. He believed it was just a test, a test where he sat down and was allowed to chew gum. And back then, only 7 months ago, it was “fine”. He was fine. I was fine. Why was it fine then and not now? Because I wasn’t educated about this and quite honestly there was a more pressing issue going on at his school in regards to the leadership, which has since been resolved. 

 

2013-2014 School Year

Currently he is in 4th grade. These past few weeks I have taken a great interest in the CCSS for NYS and am very concerned about how developmentally inappropriate the curriculum is. It seems that the CCSS program is a level or even levels, above those that are seen as developmentally “normal.” What is MORE concerning is how this CCSS is going to impact MY child, with Autism which is a developmental disability. So much so, that I scheduled an appointment with the school’s Assistant Principal, to discuss NYS testing and refusing them for my son. It doesn’t FEEL right. It isn’t right!  I am not a doctor. I don’t have the stats or a PHD to back me up, so lucky for me, this is not a scientific paper. I am a mom. I am a mom who has been reading about CCSS, looking over sample math problems and ELA reading passages and it scares me, for my son. I have felt hopeless about this for the past few days. My son is smart. He works hard to stay on task and up to speed with his schoolwork and his peers. And he does it! He really does it. Granted, his IEP has accommodations and modifications that allow him the opportunity to do the same work and feel successful alongside his classmates. Granted, he has a Special Ed Teacher that pushes in and works with him daily for Math and ELA. He works with a Speech and Language Therapist that helps him figure out the non-literal language and non-verbal cues. He works with an OT to help him with his handwriting, and all types of visual/spacial planning. And finally he sees the school Psychologist twice a month to help him with peer interaction. He is well liked. He is kind. He is social. He works hard. He is respectful. And he just needs a little help along with way.  What comes naturally to many others, it tough work for my son. There is no secret about it. I talk openly about this. It is what it is. There is no shame. We are ALL different in our own unique ways. 

Today 10/04/13

I received the NYS ELA and Math scores and even knowing everything I know about my son, I cried (the running joke is I always cry when it comes to him, and I do.) I cried because printed out before me on two sheets of double sided paper, was, at that point, MY son, who NYSED broke down into 5 categories.  

For the ELA:

·         Reading

·         Writing

 
For Math:

·         Operations and Algebraic Thinking

·         Numbers and operations– Fractions

·         Measurement and Data

I was kindly provided with the points my child earned in one column. Directly next to that column was a column labeled “number of possible points” and next to that one, the “state average.” As you can imagine, having a developmental disability, his “earned” points were low, well below the “number of possible points” and below the average.

According to NYS my son “performing at this level are well below proficient in standards for their grade. They demonstrate limited knowledge, skills, and practices embodied by the New York State P-12 Common Core Learning Standards for Mathematics that are considered insufficient for the expectations at this grade.”

 

The Aftermath

I let the fury get the best of me. Like I said, my eyes welled up with tears out of anger and frustration. You diminished my child to these 5 categories and to simplify the wording you chose, deemed him “too stupid to be in the grade level he currently is in.” Screw you CCSS and all the people that came up with this crap program. Screw you for its horrible implementation. Screw you for not considering the kids who are not on the right side of the bell curve. Screw you for not thinking about the kids who are developmentally delayed. Screw you for not thinking about the kids that aren’t developmentally delayed, but just don’t test so well. Screw you for putting pressures on the teachers. Screw you for allowing the kids to feel this pressure; it is bound to impact them. Screw you for allowing this chaos to spill over into homes and mess with our emotions, both child and parent. Screw you for APPR and evaluating my sons General Education teacher AND Special Education teacher on his test scores. Screw you for creating a problem in which our kids are the ragdolls and in which big businesses will be allowed to profit. I’m not a conspiracy theorist; I just call it like I see it. I am done with this. I’m not political. I’m for the kids, I am for the teachers and most importantly I am for my son.

I am still learning about CCSS and I don’t claim to know it all, as some do, but what I do know is this, he is not his score and neither are his teachers! I don’t care what he received on these tests, I never did and I told him the same. What I do care about and what I would hope you would too is what you can’t measure on these tests. The light in his eyes when he finally tackles a problem, be it Math or ELA, which he has been struggling to get and because of the help of his teachers he succeeds. The heart his Special Ed teacher has given to him for the past 2 years and what is now their 3rd year together. The hard work my son demonstrates at the dining room table, studying spelling. The joy we ALL feel because he has stood up for someone who was being bullied, thanks to the peer interaction help by the School Psychologist. The time when he conquered his fear of heights, outside of school on a Saturday, using tools he learned in school, from whom? Yes, from his teachers! I realize carrying the diagnosis of Autism is not the norm for most; however were children, like my son, in mind when CCSS was implemented? Because is sure doesn’t seem like it. 

I will say this one more time. My son, Liam, is not, your NYSED test score. He is a 9 year old boy, who works hard in all aspects of school, in the classroom and with his therapists. He receives tremendous support and kindness and life lessons from his teachers and therapists. He will be successful because of them, not because of this test. How do you evaluate that? That is my million dollar question.

Categories Common Core, New York, Special Education, Testing

Common Core Tests in NY Spur Opt Out Movement

By dianeravitch
October 7, 2013 //
62

The most amazing thing is happening. The Common Core tests were made so “rigorous” that most students were expected to fail, and they did. Less than a third across the state “passed” the tests because the passing mark was set very high and the content of the test was so challenging that many students couldn’t finish the test.

But parents didn’t get angry at their children’s school or their children’s teachers. They got angry at the New York State Education Department, which set the cut scores or passing marks. They got angry at Pearson, which constructed the tests.

And as a result, the opt out movement is growing by leaps and bounds. Parents are outraged, especially in the suburbs, where the local schools are an integral part of the community. Suburban parents know that their children are not “failures,” and they reject the labels that the state put on them.

And the movement to boycott the tests next spring is growing.

Even in Buffalo, not a leafy suburb by any means, the local community is furious. A few days ago, an amazing 2,500 people turned out to protest the tests. The audience included parents, teachers, administrators, and scholars from local universities. It was not just parents from Buffalo, but also suburban parents. They joined in common cause.

Here is a quote from the article about the event:

Reform of high-stakes testing for schoolchildren, a groundswell movement of lawn signs and small-scale protests, became an earthquake Wednesdayevening.

The Summit for Smarter Schools, organized by a group called the Partnership for Smarter Schools and hosted by State Sen. Tim Kennedy, D-Buffalo; Assemblyman Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo; and State Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, filled Kleinhans Music Hall with more than 2,500 parents, teachers and school administrators.

Cheers erupted as Kennedy and Ryan called out the names of districts represented in the audience. It sounded like a school closing list in the middle of a blizzard, encompassing schools from Barker to Allegany-Limestone, with a couple from the Rochester area thrown in for good measure.

“We’ve had a lot of quote-unquote educational reform in the past decades aimed at poor schools in the cities,” Ryan said before the session started, “but now all schools are feeling the pain, regardless of their previous performance. This is why you see a lot of suburban parents here tonight. They’re all being treated poorly. They’re mad about these tests.”

The stage, decorated with a banner that read, “Get Testing Right,” looked like a Western New York State Legislature roll call. In addition to the hosts, there were Assembly Members Ray Walter, R-East Amherst; John Ceretto, R-Lewiston; Michael Kearns, D-Buffalo; and Jane Corwin, R-Clarence. State Sen. Mark Grisanti, R-Buffalo, was in the front row of the audience.

After the introduction by Kennedy, Ryan and Amherst principal Mike Cornell, a succession of speakers laid out the case against standardized testing in a series of 12-minute speeches that were followed by standing ovations.

West Seneca School Superintendent Mark Crawford charged that the tests fail to provide a diagnosis of student strengths and weaknesses.

“They only create a lot of anxiety for students and parents and teachers,” he said. “Why do we want to bunch children into groups of 1, 2, 3 or 4?”

Tonawanda Principal John McKenna argued that testing doesn’t take into account differences among students and communities, a point illustrated by Naomi Cerre, principal of Buffalo’s Lafayette High School, who talked about the difficulties of getting resources to work with and test students from 30 nations who speak 45 different languages.

Jaekyung Lee, dean of the University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education, gave a PowerPoint outline that showed how high-stakes testing does little to improve student performances and how high-achieving nations like Japan and Korea are de-emphasizing testing and encouraging creative thinking.

Maybe I am overly optimistic, but I feel the ground shifting. I feel the tide turning. I feel the beginning of a grassroots rebellion that will sweep away the bad ideas that are ruining the lives of children, teachers, principals, and communities.

Get ready, friends. The Common Core testing may be the death knell for corporate reform.

Categories Common Core, New York, Testing

High-Performing District in Louisiana Votes to Abandon Common Core

By dianeravitch
October 6, 2013 //
54

The board of St. Tammany Parish, one of the high-performing
districts in Louisiana, voted
overwhelmingly to abandon both the Common Core standards
and the tests. The board was responding to comments by educators
and parents: “The committee’s adoption of the resolution
— 13 of the board’s 15 members attended the meeting — comes after
a series of public meetings during which board members got an
earful from parents angered by the new standards.
The Common Core State Standards, and the state’s
implementation of them, have become a lightning rod for criticism
from some parents and elected officials. Opponents have complained
that the math being taught is confusing and overly complex, that
children might have to read objectionable texts in language arts,
that the companies running the testing are storing private student
data, and that the new standards are essentially the federalizing
of school curriculum. Some St. Tammany School
Board members have asked why the parish school district, which has
some of the best student scores in the state, has to change its
curriculum. Board members also contend that the cost of the testing
for Common Core will be a financial burden on districts.
The board’s decision was opposed by groups representing business,
industry, and major corporations, including Stand for
Children.

Categories Common Core, Education Reform

What Happens When “Disruption” Fails?

By dianeravitch
October 6, 2013 //
19

It seems like only yesterday the New York Times magazine published a lengthy article about the powerful and transformative tablets that Joel Klein’s company Amplify had sold to the Guilford County, North Carolina, schools. The writer, Carlo Rotella, was appropriately cautious in assessing what it meant when students had most of their lessons on a tablet, but nonetheless there was a tone (encouraged by Joel Klein)
of “this is the future, get used to it.”

Well, maybe it is the future, but not yet. On Friday, the Amplify tablets were recalled because of multiple technical glitches. The schools are suspending their use until problems can be ironed out.

According to a local business blog,

Guilford County Schools is suspending the use of 15,000 tablet computers that are part of its signature learning technology initiative because of cracking screens and potential safety problems. Those tablets were supplied by a company called Amplify, which is a collaboration betweenNews Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS) and AT&T(NYSE: T).

The district said it turns out those tablets were not manufactured with the proper damage-resistant screens, and about 10 percent of the district’s devices have had to be returned to the company because of broken displays. Another 2,000 tablet cases supplied by Amplify have also had reported defects.

Also, at least one student turned in a charger that had overheated, melting its plastic casing. That’s a potential safety problem, and it prompted district officials to go ahead and suspend the entire program until Amplify and its suppliers can fix the problems.

The Amplify tablet was heavily marketed as the Next Big Thing, with profits unlimited, but it was not adequately tested. The success of the marketing campaign seemed to assure the success of the product.

This brings to mind two other heavily marketed, expensive products that were not properly tested or implemented.

Los Angeles continues to struggle with its $1 billion iPad problem. The kids cracked the security code in no time, using the expensive devices as toys. Some were withdrawn, some were lost. Meanwhile, the district has crumbling buildings (that should have been repaired with the money from the 25-year construction bond that was used to pay for the iPads), and classes are overcrowded.

And then there are the Common Core standards. The Gates Foundation assumed that if it gave a few millions to every significant organization inside the Beltway, the whole country would quietly acquiesce and accept the product that Gates paid for. That venture is experiencing meltdowns in state after state because it was hurried into production and deployed without trial runs and without consultations with the end users.

At some point, all this “creative disruption” will run into a wall. Perhaps it already has. Parents, students, and educators can take just so much at one time. Then “reform fatigue” sets in.

Categories Common Core, Technology, Computers

Mercedes Schneider Follows the Gates Funding of Common Core

By dianeravitch
October 3, 2013 //
17

Mercedes Schneider has been meticulously scouring the Gates website to see which groups are being paid to research, support, promulgate, evaluate, study, review the Common Core standards.

This is her sixth post on the subject. There will be more.

After you go through her posts, the question you might reasonably have is: Who was NOT funded to development, implement or advocate for the Common Core standards?

Should we call them the Gates Common Core standards?

Categories Common Core, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates

Suburban New York Parents Don’t Believe Common Core Tests

By dianeravitch
September 30, 2013 //
28

New York’s first Common Core tests, administered last spring, produced a dramatic score decline. 70% of the students across the state allegedly “failed.” State education leaders said the tests set a new “benchmark.” They implied that the tests demonstrated the failure of the state’s schools, that more “reform” was needed, and that more years of testing and accountability would cure the widespread “failure.”

However, suburban parents in successful districts see the matter differently. They know they have excellent schools. They don’t believe in the validity of the state tests.

The low scores have ignited a revolt against the state tests among parents and local educators.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

“But the state is looking at a hard sell, particularly in the Lower Hudson Valley and on Long Island, as a growing movement of educators and parents is questioning or outright dismissing the test results for grades three to eight. Their main argument: Most local students already go to good colleges and do quite well, thank you, so the state’s findings can’t be right.

“What do these results mean, that our kids are not at the level we thought?” asked Lisa Rudley, who has three children in the Ossining schools and recently co-founded a statewide group, NYS Allies for Public Education, that plans to fight “excessive” testing and sharing of student data. “I think parents are informed about what the state is saying, but they don’t like it and don’t accept it.”

“Her group has started a campaign urging parents to send their test-score reports back to Education Commissioner John King in Albany. The group is asking parents to write on the envelope: “Invalid test scores inside.”

The state’s strategy backfired. It has fueled the resistance to high-stakes testing.

Categories Common Core, New York, Parents, Pearson
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