{"id":47932,"date":"2014-11-11T09:33:59","date_gmt":"2014-11-11T16:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/11\/a-pretty-decent-review-of-what-common-core-is-and-is-not.html"},"modified":"2014-11-12T09:10:29","modified_gmt":"2014-11-12T16:10:29","slug":"a-pretty-decent-review-of-what-common-core-is-and-is-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/11\/a-pretty-decent-review-of-what-common-core-is-and-is-not.html","title":{"rendered":"A pretty decent review of what Common Core is (and is not)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Common Core has arisen from a variety of societal and political changes in the US. Ironically, a lot of the folk most upset about it are the folk who started this in motion: demands for teacher accountability ("Break the teachers unions!") required objective measures, which led to more standardized testing, which then requires a more standardized curriculum. Which then starts getting folk upset. <\/p>\n

Of course, these sorts of things often ignore a huge variability in students, both in their capabilities and in their learning modalities (pardon my jargon; I used to be a teacher). But so do the backlash to say, "Hey, I learned multiplication by doing page after page of multiplication problems, so that's good enough for everyone" (because, really, it's not), as do calls for penalizing teachers based on how their kids do on standardized tests.<\/p>\n

(That Common Core came out during the current Administration almost certainly plays a role in a lot of the brouhaha, though it's a clear evolution from the previous Administration's "No Child Left Behind" program.)<\/p>\n

I'm less concerned over parents getting flustered over not understanding questions (processes and jargon) than some, because, hey, I grew up in the first<\/i> wave of "New Math" back in the 60s, and in the late 00s I was struggling myself even then to understand the processes being used to teach my daughter multiplication and division (and, yes, today she uses the "normal" way, but that was always the goal).<\/p>\n

At any rate, my take on Common Core is that the problems with it are less with what's actually there, or even its concepts, as in its implementation. New curricula and tests are always a challenge, and doing that sort of thing on a national scale is simply a national challenge. Doing it while kids are in school<\/i> is problematic, but that's true no matter what you do. Assuming there isn't some new, abrupt, costly change in course again, I suspect a lot of the rough edges will be worn off in the Common Core and its issues in the next few years …<\/p>\n

… which probably will<\/i> be the cue for some new, abrupt, costly change in course, because that's how the Ed Biz works, public or private, local or national, regardless of the politics. Because nobody ever suggests that when there's a perceived problem, the answer is to do more of the same.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nThe Parent’s Guide to the Common Core<\/a><\/span>
\nDepending on who you ask, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are either a step forward in creating a clearer and more consistent education framework for our kids…or complete insanity. Here’s what parents need to know about the Common Core and how we can help our kids in this unfamiliar learning environment.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Common Core has arisen from a variety of societal and political changes in the US. Ironically, a lot of the folk most upset about it are the folk who started this in motion: demands for teacher accountability ("Break the teachers unions!") required objective measures, which led to more standardized testing, which then requires a more … Continue reading “A pretty decent review of what Common Core is (and is not)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-school-daze"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49998,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/04\/04\/be-careful-what-you-incent-educational-standards-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":47932,"position":0},"title":"Be careful what you incent (Educational Standards Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 4-Apr-15 3:51pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I would argue (while agreeing with the below) that this is driven not so much by federal and state administrations that are clueless and pigheaded in driving toward unattainable numeric goals (thus distorting the system to try and reach those goals, by means legal and illegal, wise and unwise), but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22962,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/unblogged-bits-tue-4-oct-11-1130.html","url_meta":{"origin":47932,"position":1},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Tue. 4-Oct-11 1130)","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 4-Oct-11 11:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Denver think tank endorses city initiative for paid sick leave; restaurant owners protest against it - The Denver Post - Dear Denver Restaurant Owners: I would rather pay a few cents more on my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39259,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/20\/testing-to-destruction.html","url_meta":{"origin":47932,"position":2},"title":"Testing to Destruction","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 20-Oct-13 11:09pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, I'm in management. I understand the diktat that if it can't be measured, it can't be improved (because, duh, you can't measure improvement if you can't measure at all).But ... kids are not cogs. Children are not business processes. \u00a0Not only are basic measurement techniques (standardized tests) sometimes inappropriate,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27434,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/17\/the-test-you-cant-teach-to.html","url_meta":{"origin":47932,"position":3},"title":"The test you can't teach to","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 17-Apr-12 2:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Standardized tests are a necessary evil, to some degree, and have been around for many, many decades (cough). But in the past decade or so -- certainly with the advent of Dubya's \"No Child Left Behind\" but increasingly amidst a flurry of \"school accountability\" programs -- they have taken on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128129,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/22\/math-methodology-mediocrity-and-common-core-gasp.html","url_meta":{"origin":47932,"position":4},"title":"Math, Methodology, Mediocrity … and Common Core (gasp!)","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 22-Sep-15 7:14am","format":false,"excerpt":"I entered elementary school just as the New Math (1960s style -- the one Tom Lehrer sang about [https:\/\/youtu.be\/UIKGV2cTgqA]) was coming in. 2nd Grade? Long pages of exercises. 3rd Grade? Venn diagrams and Commutative \/ Associative \/ Distributive Properties.Know what my folks did? They figured out how to help me.When\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49604,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/02\/17\/the-war-on-history-et-al.html","url_meta":{"origin":47932,"position":5},"title":"The War on History (et al.)","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 17-Feb-15 8:13pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Because you know that Advanced Placement US History is just evil and mean and treasonous. Oh, and those other AP course are pretty darned suspicious, too, since they were made by folk outside of Oklahoma, just like common core.Just give 'em a Bible and set 'em in the corner --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47982,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47932\/revisions\/47982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}