As one can see, the Common Core State Standards are far from perfect. There are several aspects of these standards that need to be worked out before they can begin to see a positive change in the schools. The fact that these standards have not been tested before in a school system is scary for all states who so quickly adopted these standards. It seems that these implications were rushed, and more testing and observation could have been done before we made this big of a change in our system. The standards themselves contain some really good positive claims that could be beneficial. Yet, the goal of the Common Core as "college and career ready" does not actually apply to everyone. Not everyone is made for college and therefore these new standards and the difficulty of these tests will push more kids out of high school, rather than prepare them for college. As a future educator, I find that these standards are not only a burden for the teachers, but more importantly ineffective for the children and students. It will take a lot of practice and revisions for this system to become as effective as it was designed to be.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
The Common Core's Fundamental Trouble, 3
Valerie Strauss writes in the Washington Post addressing the trouble with the newly implemented Common Core State Standards. She goes on to explain how the purpose of these standards were to generate restrictions on a national curriculum. However, she claims there is an issue when the Common Core standards have never been tested in schools before. In addition, the Common Core tests are much harder than any previous type of assessment, which is only going to make drop out rates increase even more drastically. The tests that have to be given are extremely expensive because of the computers and technology required to administer these tests. Valerie also claims that they will close more public schools, due to the poor results of test scores. She backs up her claims with the reports from students and teachers in New York schools that recently underwent Common Core testing. Students had reported feelings of anxiety and stress leading up to the test, and felt underprepared for it. Parents, teachers, and principals all complained about the length and difficulty of the tests.
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The standards are new benchmarks. The assessments from PARCC have not been implemented here yet. Think of all the money for books, materials, and supplies this will cost schools. There are people getting very rich off of this. More money is being spent for technology too for study, curriculum and testing. The problem is most schools don't have the funding to properly prepare.
ReplyDeleteErika, I addressed many of the same things in my article review. I found it interesting that these standards have never been tested on a school before. I don't understand how they expect something to work right off the bat when they have no idea what the results will be. I agree with you about how these standards may push students to drop out of high school. They need to conduct more tests and actually involve current educators and administrators in the process of coming up with the standards. And I also agree that it will take much more practice and revisions for these standards to be successful and worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteWith nothing being truly tested and then see what needs to be addressed with some issues with the common core shows that many of these people that have come up with this common core have never been in an actual classroom and that they are only doing this for maney.
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