Justice (equity) in education.

[OldWiseGuy]

Blacks and Latino's often lag behind whites and Asians in educational achievement. This has led to calls for curriculum that will 'level the playing field' for them, and bring equitable outcomes between all groups. However this often means lowering the standards for everyone so that those who fall behind will appear to catch up. Wouldn't it be better to spend more time (summer school, mentoring, tutoring, counseling) which are the traditional means of improving the performance of fall-behind students? This way the high educational standards are maintained so that those who are high achievers aren't limited by such curriculum.

These programs may further 'dumb down' American education, a condition that has been decried by educators for decades.

Author on Common Core: ‘A Comprehensive Dumbing Down of American Education at Every Level’ | CNSNews

 

[Albion]

Wouldn't it be better to spend more time (summer school, mentoring, tutoring, counseling) which are the traditional means of improving the performance of fall-behind students?

Yes, it would. However, what you are suggesting is much harder to accomplish than merely deeming the underachievers (whatever their race) to have made acceptable progress. My experience has shown that the easiest route to a claim of success is likely to be the one favored by professional educators and particularly by school administrators.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

Blacks and Latino's often lag behind whites and Asians in educational achievement. This has led to calls for curriculum that will 'level the playing field' for them, and bring equitable outcomes between all groups. However this often means lowering the standards for everyone so that those who fall behind will appear to catch up. Wouldn't it be better to spend more time (summer school, mentoring, tutoring, counseling) which are the traditional means of improving the performance of fall-behind students? This way the high educational standards are maintained so that those who are high achievers aren't limited by such curriculum.

These programs may further 'dumb down' American education, a condition that has been decried by educators for decades.

Author on Common Core: ‘A Comprehensive Dumbing Down of American Education at Every Level’ | CNSNews

I was a " falling behind" student . My first language was Spanish. On top of that, I had a difficult time paying attention. When my parents realized how far behind I was, they immediately took me out of public school and put me in a Catholic school. I was put into special classes aka " dumb kids class" and pretty much suffered the consequences of such a label. So the moral, of this story is:

DONT USE THE WORD DUMB.

It is hurtful to those who have been bullied for being behind in school.

Blessings.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I was a " falling behind" student . My first language was Spanish. On top of that, I had a difficult time paying attention. When my parents realized how far behind I was, they immediately took me out of public school and put me in a Catholic school. I was put into special classes aka " dumb kids class" and pretty much suffered the consequences of such a label. So the moral, of this story is:

DONT USE THE WORD DUMB.

It is hurtful to those who have been bullied for being behind in school.

Blessings.

What do you think would have worked the best for you, and did you succeed in improving your grades?

I fell behind because school was boring, and I liked to party. It was the threat of not graduating that woke me up.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

What do you think would have worked the best for you, and did you succeed in improving your grades?

I fell behind because school was boring, and I liked to party. It was the threat of not graduating that woke me up.

.Kids are mean unfortunately. Integration of special attention kids within the confounds of the classroom may have helped. I was pulled out of class so I was pegged as dumb.
I'm 61 and have had a very fulfilling career in interior design!

 

[PloverWing]

The Common Core set of standards is here: Home | Common Core State Standards Initiative

It would be helpful to me if the critique was more specific. When you say that Common Core is lowering the standards, can you give some specific examples? Is there a specific skill or subject that students should (say) learn by 4th grade, but the CC delays it until 6th grade? Or is there a specific math skill that students should have that would make them ready for college-freshman-year calculus that they don't have? It's not clear to me how CC is a "dumbing-down"; perhaps you can help me see it.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

The Common Core set of standards is here: Home | Common Core State Standards Initiative

It would be helpful to me if the critique was more specific. When you say that Common Core is lowering the standards, can you give some specific examples? Is there a specific skill or subject that students should (say) learn by 4th grade, but the CC delays it until 6th grade? Or is there a specific math skill that students should have that would make them ready for college-freshman-year calculus that they don't have? It's not clear to me how CC is a "dumbing-down"; perhaps you can help me see it.

It's more of the failure of students to achieve the higher standards of Common Core. The premise is badly flawed: Raise the standards, and (thus) level the playing field for all students? How can making courses more difficult for marginal students 'level the playing field'? It seems to me that this would only widen the achievement gap.

Also one of the goals of CC was to prepare kids for "living" as well as for college and career. What does that even mean?

Common Core: Higher Expectations, Flat Results : NPR

"The National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, assesses students across the country, and in the past 10 years, the national scores have not changed much either. Several states that adopted Common Core early on dropped the standards and the Common Core tests. Many of their scores remain flat as well. Loveless said when you look nationally, it's hard to know if Common Core is actually working."

Common Core Has Failed America's Students - Pacific Research Institute

"But a new large-scale study by the federally funded Center for Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL) has found that since the adoption of Common Core there has been a decline in key test scores.

C-SAIL researchers analyzed changes in student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, from 2010 to 2017.

They had assumed that Common Core would raise student performance on the NAEP exam, but they were in for a surprise.

“Contrary to our expectation,” they reported, the data revealed that the Common Core standards produced “significant negative effects on 4th graders’ reading achievement during the 7 years after the adoption of the new standards.”

When analyzing the results of a selected group of states, fourth-grade reading achievement would have improved more “had the states continued with their old standards, thus reflecting negative effects of the new [Common Core] standards.”

In other words, if those states had ignored the entreaties by Gates, Obama, et al., they would have been better off.

In addition to the decline in reading performance among fourth graders, the C-SAIL study also found that Common Core “had a significant negative effect on 8th graders’ math achievement.”

What’s more, the performance of students declined significantly in specific reading and math categories, such as literacy experience and numbers properties, the longer Common Core was in effect.

Study co-author Mengli Song said: “It’s rather unexpected. The magnitude of the negative effects [of Common Core] tend to increase over time. That’s a little troubling.”

Actually, it’s extremely troubling.

 

[PloverWing]

The NPR report was helpful. What I'm seeing there is not a critique of the Common Core standards per se, but a critique of some of the policies that accompanied the implementation of the Common Core:

1) Testing: The Common Core was accompanied by the PARCC and other tests. As a parent of three children who recently graduated from high school, I think that children are subjected to far too many standardized tests. If the Common Core is a guide for teachers in designing their curriculum, I can see its value; but if it's a government-imposed standard that requires testing kids a lot to see if they've met the standard (followed by rewards and punishments), there are problems.

2) Resources: The NPR report spoke of differences in resources among different school districts. Wealthier districts were able to give their teachers many more hours of training in the new curriculum than less wealthy districts. And, of course, wealthier districts have more educational resources in general. I've seen this disparity in resources in school districts near where I live. I'd be in favor of a system where, instead of being funded by property taxes, public schools would be funded at the state level, with $X per student going to each school, whether that school is located in a wealthy area or a low-income area.

I'm still not enough of an expert in K-12 education to have an informed opinion on whether the learning goals for (say) 7th grade are the correct goals for that age level, but the NPR article pointed out some important problems that should be addressed.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

It will be interesting to know how the current flood of school age immigrants will affect educational standards in those area where they settle.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

The NPR report was helpful. What I'm seeing there is not a critique of the Common Core standards per se, but a critique of some of the policies that accompanied the implementation of the Common Core:

1) Testing: The Common Core was accompanied by the PARCC and other tests. As a parent of three children who recently graduated from high school, I think that children are subjected to far too many standardized tests. If the Common Core is a guide for teachers in designing their curriculum, I can see its value; but if it's a government-imposed standard that requires testing kids a lot to see if they've met the standard (followed by rewards and punishments), there are problems.

2) Resources: The NPR report spoke of differences in resources among different school districts. Wealthier districts were able to give their teachers many more hours of training in the new curriculum than less wealthy districts. And, of course, wealthier districts have more educational resources in general. I've seen this disparity in resources in school districts near where I live. I'd be in favor of a system where, instead of being funded by property taxes, public schools would be funded at the state level, with $X per student going to each school, whether that school is located in a wealthy area or a low-income area.

I'm still not enough of an expert in K-12 education to have an informed opinion on whether the learning goals for (say) 7th grade are the correct goals for that age level, but the NPR article pointed out some important problems that should be addressed.

Common Core seems to be based on the assumption that uniform education is possible across all demographics. I think that while some students will benefit from the greater 'rigor' others will collapse under it, possibly leading to a net loss in educational achievement across the board.