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Re: Common Core

PostPosted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 11:11 am
by mrfish
panamint_patty wrote:Common Core is a huge improvement over No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The only real problem with Common Core is that it still mandates standardized testing. Do away with standardized testing and Common Core becomes nothing more than a set of guidelines to help states make sure they cover important concepts so that no child fails to have an opportunity to learn what every child should learn before graduating high school. Common Core should be nothing more than a set of guidelines and to ensure that that's how it's treated standardized testing should be abolished.

Without standardized testing Common Core would just be a suggestion. Not a bad idea!
:laugh:

Re: Common Core

PostPosted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 5:05 pm
by surfsteve
Without the rope getting hanged wouldn't be so bad either!

Re: Common Core

PostPosted: Sun Jun 21, 2015 8:01 am
by wildrose
surfsteve wrote:Without the rope getting hanged wouldn't be so bad either!

Poor analogy. A rope (or reasonable facsimile) is necessary for hanging. Common Core can exist without standardized testing. They are two separate things.

I've inspected the standards fairly thoroughly and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the standards. It's all just commonsense stuff that should be taught to all students. So, the core of Common Core is exactly what any sane and rational person would expect to be taught in any school that's doing what needs to be done to prepare students for the future. Every single complaint I've seen regarding common core is either about implementation or standardized testing. Implementation issues arise when someone creates a lesson to teach a standard. One hundred different teachers might implement a standard in one hundred different ways. Some of the textbook companies have created some fairly odd lessons to implement various standards and different special interest groups have their own ideas about how to implement certain standards. The point is, however, that the list of standards which are the essence of Common Core is perfectly sound. As for standardized testing, that's not actually part of Common Core. Rather it's a requirement placed on school districts by bureaucrats. Standardized testing could be eliminated and Common Core could be kept. They are two separate things.

Re: Common Core

PostPosted: Sun Jun 21, 2015 4:31 pm
by surfsteve
Yeah. I suppose you're right; it was a bad analogy. What do you propose instead of standardized testing? Is there anything else you would change?

Re: Common Core

PostPosted: Sun Jun 21, 2015 5:50 pm
by mrfish
Herein lies the problem: Our nation has become exceedingly litigious. Therefore, a student who fails to pass an exit exam and thereby is deprived of a high school diploma can turn around and blame it on the teachers, claiming that they failed to teach him what he needed to know to pass the exit exam.

By having a national standard curriculum and by requiring teachers to cover the material it can be demonstrated through evaluation records and lesson plans and other evidence that the teachers taught the proper lessons at the proper time. While the student can still claim that the teachers failed to offer the proper remediation, other records might show that he had a poor attendance or behavioral pattern.

Here's where standardized testing saves the day: By testing students every year, schools have feedback that can be used to make sure students get the extra help they need. Also it can be shown that the student either made or failed to make progress each year and what steps the school took to remedy the situation.

By having both standardized curriculum and standardized testing, it is nearly guaranteed that students will have been provided with the proper preparation to make sure that they pass the exit exam. Thereby it should be very clear where fault lies should the student fail to pass.

In the old days it was the student's responsibility to pass the test. Now it's the school's responsibility to make sure the student passes the test. It's a little bit ass-backwards, but thanks to the litigious nature of our society, that's what we're stuck with and that's why we're not getting rid of standardized testing or standardized curriculum anytime soon. You may not like Common Core, but any other standardized national curriculum will be just as bad so stop your...
:cry2:

Re: Common Core

PostPosted: Sun Jun 21, 2015 6:00 pm
by surfsteve
Why can't they just give them all an A and make everybody happy?

Re: Common Core

PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 7:40 am
by mrfish
surfsteve wrote:Why can't they just give them all an A and make everybody happy?

Why not just buy them all Malibu mansions, Corvettes, and set them up for life with a ten million dollar annuity fund?

Re: Common Core

PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 9:03 am
by surfsteve
That would overcrowd Malibu, Corvettes aren't what they used to be and ten million dollars doesn't buy what it used to?

Re: Common Core

PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 10:57 am
by mrfish
mrfish wrote:
surfsteve wrote:Why can't they just give them all an A and make everybody happy?

Why not just buy them all Malibu mansions, Corvettes, and set them up for life with a ten million dollar annuity fund?

surfsteve wrote:That would overcrowd Malibu, Corvettes aren't what they used to be and ten million dollars doesn't buy what it used to?

Besides that even if the average American student were given all that, they'd probably be broke and on welfare in a few years anyways. No fault of the schools. Morons are morons. Garbage in, garbage out!

Re: Common Core

PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 5:19 pm
by blackturtle.us
What is the Big Difference Between PARCC and Smarter Balanced?
Assessment tools are not specified by Common Core. They are developed by various consortia. The two most prevalent assessment tools are PARCC and Smarter Balanced.
We know that there are two different Common Core-aligned assessment consortia, but what exactly makes them different? In this blog post we review the key elements of Smarter Balanced and PARCC assessments. What makes them similar? What makes them different?

LINK: http://blog.wowzers.com/what-is-the-big-difference-between-parcc-and-smarter-balanced
Here's a handy map which shows which states use PARCC, which use Smarter Balanced, and which use some other assessment tool.
MAP: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2015/02/a_map_of_states_2015_testing_p.html