Core Curriculum(Common Core)?s Any Teachers Here

[stark]

I have just heard that our local schools have switched to core curriculum. Before I put on a tin hat I would like to know more about it.

What is the specifics? Any teachers out there can shed some more light on the subject?

I ask this question because all I read about it is arguing back and forth what it is but no one has proof or sources. One side says it is good trust us, the other says it is evil trust us. Well, what is it and why is it good or eveil?

[Mikeyboy]

What state are you in?

I'm not a teacher, but I live in PA and our State education dept. has a Common Core standards.

I don't know why you are claiming to need a "tin hat" and why this is on the Contingency, planning & prep section of ZS?

Real quick its basically a set of standards, subjects or goals that certain grades or age levels need to achieve. Below is a link to the PA Core. So say by 1st grade your kids should be able to add and subtract, by 4 grade they should know how to divide, multiply, know the states, the planets, when the war of 1812 was, etc. Its good and bad. If your school sucks and the teachers read the paper and the kid screw around in theory the teachers will need to step it up and teach. However if your school is an outstanding school that is real advanced, they may be pigeon holed with the curriculum. Perfect example is the 8th grade science curriculum in PA blows, and focused in "environmental issues" for at least 3 months. Not to get crazy with the politics of it all but most kids who are big into science were bored to tears, and I think 8th grade science really needs to prep kids for the rigors of what High School science is all about.

If you have concerns about big brother government washing away any religious teaching, its not an issue. My kids go to catholic school and religion is still taught.

http://www.pdesas.org/standard/CommonCore" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[stark]

The reference to the tin hat is that there are a lot of groups claiming how evil this is and that it is government intrusion into schools. I am not going to discuss that aspect of it, but that seams to be all I can find is baseless claims.

From what I have read it doesn't mater what state you are in because this is national. Like you said, standards could be good or bad depending where your school is ranked.

Had a discussion about it with my child's teacher and all she would tell me is they will no longer get in front of the class and teach. Under the new Core Curriculum they are just suppose to tell the students to read the book and do the work themselves. Doesn't this mean the teacher is no longer teaching?

So I just want to be better informed before I make any statements so I don't sound like a tin hat wearing type.

[Doctorr Fabulous]

Did some reading and have some questions to put forward.

1. This is just a standardization of what level a student should be at in a certain grade? Because that would have helped me greatly. When I moved from GA to FL, i -lost- half a year's credit and had to do summer school because the HS graduation requirements were different. I ended up having to retake 2 maths and some other various courses. There's also the problem of multiple curriculae within a state. Seems like an effort to unfuck it so instead of students from 50 states having 50 different graduation standards and there's one standard, except for the 4 states that didn't accept it and (IIRC) Minnesota which only accepted half the standard.

2. Did I read correctly that these are only minimum standards? Seem like IB or AP/Honors programs wouldn't be held back by a change or restructuring in the minimum required curriculum.

3. One of the objections I read was that teachers would be using more nonfiction. Tacked onto this was a complaint that teachers would be encouraged to teach how to think rather than what to think.

4. It was also my understanding that it was not mandatory adoption, just that there were incentives for adopting it.

If someone can answer these, or point me towards a neutral source to read up on it, that would be great. Top hits when googling were either rabidly pro-CC or rabidly-anti CC. I don't want to educate myself about an education change on a website that can't use "Orwellian" properly.

[stark]

Top hits when googling were either rabidly pro-CC or rabidly-anti CC. I don't want to educate myself about an education change on a website that can't use "Orwellian" properly.

That is what I saw to and the reason for this post.

[teachermom44]

My take as a teacher going into my 15th year.

Let me start by saying (with no politics intended) I don't like the idea of a national curriculum. The idea behind it was if every state used the same set of curriculum/standards then when students in our "highly transient" population would be in the same place at the same time. That sounds great in theory, right?

Well in reality not so much. States have the leeway to add up to 15% of their own standards to the CC. In NC for instance in 4th grade we study NC. Each state adopts the CC standards. In NC we did that, added some of our stuff to it and then each district in the state developed it's own pacing guide (when to teach which standard). So even if the standards are the same nationwide each state and each district may be in a different place at a different time.

The focus in reading has shifted from Fiction to Non-fiction. We still teach fiction, but we teach MORE non-fiction. The big emphasis is text dependent questions-as in the kids need to go into the text to find the answers. This is a change for NC because we were BIG on inferring and not just getting our answers from the text. To me this IS a step backwards.

Another big change is to take a particular novel and only focus on a VERY small part of it, like spending 2 to 3 days on only a few pages or a chapter, in order for the kids to "dig deeper". There is some controversy in the secondary curriculum because some of the "exemplar" texts have topics a lot of conservatives and parents aren't comfortable with. BUT if teachers use common sense they will avoid those parts.

I can only speak for NC they say to teach the standards, but it's up to us the materials we choose to use. We have NO set literature or non-fiction that we HAVE to use.

I could go on about the math, but well it's a Friday and I'm tired. So that's my excuse for any grammar or spelling problems.

And to answer your question (as paranoid as I am about a national curriculum again not a political intent here) I can't read the websites because they are either hysterically for it or hysterically against common core.

And as a personal aside I have 4 children and I pulled the 3 youngest out of public school and we home school them. We let our oldest stay in high school (he's a band geek ) BUT I monitor his curriculum and assignments as closely as I can. And yes being a public school teacher who home schools confounds some that I work with, but they know how I roll. I'm stubborn and if you tell me I have to do something, I won't.

[teachermom44]

I forgot to add that a lot of states signed up for the CC to get Race to the Top money. A lot of states have begun to drop out. NC's educational department is still entranced by the money so no dropping out yet. Although our Lt. Gov has sent them 17 or so pages of questions to answer. The Dept of Ed's response was give us reams of paper (many of them) so we can answer your questions. They sent back basically the information off of pro Common Core websites. They couldn't or wouldn't back it up with their own reasoning. (Again not political just repeating facts.) I kinda thought that was funny.

[teachermom44]

I forgot to add that a lot of states signed up for the CC to get Race to the Top money. A lot of states have begun to drop out. NC's educational department is still entranced by the money so no dropping out yet. Although our Lt. Gov has sent them 17 or so pages of questions to answer. The Dept of Ed's response was give us reams of paper (many of them) so we can answer your questions. They sent back basically the information off of pro Common Core websites. They couldn't or wouldn't back it up with their own reasoning. (Again not political just repeating facts.) I kinda thought that was funny.

[teachermom44]

That's weird I only hit submit once. I see my last post twice. It's bed time for me!

[stark]

My take as a teacher going into my 15th year.

Let me start by saying (with no politics intended) I don't like the idea of a national curriculum. The idea behind it was if every state used the same set of curriculum/standards then when students in our "highly transient" population would be in the same place at the same time. That sounds great in theory, right?

Well in reality not so much. States have the leeway to add up to 15% of their own standards to the CC. In NC for instance in 4th grade we study NC. Each state adopts the CC standards. In NC we did that, added some of our stuff to it and then each district in the state developed it's own pacing guide (when to teach which standard). So even if the standards are the same nationwide each state and each district may be in a different place at a different time.

The focus in reading has shifted from Fiction to Non-fiction. We still teach fiction, but we teach MORE non-fiction. The big emphasis is text dependent questions-as in the kids need to go into the text to find the answers. This is a change for NC because we were BIG on inferring and not just getting our answers from the text. To me this IS a step backwards.

Another big change is to take a particular novel and only focus on a VERY small part of it, like spending 2 to 3 days on only a few pages or a chapter, in order for the kids to "dig deeper". There is some controversy in the secondary curriculum because some of the "exemplar" texts have topics a lot of conservatives and parents aren't comfortable with. BUT if teachers use common sense they will avoid those parts.

I can only speak for NC they say to teach the standards, but it's up to us the materials we choose to use. We have NO set literature or non-fiction that we HAVE to use.

I could go on about the math, but well it's a Friday and I'm tired. So that's my excuse for any grammar or spelling problems.

And to answer your question (as paranoid as I am about a national curriculum again not a political intent here) I can't read the websites because they are either hysterically for it or hysterically against common core.

And as a personal aside I have 4 children and I pulled the 3 youngest out of public school and we home school them. We let our oldest stay in high school (he's a band geek ) BUT I monitor his curriculum and assignments as closely as I can. And yes being a public school teacher who home schools confounds some that I work with, but they know how I roll. I'm stubborn and if you tell me I have to do something, I won't.

Thanks for the reply, I see you have run into the same thing...there is no information out there on what is being taught or how. Only far sided political bias one side or the other. And I am try to keep politics out of my children's education, I think they deserve better don't you?

Just the fact parents cannot find any information on it scares me. What are they hiding than, if nothing to hide than publish the facts. Can anyone point me to them?

*Disclaimer - this last post written while BAC elevated slightly...

[teachermom44]

http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/acre/standards/extended/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The link above is NC's common core standards.

[TacAir]

Common Core in Alaska
The **source is here.
Standards for each grade are provided in English and Spanish, if that is necessary.

Read the standards‌ for yourself - these come from the Anchorage School District, who had players in the development.

Introduction (PDF)
Language Arts (PDF)
Mathematics (PDF)

The ASD webpage says this --

These standards are designed to ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to go to college or enter the workforce and that parents, teachers, and students have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. From the Common Core Standards FAQ

The standards are a set of rigorous, evidence-based standards that are clear, consistent and aligned with college and career expectations.

The Common Core standards aim to do to the following:
Ensure that all students, no matter where they live, are prepared for success in postsecondary education and the workforce—an issue that is critically important for a transient community like Anchorage.
Ensure that students are receiving a high quality education consistently from school to school and state to state.
Capitalize on assessment items and curriculum material developed to match the Common Core standards, greatly improving the scope and quality of assessment and curriculum materials.
Provide the ability to compare the performance of ASD students to students in other states and the nation.

The district began work on the Common Core standards in 2008 with other large urban school districts nationwide. These standards have been adopted by 45 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

NOTE - The state of Alaska has not adopted the Common Core standards.
Another NOTE -
ASD currently graduates less than 60% of their students, at a cost of over $17K per student, one reason the District put a lot of dough into this...Core thing.
Alaska also has a large number of "One room schoolhouses" out in the Bush. "No Child Left Behind" was a disaster, an expensive disaster, for these rural school districts. Because of the horror that the NCLB became, there is no appetite for another National Educational scheme focused on large "Urban" schools. I doubt the State of Alaska will ever again adopt another set of National Standards, no matter how much one-time funding is dangled as bait.


Again -
The **source is here.
Standards for each grade are provided in English and Spanish, if that is necessary.

[ZombieGranny]

That's English?
Glad I graduated decades ago.

[teachermom44]

Tac I think Gov. Hunt had something to do with it too. He was governor a LOOOONNNNGGGG time ago her in NC. And personally I don't find the new standards as rigorous as our old Standard Course of Study.

I don't know what the answer is, BUT I'm doing my part to make education better. I'm getting licensed to be a principal. I don't know what change I can make, but I'm going to to my darnedest to protect as many kids as I can. I want them to be taught to THINK for themselves and not to swallow a bunch of crap that is fed to them. I want them to question authority and I want them to challenge others when things aren't right. I don't want them to grow up to be self centered butt heads!