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Common Core lessons blasted for sneaking politics into elementary classrooms

Norm referenced tests: The test is given to a large group, and the mean, median, and standard deviation calculated. Grade level on a norm referenced test means the average (mean) score for that grade level.

Criterion referenced tests: Start with a goal, a criterion, (expectation of achievement based not on the average for the group tested, but a goal that every student is expected to reach).

The tests may look similar, but the way they're graded is not.

The end of the year tests that are meant to grade not students, but schools, are criterion referenced tests. Schools should have taught to this goal, and if kids didn't reach it, then the schools have failed. That's the premise behind the testing.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Norm referenced tests: The test is given to a large group, and the mean, median, and standard deviation calculated. Grade level on a norm referenced test means the average (mean) score for that grade level.

Criterion referenced tests: Start with a goal, a criterion, (expectation of achievement based not on the average for the group tested, but a goal that every student is expected to reach).

The tests may look similar, but the way they're graded is not.

The end of the year tests that are meant to grade not students, but schools, are criterion referenced tests. Schools should have taught to this goal, and if kids didn't reach it, then the schools have failed. That's the premise behind the testing.
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Yes, there is a big difference in how the test are used and interpreted. I'm not sure if the general public realizes how these high stakes test can be very dangerous when they are being used inappropriately. If there is enough backlash, things will change. Already many states have dropped out of PARCC.
 
Josie said:
I was on the committee that went through the 2 literacy programs that administrators picked for us to choose from. They picked these two programs because they were already aligned with Common Core standards. Our committee went through every single page of the teacher's manuals, student textbooks, big books, etc. and tallied how many times vocabulary, specific phonics rules, comprehension, fluency, etc. was taught. It was exhausting, to say the least. After we were done with our report, we presented it to the rest of the staff and everyone voted.
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So you had an active role, at the local level, in choosing the curriculum. I don't know whether they picked your choice, but it was your district's choice to make.
 
Here's why the testing, starting with NCLB was promoted:

No Bush Left Behind

Across the country, some teachers complain that President George W. Bush's makeover of public education promotes "teaching to the test." The President's younger brother Neil takes a different tack: He's selling to the test. The No Child Left Behind Act compels schools to prove students' mastery of certain facts by means of standardized exams. Pressure to perform has energized the $1.9 billion-a-year instructional software industry.
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and then, there's the link between the Bushes and McGraw/Hill (who also publishes Business Week, the source of the first link:

The Bushes and the McGraws

By Jim Trelease, © 2004, 2006

One of the trademarks of the current reading reform legislation out of Washington is that any district wishing to qualify for government funding must be implementing "scientifically based" reading instruction. Only "approved" reading series/texts/curricula will be funded by the government.

By the National Reading Panel's standards, that would mean a heavily scripted phonics program. And who is the biggest phonics publisher? McGraw-Hill, the publisher of Open Court. It was McGraw-Hill representatives and authors who dominated Gov. George W. Bush's Texas reading advisory board. No surprise that Open Court was the program of choice in the Lone Star State. And McGraw-Hill's connections to the National Reading Panel's report is no less transparent: Widemeyer Communications, the Washington PR firm that handled the promotion of Open Court in Texas, was also the firm hired to promote the NRP's report, including the writing of its Introduction, Summary, and video, the three parts that have taken the most flack from critics.
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and, then there's Obama, aka Bush III or Bush on steroids.

Follow the money, and it will lead you to the truth every time.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Here's why the testing, starting with NCLB was promoted:

No Bush Left Behind



and then, there's the link between the Bushes and McGraw/Hill (who also publishes Business Week, the source of the first link:

The Bushes and the McGraws



and, then there's Obama, aka Bush III or Bush on steroids.

Follow the money, and it will lead you to the truth every time.
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Yes, follow the money trail.....

Aug 1 (Reuters) - The investors gathered in a tony private club in Manhattan were eager to hear about the next big thing, and education consultant Rob Lytle was happy to oblige.

Think about the upcoming rollout of new national academic standards for public schools, he urged the crowd. If they're as rigorous as advertised, a huge number of schools will suddenly look really bad, their students testing way behind in reading and math. They'll want help, quick. And private, for-profit vendors selling lesson plans, educational software and student assessments will be right there to provide it.

"You start to see entire ecosystems of investment opportunity lining up," said Lytle, a partner at The Parthenon Group, a Boston consulting firm. "It could get really, really big."

Indeed, investors of all stripes are beginning to sense big profit potential in public education.

The K-12 market is tantalizingly huge: The U.S. spends more than $500 billion a year to educate kids from ages five through 18. The entire education sector, including college and mid-career training, represents nearly 9 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, more than the energy or technology sectors.

Private firms eyeing profits from U.S. public schools | Reuters
 
Josie said:
Education will never truly change in this country until more parents start giving a damn.
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Might as well be content with the idea that it won't, then. :p Join our crowd of the: "no matter what you do, you can likely only get marginal improvement, but we must keep going with trying" mantra.
 
Fiddytree said:
Might as well be content with the idea that it won't, then. :p Join our crowd of the: "no matter what you do, you can likely only get marginal improvement, but we must keep going with trying" mantra.
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IMO, if we want more than marginal improvement, it's going to take more than changing anything the teachers and schools do (as far as teaching goes). There's a host of social factors that need to be addressed.
 
sangha said:
IMO, if we want more than marginal improvement, it's going to take more than changing anything the teachers and schools do (as far as teaching goes). There's a host of social factors that need to be addressed.
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Oh, sure, but the problem is that's an abstract discussion that can hardly be attacked by anyone. Compounding the difficulty is no one is quite sure why education is failing, but we have all convinced ourselves that it surely is failing in this country. Short of examining the negative impact of NCLB and some of the accountability school, it's to the point where I am skeptical of the reach of the claim itself.
 
Fiddytree said:
Oh, sure, but the problem is that's an abstract discussion that can hardly be attacked by anyone. Compounding the difficulty is no one is quite sure why education is failing, but we have all convinced ourselves that it surely is failing in this country. Short of examining the negative impact of NCLB and some of the accountability school, it's to the point where I am skeptical of the reach of the claim itself.
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At this point, I should probably state that I don't believe that our educational system is failing. I think the large majority of schools are doing a job that could be described as satisfactory to excellent. IMO, the problem is with a small portion of the schools - the worst performers, who are doing a poor job. The problems those schools are having have little to do with the curriculum or a lack of testing or national standards
 
Fiddytree said:
Oh, sure, but the problem is that's an abstract discussion that can hardly be attacked by anyone. Compounding the difficulty is no one is quite sure why education is failing, but we have all convinced ourselves that it surely is failing in this country. Short of examining the negative impact of NCLB and some of the accountability school, it's to the point where I am skeptical of the reach of the claim itself.
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I have to agree with you. Looking at 2009 PISA scores and accounting for poverty, we don't look as bad as some of these politicians want us to believe.

The Answer Sheet - How poverty affected U.S. PISA scores
The Principal Difference: A School Leadership Blog by Mel Riddile: PISA: It's Poverty Not Stupid
 
rabbitcaebannog said:
I have to agree with you. Looking at 2009 PISA scores and accounting for poverty, we don't look as bad as some of these politicians want us to believe.

The Answer Sheet - How poverty affected U.S. PISA scores
The Principal Difference: A School Leadership Blog by Mel Riddile: PISA: It's Poverty Not Stupid
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My biggest concern is that I do not believe we were ever at the "top of the class", if you will, for international comparisons. Americans love to bring up the fact that X number of countries outrank us through certain examinations. Well, sure, but how long has it been that way? If I recall correctly, it's been that way for much of the measured 20th century.

It's part of the conflating issues of American exceptionalism. I think Americans have taken it to mean that they must be the best at everything good and away from everything bad to be exceptional lol. This is regardless if we never were the best at something.

*American exceptionalism, broadly understood, is the concept that America or the American continents are unique in experience, for better or for worse*
 
sangha said:
At this point, I should probably state that I don't believe that our educational system is failing. I think the large majority of schools are doing a job that could be described as satisfactory to excellent.
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Are you kidding here...In this assessment we rank 27th out of 33 in Math, 22nd out of 33 in Science, and Dead last 33rd place in Reading....Yeah, the system is just fine.....:roll:

Educational Score Performance - Country Rankings

IMO, the problem is with a small portion of the schools - the worst performers, who are doing a poor job. The problems those schools are having have little to do with the curriculum or a lack of testing or national standards
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You're partially right here...There is much more to the story in low performing school systems. Incompetent teachers, Administration that just doesn't care, Drop out rates through the roof, Lack of basic supplies and tools (Back to the administration level problems), and Apathetic parenting. But to say that standards, testing, or curriculum is little, to nothing of the problem, is blame shifting to the max.
 
j-mac said:
Are you kidding here...In this assessment we rank 27th out of 33 in Math, 22nd out of 33 in Science, and Dead last 33rd place in Reading....Yeah, the system is just fine.....:roll:
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Newsflash: We never outranked the world, or anywhere near it with standardized examinations. When the U.S. was the unquestioned superpower of superpowers, the greatest economy, the best workers, and the brightest future for all guess what? We always got trounced.
 
Fiddytree said:
Newsflash: We never outranked the world, or anywhere near it with standardized examinations. When the U.S. was the unquestioned superpower of superpowers, the greatest economy, the best workers, and the brightest future for all guess what? We always got trounced.
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So, we should just accept low rankings? Great, maybe our chant can be "we're last place!"
 
j-mac said:
So, we should just accept low rankings? Great, maybe our chant can be "we're last place!"
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Unless you want to match the incredibly naive optimism that plagued liberals in the late 20th century, then yes, you'll want to accept much of that reality, and try to reexamine the premise. Do what is somewhat possible to improve matters, but accept the notion that massive change is likely not ever going to happen.
 
j-mac said:
So, we should just accept low rankings? Great, maybe our chant can be "we're last place!"
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Do those higher scoring nations try to educate everyone?
Or do they select the better students to prepare for college level work?

Test scores don't tell the whole tale.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Do those higher scoring nations try to educate everyone?
Or do they select the better students to prepare for college level work?

Test scores don't tell the whole tale.
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That, and so much more

For one thing, those scores only apply to math, science and reading. What about other subjects? Maybe their results came at the expense of subjects like history, art, etc.

And then there's those three subjects themselves. Maybe our population reads at a lower grade level, but our students are exposed to a wider range of literature.

Those three #'s are pretty meaningless on their own.
 
sangha said:
That, and so much more

For one thing, those scores only apply to math, science and reading. What about other subjects? Maybe their results came at the expense of subjects like history, art, etc.

And then there's those three subjects themselves. Maybe our population reads at a lower grade level, but our students are exposed to a wider range of literature.

Those three #'s are pretty meaningless on their own.
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The most important grand question that needs to be answered: does the higher test score mean that we will be satisfied with the character and quality of education? Will each improvement in test scores mean that Americans will feel better about their education system?

My feeling on both is no.
 
Fiddytree said:
Unless you want to match the incredibly naive optimism that plagued liberals in the late 20th century, then yes, you'll want to accept much of that reality, and try to reexamine the premise. Do what is somewhat possible to improve matters, but accept the notion that massive change is likely not ever going to happen.
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We are failing our children...Serious change is called for.
 
j-mac said:
We are failing our children...Serious change is called for.
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Were we failing our children 50 years ago, when everything was more or less unquestioned that America was at the top of its game? 70 years ago? 80? 30?

I sense a tone of crisis, not historical inadequacy. If it can be acknowledged that historically we were "failing" our students, I would like to know how you will overcome what liberals could not with its equally ambitious projects.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Do those higher scoring nations try to educate everyone?
Or do they select the better students to prepare for college level work?

Test scores don't tell the whole tale.
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That's a cop out...I don't buy for a second that you believe that our education system is just fine.
 
j-mac said:
Are you kidding here...In this assessment we rank 27th out of 33 in Math, 22nd out of 33 in Science, and Dead last 33rd place in Reading....Yeah, the system is just fine.....:roll:

Educational Score Performance - Country Rankings



You're partially right here...There is much more to the story in low performing school systems. Incompetent teachers, Administration that just doesn't care, Drop out rates through the roof, Lack of basic supplies and tools (Back to the administration level problems), and Apathetic parenting. But to say that standards, testing, or curriculum is little, to nothing of the problem, is blame shifting to the max.
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You didn't read my link?
 
sangha said:
That, and so much more

For one thing, those scores only apply to math, science and reading. What about other subjects? Maybe their results came at the expense of subjects like history, art, etc.

And then there's those three subjects themselves. Maybe our population reads at a lower grade level, but our students are exposed to a wider range of literature.

Those three #'s are pretty meaningless on their own.
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Reading, Science, and Math are the foundation....Can't build **** without that.
 
The 2009 PISA testing administered every three years to 15-year-olds in 60 countries determined U.S. students ranking 14th in reading. The U.S. average score was 500 and the average of all countries assessed was 493. Dr. Gerald N. Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, did an analysis of the performance of U.S. students based on the prevalence of poverty in the student body of their respective schools determined by rate of free and reduced lunch participation. The overall poverty rate in U.S. schools was established at 21.7 percent, highest of any of the countries tested.

Tirozzi determined that the average PISA reading score for students in U.S. schools with less than 10 percent student poverty was 551, ranking first compared to the 10 countries with similar poverty numbers. Ruling out the factor of poverty, U.S. educators produce the highest-achieving students of any country in the world.

The same ranking held for U.S. schools with 10 to 24.9 percent poverty. Remarkably, this group’s average, 527, was higher than the scores of any of the other PISA countries except Korea and Finland.

U.S. schools with poverty rates between 25 and 49.9 percent (far exceeding any other country tested) scored an average of 502, still in the upper half of all the countries tested.

In U.S. schools with 50 to 74.9 percent students in poverty, the average PISA score was 471. Students in schools with poverty greater than 75 percent scored 446, outperforming only Mexico. The achievement gap is not a factor of the caliber of leadership and instruction in the U.S. public school system. It reflects the high poverty rates that cluster in the most under-resourced schools in our country.
 
j-mac said:
That's a cop out...I don't buy for a second that you believe that our education system is just fine.
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Oh, I think there are some serious reforms in order, and I've outlined what some of those reforms should be.

I just don't buy the "failing public schools" meme.

Nor do I think for a moment that the test scores tell the whole story, or even a very accurate story, for reasons I've already given in this thread.
 
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