How is Common Core working in your state?

[Generic Other]

How Common Core testing is doing across the country:

"Common Core tests will count for teachers, not students"

The state Education Department is trying hard to downplay the second round of Common Core-based tests for grades 3-8, which begin Tuesday, as low-stakes exams with no passing grades and minimal consequences for students.

Legislators have supported this notion with a provision in the state budget plan that halts any use of test scores to decide student placements... Critics are dismayed that test results will still be used to help evaluate teachers, a requirement that school districts have railed against as imprecise and unfair.

"If a test is not relevant to evaluate students, it is beyond sanity, beyond reason, to use the same impaired test results to evaluate teachers," said Pat Puleo, president of the Yonkers Federation of Teachers. "It confirms that the evaluations are punitive and not really intended to improve education, as the state says."

Lohud The Journal News (3/14)
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/education/2014/03/29/common-core-testing-starts/7051561/

"Protests after thousands opt out of New York Common Core testing"

...Many parents decided to opt their children out of the testing, with advocacy groups estimating that more than 28,000 of the state's 1.2 million third- through eighth-graders skipped this week's three-day English language arts assessments. That's more than double last year's number.

Teachers described the test as horrendous, complaining of inappropriate content and ambiguous questions they say do a terrible job of measuring reading comprehension.
Teachers and staff are protesting Friday, and they are encouraging parents to join them.

Depending on the district, students refusing the test either quietly read during the daily 60- to 90-minute sessions or stayed at their desks doing nothing under much-criticized "sit-and-stare" policies...
ABC News (4/14).
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/education&id=9491448

"Common Core Brings a New Chapter of High-Stakes Test Horrors"

...New York’s teacher evaluations are producing irrational results, feeding more fuel to the resistance fire. For example, test results say there are no “highly effective” elementary or middle-school teachers in Syracuse, NY. Every evaluated teacher at Syracuse’s Henniger High School received a “zero” on the 20-point portion of their evaluation based on student scores. Despite the devastating results, which placed the teachers at risk of termination if they did not improve their status within a year, district officials said the evaluations followed state and district guidelines and would remain in place. In Somerville, Massachusetts, when most teachers were placed in the low “needs improvement” category, a teacher and community uproar forced the superintendent to redo the evaluations. However, to the dismay of many parents, some highly respected teachers decided to leave the district. Use of student scores to evaluate teachers is required of all states that obtain federal waivers from No Child Left Behind...

Fair Test: National Center for Fair and Open Testing (2013)
http://www.fairtest.org/Common-Core-Testing-Horror-Stories

"S.C. House committee advances Common Core resistance bill"

The House Education and Public Works Committee advanced a proposal Wednesday that would, among other changes, withdraw South Carolina from a group of states working together to develop a test to assess students on the Common Core standards, which outline what students should know and be able to do at each grade level.

The desire to abandon the test, developed by states with help from a federal grant, comes as districts still have not field-tested the assessment, leaving some lawmakers and education leaders wondering what problems might crop up.
The State (4/14)
http://www.thestate.com/2014/04/09/3376879/house-advances-common-core-resistance.html

"Common Core opposition grows on LI, nationwide"

Still, there has been growing opposition in the state, with anti-Common Core groups forming and rallies being held against the standards. Teachers and future teachers there also are concerned because the assessments are tied to their evaluations, Benner said, adding that a recent policy change linked teachers' licensure retention to the tests.
In Indiana, where the curriculum was adopted in 2010, lawmakers voted to pause it last spring and the future of the curriculum remains uncertain. That delay was considered a victory for Hoosiers Against Common Core, a coalition that mobilized about 50 grassroots groups throughout the state against it, said Heather Crossin, co-founder of the group and a parent from Indianapolis.

"We want it to be out by May first," Crossin said. The group seeks local control over education and wants to reduce the power of standardized testing.
Jim Stergios, executive director of the Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based think tank that is a leading opponent of Common Core, said similar opposition groups have formed in states such as Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah and Wisconsin. He said there are dozens of bills in states all over the country to slow or pull out of the tests or standards.

Newsday (2013)
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/common-core-opposition-grows-on-li-nationwide-1.6562475

"High cost of Common Core has states rethinking the national education standards"

The federally-backed standards initiative, first proposed by the nation's governors and an educators' association, seeks to impose a national standard for achievement among K-12 students. So far, 45 states plus the District of Columbia have signed on, with some implementing curriculum designed for the Common Core Standards Initiative during the current school year and the rest set to take part in the next school year. But several states are reconsidering their participation, and one big reason is the cost.
States will spend up to an estimated $10 billion up front, then as much as $800 million per year for the first seven years that the controversial program is up and running. Much of the cost is on new, Common Core-aligned textbooks and curriculum, but the added expenses also include teacher training, technology upgrades, testing and assessment. The figures are taking states by surprise.

“It’s a fair amount of money given a lot of states signed up without any cost analysis,” Theodor Rebarber, CEO and founder of the nonprofit Accountability Works, which sanctioned the study on the projected costs of Common Core, told FoxNews.com. “Just looking at the cost aspect, it was not focused at the time, so a lot of jurisdictions did not realize what would occur down the road...”

...Education officials in Maryland estimated in a report last month that it will require $100 million to upgrade computers statewide to support the testing that is the centerpiece of Common Core. Georgia and California are also finding that costs are too high to implement Common Core, with the latter estimated to spend approximately $35 million per year, or about $30 per student, in testing costs alone.

Fox News (2/14)
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/05/number-states-backing-out-common-core-testing-maryland-schools-low-on-funding

"NEA Blasts Implementation of "Common Core" Standards," Kinney, J. (2/14)

The National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union and ardent supporter of the Common Core academic standards, has now called the nationwide implementation of the standards "completely botched." What is needed is a major "course correction" that may require a revision of some of the standards, along with teacher input into implementation of the standards and accompanying tests, NEA president Dennis Van Roekel (shown) wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to the union's more than three million members, Politico reported.
The often controversial standards have been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia. New lessons and the exams introduced in the classrooms this year have sparked widespread protests, and at least one state, Indiana, is reported to be on the verge of pulling out of the program. Several other states are expected to have heated debates this spring over the standards, including Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia, Politco said. In his letter to the members, also published on the NEA website, Van Roekel charged that in some states the manner in which the Common Core State Standards have been put in place has amounted to "malpractice." He noted that the "completely botched" verdict would come as no surprise to the teachers.

Seven of ten teachers believe that implementation of the standards is going poorly in their schools.... Worse yet, teachers report that there has been little to no attempt to allow educators to share what's needed to get CCSS implementation right. In fact, two thirds of all teachers report that they have not even been asked how to implement these new standards in their classrooms.

Imagine that: The very people expected to deliver universal access to high quality standards with high quality instruction have not had the opportunity to share their expertise and advice about how to make CCSS implementation work for all students, educators, and parents.

Consequently, NEA members have a right to feel frustrated, upset, and angry about the poor commitment to implementing the standards correctly.

The New American
http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/education/item/17674-nea-blasts-implementation-of-common-core-standards

"Duncan apologizes for ‘white suburban moms’ Common Core controversy"

On Friday, Duncan stoked outrage by suggesting “white suburban moms” don’t like the new standards because they force them to realize their kids aren’t as smart as they thought. He made the comment while speaking to a group of state superintendents, acknowledging the backlash to Common Core.

“It’s fascinating to me that some of the pushback is coming from, sort of, white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were, and that’s pretty scary,” Duncan said on Friday in comments first reported by Politico.

Common Core supporters argue that American schools aren’t rigorous enough and the national standards will help every student learn what they need to succeed.
Duncan walked back his bumbling remark on Monday, saying in a statement that his comments had been “clumsy.” But he insisted that he wants to have honest conversations about the challenges of the new Common Core standards. “I want to encourage a difficult conversation and challenge the underlying assumption that when we talk about the need to improve our nation’s schools, we are talking only about poor minority students in inner cities,” he said.

Yahoo News (2013)
http://news.yahoo.com/duncan-apologizes-for-%E2%80%98white-suburban-moms--common-core-controversy-224735173.html

"Tennessee House approves Common Core delay"

Tennessee lawmakers voted to delay the Common Core education program for two years, as opponents staged an ambush Thursday morning on the floor of the state House.

A coalition of Republican and Democratic lawmakers used an unrelated bill on American government to force a reckoning on the controversial new teaching standards. Lawmakers voted 82-11 to freeze in place Common Core, which has been rolling out gradually over the past three years, and put off new testing that goes with the program until the 2016-17 school year.
“Let’s get it right,” said House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, who led the fight. “We’re just moving too fast.”

The Tennessean (3/14)
http://archive.tennessean.com/article/20140313/NEWS02/303130101/Tennessee-House-approves-Common-Core-delay

[Rod Beauvex]

1. Common Core is applying the wrong solution to the wrong problem.

We became a world power without Common Core. We built the atomic bomb without Common Core. We got to the moon without Common Core. We built the internet without Common Core.

Someone else said on DU that fixing financial/wealth inequality will do more for our education problems. I agree.

I feel that paying teachers more, funding our schools better, and lowering the financial barrier to higher education would go a long way. Teachers will care more about their jobs with better pay. Students will care more if they see a future after high school.

I do feel that we should have some sort of national standards, but other things have to be done first.

[Generic Other]

2. Teachers in my district are reapplying for their jobs

Every year. Teachers pitted against one another must compete for positions. Talk of selling buildings to charters. For-profit schools. Testing Testing Testing. Failing Failing Failing.

[Rod Beauvex]

3. :(

Disgusting.

When does it end?