MJS Presents a Primer on Common Core!

While researching on JSOnline for another Common Core item for Blogging Blue, I came across Erin Richard’s primer on Common Core titled: Common Core 101: A primer to separate education fact from fiction.

Her opening gambit…a cute preliminary quiz on your knowledge of Common Core: (The sender of the email I received earlier would essentially fail it!)

After months of rhetoric about nationwide academic standards, it’s time for a quick comprehension quiz.

Choose the statement that accurately describes the Common Core State Standards.

a. They are voluntary.

b. They are more rigorous than Wisconsin’s previous academic expectations.

c. They have been in the works for years.

d. The curriculum and teaching methods are decided locally.

Mark the following statements about the Common Core true or false.

a. The Common Core includes sex education standards.

b. The Common Core would position schools to collect behavioral data from students, such as from retinal or fingerprint scans.

c. Business leaders support the standards because they want a steady supply of low-functioning workers to fill rote jobs.

d. The standards amount to a federal takeover of local education — even for private schools.

How many multiple choice statements did you circle? (They’re all correct, actually.)

Did you mark any statements true? (They’re all false.)

Why does this have to be so difficult? One of the reasons education is going downhill is no one is ever willing to give a change an opportunity to take hold and work before they start screwing with it.

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2 thoughts on “MJS Presents a Primer on Common Core!

  1. One of the things I find most strange about where we are right now…

    There’s a strong public sentiment about how it’s all going (or already gone) to hell because we’re teaching these “newfangled” things & methods when we the old ways worked perfectly well for them when they were a kid 20 or 30 years ago.

    Which is is a stark contrast with one of the big problems administrators I talk to say they have – with the teachers that refuse to adapt and continue to do things the way they always have.

    Our curricula should be determined based on the science of education – driven by data that shows us what things work and what things don’t work. It’s really hard to understand what’s so difficult to understand.

  2. Why does this have to be so difficult? One of the reasons education is going downhill is no one is ever willing to give a change an opportunity to take hold and work before they start screwing with it.

    So true, Ed. We progressives always open the door because of our willingness to get buy-in from the opposition. That’s a good thing.

    But we need to keep in mind that the opposition simply wants to disable or delay the project rather than improve it. We may keep an open mind and yet insist on the integrity of the plan.

    Know that resistance is coming, no matter how well we’ve presented the case, and just keep on working it. #ACA, #KeystoneXLpipeline

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