I am really excited to welcome Joan on the show. She has written some of the most passionate and thoughtful articles against the Common Core of anyone on the web.
Quote:
“Common Core is Completely Untested
Common Core Standards are completely untested experimentally yet are being inflicted on virtually every student in the entire U.S. from K-12 with NO PREVIOUS TESTING. This is an egregious violation of basic ethics and good science and shows the developers’ absolute disregard or ignorance of potential harms to children. The EPA conducts more testing for the food dyes in Kool-Aid than has been conducted on Common Core which kids will live with for 8 hours a day for 12 years.”
“The country’s largest teachers union is no longer a cheerleader for Common Core national education standards.
In a letter to the National Education Association’s 3 million members, President Dennis Van Roekel issued a sharp critique of Common Core. It marks the first time NEA has voiced concerns about the standards, a key initiative of the Obama Administration.”
Our obligation as a nation, and my obligation as an educator, is to help children achieve their potential, participate in our democracy and propel our economy forward. In today’s world, that means our students must be prepared to compete—not on the basis of their test-taking skills, but on their ability to solve problems, analyze and apply knowledge, and work with others.
So, what if I told you there is a way to transform the very DNA of teaching and learning to move away from rote memorization and endless test-prep, and toward problem solving, critical thinking and teamwork—things I know many of you have been advocating for years? And what if I told you there is a way to do that not a generation from now, but for students today, who will be the employees you’ll hire tomorrow?
In these are the potential to do that.
These are the Common Core State Standards for Math and English language arts that have been adopted by the District of Columbia and 45 states, including New York. The pages within these binders lay out the kind of learning I have seen in classrooms in Finland, Singapore and other top-performing systems throughout the world. These standards establish high expectations for all students, regardless of whether they’re from Bed-Stuy or Beverly Hills, Bay Shore, Long Island, or Birmingham, Ala.
Before I get to the importance of these binders, let me do a one-minute advertorial for the AFT.”
Weingarten has done a 180 from where she was last year and said this last week:
“The union head proposed at least one year of field testing for the standards, as a matter ofresponsibility. She claimed that teachers and parents “must be a part of this.”
Weingarten addressed her home state of New York because, in her words, “they simply don’t get it in Washington.”
Weingarten’s statement acknowledges it is the parents and local leaders within the states who will bear the burden of Common Core. Parents have the most at stake over the education of their children, and should have a seat at the table when it comes to establishing the content taught in local schools. This is precisely why groups from across the spectrum are fighting against the centralization that Common Core represents. It strips control from the people who have the most at stake in the education endeavor: parents and taxpayers.”
I am really excited to welcome Joan on the show. She has written some of the most passionate and thoughtful articles against the Common Core of anyone on the web.
