tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post7667012231395199767..comments2024-03-28T19:47:39.985-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: More Fantasy from NYTPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-85384186020204445522014-12-29T13:17:00.427-05:002014-12-29T13:17:00.427-05:00Chemtchr is exactly right. This thing ain't ov...Chemtchr is exactly right. This thing ain't over, not even close. There are WAY too many people whose work is now woven into the boondoggle that is Common Core--and many of them are...us. Non-profits and associations that we pay dues to, blog for and work with on PD initiatives. People we appear to like. It's no surprise that Randi Weingarten insists that the big push against CCSS is limited to NY--just look around the country at all the teacher-friendly organizations that are rolling out CCSS work, aided and abetted by classroom teachers. Often, classroom teachers with marks of distinction (TOYs, NBCTs, PMAS winners, etc).<br /><br />Yesterday, in a conversation with several other band directors, I made a comment about excessive testing creeping into music education--and a Bright Young Thing shot back: Without testing, how will we be accountable for teaching the standards? <br /><br />Which standards? Well, she was a little unclear on that--whether it was her own district's standards, the barely-used National standards for music (c. 1998), or the Common Core standards which say precisely nothing about benchmarks in music learning. But, you know, standards. Standards are good, right?<br /><br />And here's the thing--they can be useful. It's easy to see how pushback against CCSS (and I'm pushing back, too) is construed as a few cranky teachers who don't want to change. It isn't--and thanks for writing this very excellent blog explaining why--but of all the repulsive reforms rolled out in the last decade, simple academic standards are the least worrisome. It's all the aligned reforms--testing, curriculum development, boneheaded use of technology, teacher evaluations--that rest on the standards that scare the crapola out of me.<br /><br />Nancy Flanagan<br />Nancy Flanaganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00047575960944913289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-14156341415338318352014-12-29T08:08:02.413-05:002014-12-29T08:08:02.413-05:00Loved this. Well done.
I did a short take down o...Loved this. Well done. <br /><br />I did a short take down of that same piece yesterday after I finished cleaning my keyboard due to the spit-takes I endured while reading it.<br />Linking your piece in the updates: http://stopcommoncorenc.org/ny-times-article-misses-mark-common-core-testing/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-15771959627574085722014-12-28T16:45:13.904-05:002014-12-28T16:45:13.904-05:00Yeah, I can't figure out how the things Kirp s...Yeah, I can't figure out how the things Kirp says are required to turn around the "great gray battleship of American public education" (what a depressing, inappropriate metaphor) have anything to do with figuring out "what schools ought to teach and how best to teach it". At least he acknowledges VAM is baloney, which Arne won't yet.<br /><br />I always love it when you invoke the unicorns.Rebecca deCocahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13168718846105012814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-58594172590882380762014-12-28T16:19:28.270-05:002014-12-28T16:19:28.270-05:00Be careful. This thing is not dead.
All the insti...Be careful. This thing is not dead.<br />All the institutional might of the corporate reformers is now bent on "capacity building". They're swarming over the schools with penalties and "grants" to put the data-driven personalized delivery, continuous standards-based "formative assessment" and "new accountability" apparatus in place anyway.<br /><br />They don't really need these particular "standards". That's why the actual CCSS is such a stupidly cobbled together piece of crap. If they control and monitor an expandable swarm of metrics and measures, they own our schools.chemtchrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08983388475654325999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-9871489008314152632014-12-28T10:57:42.519-05:002014-12-28T10:57:42.519-05:00"...these tests are designed to be taken onli..."...these tests are designed to be taken online, closing the digital divide."<br /><br />Is he SERIOUS? Online tests will most certainly NOT close the digital divide. They will make that divide even more profound. <br /><br />There is so much nonsense in his piece. <br /><br />Rage? How dare he? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-14687938771081935742014-12-28T10:06:37.274-05:002014-12-28T10:06:37.274-05:00Great piece, Peter.
It is not apparent that Davi...Great piece, Peter. <br /><br />It is not apparent that David Kirp did any research for his essay other than an Internet search of pro-Common Core sites. He did not even bother to include a link to justify his claim that teachers love the Common Core because it encourages creativity. <br /><br />Let's at least thank the editor for giving the piece an accurate and provocative title. My rage will subside when my kids get the same type of education provided by Sidwell Friends and Lakeside, i.e. not Common Core. Nicholas Tampiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02156129727935428293noreply@blogger.com