Jan. 31st, 2015
I agree with Erica that the problem with Common Core math standards is not the standards themselves, but the curriculum. At our school we have been using Envision for several years and when they repackaged for Common Core, all they really did was relabel the topics. In the article about the authors of Common Core I thought it was interesting that neither had had any elementary experience and now Daro was going on to write curriculum with Pearson (publishers of Envision) for the tablet. This is another example of great forward thinking, but the execution is impossible because not all students in schools have equal access to tablets.
The bigger problem is testing. They still haven't developed a test that truly and authentically captures a child's thinking process. This can only be done by a teacher, one-on-one. Tying our compensation and review to students' success on the new assessments is ludicrous as the article stated.
Final note on teaching to two generations. Our school hosted its own Common Core math meeting this year. It is essential that we communicate the bigger concepts of Common Core to the parents so thaat they can once again be partners in their child's education.
Donna, as a fellow user of Envisions I feel your pain. That whole system of instruction does not support student learning of math concepts and their repackaging as common core ready is a joke and a half.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to add that the type of high stakes testing that we are required to do does nothing but encourage people to teach to the test instead of understanding regardless of the standards in place.
I also really liked the idea, presented in the article, that parents should be shown what common core math is about in order to help them see the vision behind it and improve their opinion on the topic.