why common core

thanks to @ianchia - starting here:
20 mill on gamifying core - audrey watters

led to this:
washington post on common core

I honestly don't understand why classroom teachers were left out of this process.

Hopefully the common core will become a starting point for a genuine discussion of how to improve public education in the U.S.

this is like saying... sorry we forgot to ask you what you wanted to name your kid, but we've picked out 10 common names, let's genuinely discuss which one you might like better.
if lucy isn't on the list.. and i love lucy.. that genuine discussion really means little.

As Alfie Kohn has pointed out ("Beware of the standards, not just the tests,") standards and tests go together: Tests serve as "the enforcement mechanism of the standards." Not surprisingly, included with the announcement of new "rigorous" standards is the news that we will also be getting new tests:

"The federal government recently opened bidding for $350 million to work on new national tests that would be given to students in states that adopt the national standards." ("New national math, English standards drafted," Associated Press, March 10).

"And adoption of the new standards would set off a vast new effort to rewrite textbooks and standardized tests." ("Panel Releases Proposal to Set U.S. Standards for Education," New York Times, March 10).

This means billions of dollars will be spent on test construction, validation, revision, etc. at a time when school are already very short of funds, when in many schools school bathrooms often lack toilet paper, science classes have no lab equipment, school libraries (those that are left) have few books, school years are being shortened, and teachers are losing their jobs.

Education secretary Arne Duncan apparently thinks that measuring is more important than providing the means for growth.

we are a silly people.

i don't think Gates (or anyone) is trying to be silly. i think he wants to help people. i think most of us do, we just get excited when a potential answer comes along and we jump on it. without even asking if we're asking the right questions. are we solving something that isn't even what matters to us?


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