Wednesday, August 27, 2014


A Closer Look at the Botched Common Core Results

Misleading title aside, the Buffalo News report was not good. “Students in Buffalo statewide make modest gains in math,” declared an article in the New York newspaper detailing the results from the second year of Common Core implementation. Well yes, math scores did overall improve. But, the rest of the report was not quite so rosy:

Despite another full year of preparation by schools after the rollout of state Common Core tests in 2013, there were no dramatic, across-the-board gains in English this year. Large-city districts saw slight year-to-year improvement, but wealthier suburban districts statewide actually saw overall declines on the English exam.

The detailed grade proficiency results in New York from 2012 through 2014 are downright embarrassing. Even the most successful schools weren’t spared from Common Core. Take Ledgeview Elementary School, for example. This school boasted a 91.2 percent proficiency in 2012 for third grade math. The next year, those scores slid down to 76.3 percent. It ticked back up slightly in 2014 to 82 percent, but that was small consolation.

City Honors School, a top rated school in the state, had an impressive 90.2 percent proficiency in eighth grade ELA in 2012. That shot down to 80.4 percent in 2013.

Orchard Park Middle School experienced a swift decline as well. Eighth grade ELA in 2012: 77 percent proficiency, 2013: 58.1 percent, 2014: 52 percent.

Most tragically, the schools already struggling were hit hardest by the new program. The Harriet Ross Tubman Academy, which had a 25.7 percent in third grade math, is now down to two percent.

While Buffalo had minor gains overall, the main issue is worth repeating:

The minor gains in Buffalo were carried by a relatively small number of schools, with the vast majority showing little to no improvement.

Many suburban schools saw significant declines in their eighth-grade scores this year. In Clarence, 52 percent of eighth-graders were proficient in English this year, compared with 64 percent the previous year. The decline was more dramatic in math – 30 percent were proficient this year, compared to 59 percent last year.

Despite these undeniably poor results, State Education Commissioner John King said this year’s statewide scores are “encouraging.”

I guess these students have to bring home ‘F’s to their parents before King dares to criticize the new program.

Unlike King, many parents and teachers are now rejecting the new Common Core standards. In a new poll released by PDK International and Gallup, 60 percent of those surveyed said they oppose the educational standards. What’s more, an education journal named Education Next found that 76 percent of teachers supported Common Core last year, but in 2014, that number has dropped to 46 percent.

In addition to hurting test scores, Common Core is threatening children's educational foundations with its misleading lessons. Take, for instance, the program's take on American history. Rebecca wrote about Common Core’s new standards for the AP US History exam, which leaves out inspiring details about our Founding Fathers and portrays America in a negative light.

Every state should take Governor Bobby Jindal’s (R-LA) lead. The Louisiana governor is fighting to delay Common Core implementation in his state. Although a judge recently ruled  against his efforts, Jindal is taking the right steps to try and defend these educators' freedom to teach as they wish, without worrying about these government standards.

Common Core is not in the best interests of students or teachers. How many more bad grades do children have to receive before the program is scrapped?

SOURCE






NC: Judge rules private school vouchers unconstitutional

A new school voucher program for low-income families was ruled unconstitutional Thursday by a judge who said taxpayer money should not be used for tuition to private or religious schools.

The vouchers pay for students to attend privately run K-12 schools that do not have to meet state curriculum requirements, violating the state constitution, Wake County Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood said.

"Appropriating taxpayer funds to unaccountable schools does not accomplish a public purpose," Hobgood said.

A teachers group and many of the state's 115 school boards challenged the voucher program. Advocates said they planned to appeal.

At least a dozen states and the District of Columbia provide state-funded school vouchers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The State Educational Assistance Authority, which was given the task of managing $10 million in government-funded scholarships, planned to distribute the first $728,000 in tuition money to schools for 363 students on Tuesday. None of that money was given out, said the agency's grants director Elizabeth McDuffie.

Iris McElveen, 45, of Fayetteville got the news of the judge's ruling as she was running back-to-school errands, including a visit to the doctor's office. She'd already bought a uniform and school supplies for her 12-year-old son, who enrolled at a Christian school ready to accept the state payment.

"It's very stressful," said McElveen, a single mother whose three older children are in high school and college.

McElveen sought to send her son to the religious school because it "would have been a more one-on-one" than the charter school, where she said "the classes were too, too large. He was getting overlooked."

Hobgood blocked the state voucher program in February until there could be a trial. The state Supreme Court reversed him in May and allowed implementation to go ahead.

In June, the state agency moved up the date to distribute tuition funding so that it could do it before Hobgood's ruling. Executive director Steven Brooks said the agency decided distributing the money sooner was better, not that they wanted to get out ahead of the judge.

The program's supporters hoped an appeal would let the vouchers continue, said Darrell Allison, president of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina.

"While this court decision might represent a temporary roadblock on the path towards educational freedom in North Carolina, I believe it's just that — temporary," Allison said in a statement. "We're going to continue to fight for a parent's right to choose the educational setting that works best for their children."

The group Public Schools First NC praised the ruling.

"This upholds North Carolina's long-standing commitment to public education. Public education creates productive citizens, a strong economy, and a great democracy," Yevonne Brannon, the group's chairwoman, said in an emailed statement.

Children seeking the scholarships must qualify for the federal free or reduced-price school lunch program, which has an income limit of about $44,000 for a family of four. The grants aren't available to students already attending private schools.

The General Assembly set aside $10 million last year to give up to $4,200 each for up to 2,400 students. About 5,550 children applied for the lottery to select the first year's scholarship students, and of those 4,200 met the criteria to qualify, McDuffie said. Nearly 1,880 lottery-winning families had accepted vouchers by Thursday, she said.

SOURCE]






Summerville Police arrest student for writing he shot dead dinosaur

YOU don’t need to be a Rhodes Scholar to know that dinosaurs became extinct about 66 million years ago.

Yet a high school student’s statement that he shot dead his neighbour’s pet dinosaur saw police officers called to the school.
Alex Stone, a 16-year-old student at Summerville High School in the town of Summerville in South Carolina, said that his class was asked to write a few sentences about themselves and to list a “status” as if they were filling in their Facebook page, WCSC-TV reported.

The teen wrote “I killed my neighbour’s pet dinosaur.” In the status section, he said he wrote: “I bought the gun to take care of the business.”

That prompted the school to call in Summerville Police Department. Stone was arrested and later charged with disorderly conduct after he argued with officers, who searched fruitlessly for a gun in his school bag and locker. He has also been suspended from school.
Stone’s mother, Karen Gray, is angry that she was not called before the police.

“I could understand if they made him rewrite it because he did have ‘gun’ in it,” she said.

“(But) I mean first of all we don’t have dinosaurs anymore. Second of all, he’s not even old enough to buy a gun.”

Stone said he meant no harm and is surprised his words could be construed that way.

“I regret it because they put it on my record, but I don’t see the harm in it,” he said. “I think there might have been a better way of putting it, but I think me writing like that, it shouldn’t matter unless I put it out towards a person.”

SOURCE

No comments: