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Keep Common Core Out of Our Schools

This topic contains 8 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by  Kimberly Taylor Benge 9 years, 4 months ago.

  • Keep Common Core Out of Our Schools

    Started by Julie Jumes

    They are rewriting the American History books on our dime, parents! Time to show up in Austin to tell them we are done with Common Core. Join Ken Mercer Tuesday, Sept 16th at 10A SBOE Public Hearing

    http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/09/6/SBOE-s-Mercer-Resolution-Seeks-To-Stop-Radical-APUSH-Redesign-in-Texas

    Here is a great example of a young man stepping up to try to prevent his taxes from being used in this effort at the SBOE meeting in which the AP History problem was introduced:
    http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=457ba2f5945d9055&sid=0Aas2LRwzcOGTtI

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    Replies

    Thank you, we’ll certainly be watching as the situation develops. Greg Abbott is adamantly opposed to both CSCOPE and Common Core:

    “In the coming years, Common Core is not going to become an issue because as governor, I am not going to allow Common Core in Texas. CSCOPE, I will drive a stake through the heart of CSCOPE and ensure that neither CSCOPE nor Common Core have any level of threat or viability in the state of Texas. I know that principals, teachers, parents, here in the state of Texas know far more how to educate our students than do these bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.”

    http://www.examiner.com/article/greg-abbott-vows-to-drive-stake-through-heart-of-cscope

    MC Lambeth
    Policy, Texans for Greg Abbott

    I regret to inform you that Common Core is already in Texas schools. The text books, websites, programs, and other educational tools are CC already. Companies like Pearson, McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Hoodamath.com, SpellingCity.com, IXL, EnVision, Accelerated Reading, Accelerated Math, Poptropica, Scholastics, etc. are all CC aligned and used by the schools here. So, does this mean that with Greg Abbot as governor, all of these companies and websites will be removed and strictly independent companies and websites will be utilized? The amount of stress that Texas children are being put under with school work and STAAR testing is more than any child should face. Texas may not have “agreed” to accept CC, but it’s here anyway.

    Definitely agree above…CC is bere but is hidden and disguised as something else…why not start over with the basics and let our teachers do what they were hired to do….TEACH. stop stressing kids out over STAAR. How can you make a test determine whether or not a child passes or fails or graduates or not. This is utterly ridiculous. No test should determine that. As a future educator, I’m all for testing students to see what they are learning, but by no means should STAAR dictate that a students passes or fails. Let’s just say a student is a great student. Turns in all their work, does really well on it and tests. Does kverall well in the class. And then…STAAR comes into the picture. They don’t do so well on standardized tests and they fail. Even though they do well in class, they still fail the class because of STAAR. What a message we send to our kids. You did well on the classroom part but we have to penalize you for failing or not doing so well on STAAR. I’m sorry but you cant move up with your friends. Great message to send to our kids. STAAR should only be given to see what the students strengths and weaknesses are. NOT to dictate if they pass or fail or graduate or not. To me that is a let down by our state government to force this on our kids and it needs to be changed. And it needs to be changed soon or we are going to find ourselves and the school system in a lot trouble with attendance and loosing state funding because the state wants to put so much emphasis on this stupid test. Teachers dont like it. Administrators dont like it and future teachers such as myself dont like it. We need to involve our teachers, administrators, other school officials and parents in deciding what is best for our kids. Not the state and certainly not Pearson Education System and certainly not TEA and SBOE. Afterall, isn’t it our teachers and administrators the ones who know whats going on in our schools? Just a thought but maybe the state needs to step back a bit and try looking in the window a little like all these people are doing and seeing what they see.

    No kidding! I have found our new 3rd grade math Teks look like many were cut and pasted from Common Core 3rd grade skills! They didn’t even bother to change the wording on many of them- and they are verbatim!

    Here’s an example: “CCSS.Math.Practice.MP4 Mathematically proficient students can apply the mathematics they know to solve problems arising in everyday life, society, and the workplace.” Our Texas Teks say “Teks 3.1A Process standard 3.1a Apply mathematics to problems arising in everyday life, society, and the workplace”

    Another- “CSS.Math.Content.3.NBT.A.2 Fluently add and subtract within 1000 using strategies and algorithms based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.” Our math TEK says “Teks 3.4A solve with fluency one-step and two-step problems involving addition and subtraction within 1,000 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and the relationship between addition and subtraction;”

    This is just one of many! Hmmmm….

    Yes, cscope is common core under a different name. Even the charter school my son is in, Harmony that focuses on the STEM curriculum, is teaching from the CC aligned books, websites and curriculum. I believe the best thing Abbot could do is ban all those companies in TX, and give the power back to parents to help shape the educational system for our children! It will take a lot of hard work and parent involvement though.

    What is wrong with all of you?! Do you not want our children to be well educated? Common Core is a great thing! It teaches children to actually understand the problem, not just get the write answer. In this day and age, any kid can google an answer. Is that what you want – a bunch of lazy cheaters?
    I WISH I had learned the Common Core way. College algebra wouldn’t have been such a struggle if I had. Just look into it unbiased, and I’m sure you will see it’s benefits.

    My 6 yr old child is in 1st grade and is expected to read om a 3 grade level. My 10 yr old 4th grader is having to learn Algebra. What happened to letting kids be kids? I agree we need outstanding expectations, but not rediculous ones. The teachers don’t have the time nor the want to teach common core. My chilcren come home with piles of homework, some that I even have to stop and think about or call the teacher for questions. These kids spend more time preparing for too many tests over too mucb information that has to be crammed into each six weeks. They are learning how to test, not learning what they need to know.

    I agree about the STAAR testing being to much pressure on kids. I am a parent of 4. And I am here to say that all 4 of them learn differently. One does great in class and on test. One does great in class but panics when it comes to the Staar test. He took the test three times in math and reading in the fifth grade. Each time only missing the passing score by two or three questions in math and 4 to 6 question in reading. He used to be a straight A student until it came to this test. Well now his confidence has been shattered. Because of this test his A’s started becoming A’s and B’s, and now A,B, and C’s. He knows what he is doing but now doesn’t believe in himself. How does a parent fix that? My other two are only in second grade, but they both learn at a different paces and with different techniques. Not one child in this world learns the same or at the same pace. This test should only be used to find out their strengths and weaknesses. Why put that much pressure on a 8yr old or a 17 yr old. No kid should be so stressed out about learning new things. Take the pressure off and let the teachers teach and the children learn. And one more thing, colleges could care less how they do on a STAAR test. My oldest is taking a dual credit class, but do to the way they are taught to pass the STAAR writing test she is having to learn how to write a college essay. That is ridiculous, she should be college ready by the time she graduates. If it wasn’t for her dual credit class she would not be.

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