Comments on: For math teachers, conversion to new standards may be tough

By: AB

AB — Sun, 27 May 2012 15:50:00 +0000

Common Core is not the problem; the problem is the lack of planning and preparation by the state. Teachers are not given adequate training to make the transition as seamless as possible. It’s too nonchalant. It is criminal to me that the state is knowingly creating a gap in math knowledge/skills and not creating a strategy to fill that gap for the next few years. Students and parents already hate and fear math and the decision makers are justifying their fears with their approach to the transition

By: stan

stan — Thu, 24 May 2012 03:23:00 +0000

These are just standards. You would think that we were rolling out a new religion. The children will adapt or the standards will roll backwards some. This really isn’t that big of a deal. The only certainty in education is change. Believe that.

By: Chaoui

Chaoui — Thu, 24 May 2012 02:45:00 +0000

Ugh! A call for sanity, please. Can the common core states please start looking at mastery learning. I say you need to get rid of grades and grade levels. It is simple. Teachers are assigned certain standards that they need to teach. Students are tested ahead of time and the students go to the teacher who teaches the concepts they have not mastered. The issue is that they are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Once students master a standard they can move on to the next one. Sort of a Khan Academy with teachers…

By: Saramc9

Saramc9 — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:34:00 +0000

Because they haven’t developed them yet!

By: ceolaf

ceolaf — Wed, 23 May 2012 18:56:00 +0000

1) The idea of grade level standards for math are nothing new. Don’t blame the Common Core crowd for that.

2) The issues with moving around content from grade to grade for the new standards is an issue in math, but it pales in importance/difficulty compared to the rather different approach to literacy instruction in the CCSS. Math still means just about the same thing, even if the sequence is a bit different. Literacy now means something rather different.

3) As long as high school math is focused on getting kids to (and maybe through) calculus — instead of focusing on getting kids through statistics (& probability) — schools will be failing in their duty to prepare children for the demands of citizenship.

By: Kaci

Kaci — Wed, 23 May 2012 18:02:00 +0000

Rlratto, the teachers at the company that I work for have developed sample lessons and assessments aligned to the Common Core. This might be something that you’d be interested in. Visit http://www.CommonCoreTraining.org to see some of Laying the Foundation’s open lessons and assessments, and send an email to info@ltftraining.org to learn more.

By: Christina Luce

Christina Luce — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:57:00 +0000

These conversations are being held all over NYS. Even the most rigorous programs have gaps. As difficult as this is going to be for us as teachers, imagine the frustration our students are bound to face. I recall the year we implemented Everyday Mathematics, the sixth grade students I was teaching struggled greatly with the change in vocabulary and the gaps in their conceptual understanding. The next two years were not easy. This pales in comparison to what many will face in the coming years as we move ahead with this “full-steam” adoption.

By: Mark Twarogowski

Mark Twarogowski — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:44:00 +0000

Revolt against the Common Core! This approach to education assumes all students are capable of learning the same concepts at exactly the same time, pace, and intensity at exactly the same age. The “educators” who conceived of this framework ignore the fundamental variation that exists in human development! Enough already with your misguided school “reform” efforts. You do more harm than good.

By: Erin

Erin — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:16:00 +0000

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. The CCS do nothing to change the fact that American math education is a weed-out system that does not care whether students ever actually learn how numbers work.

Just like now, thousands and thousands of students are going to pass the tests, only to enter the next grade without actually learning the requisite prior knowledge necessary to understand what’s going on at the next level. Instead of taking the time to remediate, teachers will continue to be forced to teach to the next level’s test. And so, teachers will be fired, schools will be closed, students will drop out, and math will remain unattainable for the majority of the populace.

I teach high school math, and it’s depressing how little event the most adept students remember from their middle school math curricula. Fractions? Percents? Ha. I have lower achieving students in grades 10-12 that struggle to do single-digit arithmetic. They pass their Algebra Regents exams though, so who cares if they can multiply or not, right?

By: Rlratto

Rlratto — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:53:00 +0000

Wouldn’t it make sense to give us examples of test questions linked to the Common Core? Why are they keeping teachers in the dark?

By: Andy Wolf

Andy Wolf — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:44:00 +0000

New York children are being victimized by a Balkanized instructional control mechanism. Ironically Bloomberg had it right when early on he advocated for a uniform curriculum — his mistake was choosing the wrong one, at the behest of the former Deputy Chancellor for Instruction Diana Lam (remember her?)

Now principals basically freelance without adequate supervision. District superintendents are toothless figureheads, and the networks and network leaders are beholden to the principals.

Without clear expectations, we are left with a formula for disaster.

And should anyone be surprised that NYC kids, exposed for years to constructivist math, are at a disadvantage and falling behind?

By: Jose

Jose — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:21:00 +0000

My big problem with the rollout of the Common Core is that, if some teachers hadn’t read this article, they might have felt like they were the only ones confused about the CCS rollout too. Unfortunately, the isolationism of the NYC Dept. of Ed makes every school feel like they’re competing with each other, so they can’t share confusion or frustrations unless given the appropriate platform. I’m not advocating for a full-out complaint session, but there is something to be said for this many teachers not having a clue what the CCS will do for instruction, assessment, and other facets of pedagogy.