Senator Brewbaker has put his proposed bill to repeal Common Core on hold because his Senate Education Committee accepted an amendment proposed by Senator Holtzclaw.
I do not understand what the fuss is about. If there is a compelling case for the repeal of the Common Core I have not heard it.
I read a lot and I read the math standards, and yet I have not seen anyone point to an objectionable standard within the Common Core. Nor has anyone said what would happen in the period following repeal of the Common Core and the establishment of new standards.
Some say they do not like data sharing, especially with the feds, yet the bill said it was OK to share with the feds if we needed to get a grant. It seems some sharing is fine as long as money is involved.
And some say they object to Common Core because it is an expansion of federal authority into state education, yet I hear no objections to the tens of millions of education dollars Alabama is already taking from the feds every year. It seems some federal intrusion is fine.
I am concerned above our expansive federal government. I think federal spending on K-12 education was never appropriate and is now unaffordable. As a step to solving that problem we should be calling for the immediate block granting of federal funds for education with gradual elimination in a few years.
In the meantime, it seems to me that those calling for the repeal of Common Core have gotten very excited about a mouse in our China shop while they ignore the bull that came in first.
Our legislature did well by passing the Alabama Accountability Act to knock down impediments to education and to tweak the allocation of state resources. But they should be cautious of doing more. We already have 133 superintendents of education. We do not need 140 more.
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Common Core is a cancer. This thing will absolutely ruin education. It will cost millions of dollars and the kids will be even further BEHIND the rest of the world. That is not what we need. Our kids deserve the best education, and this does not provide that at all. I have kids who are being exposed to this garbage already. The math part of this is a complete joke. Maybe all of you should really look into this, ask your kids (especially those in elementary) what they are seeing and learning. Your eyes may be opened then.
Or you could just do what Dale Jackson is doing and say, “Yawn” because he doesn’t have kids so it doesn’t affect him. I don’t believe that we should take any money from the federal government for education, nor do I believe in the Department of Education. I believe in local control not “Big Government”.
The people (parents) have the right to decide what their kids are learning. We do not need to be dictated to by “Big Brother”. Common Core must go. Do you homework and see what it really is about.
You have told me nothing except that we agree on the Department of Education and federal money.
Telling me Common Core is bad is not persuasive. Why do you think it is bad?
Jason says “Common Core is a cancer. This thing will absolutely ruin education. It will cost millions of dollars and the kids will be even further BEHIND the rest of the world. That is not what we need”
Balderdash. Alabama adopted the common core for math and English in 2010. We actually had to RAISE our standards just a smidgen and adjust a few things here and there, The good news is they we were mostly compliant already because educators in Alabama actually do know what they are doing. No, I swear, it’s true. It’s politicians who screw it up year after year,
“The people (parents) have the right to decide what their kids are learning.”
No they do not, thank god. Not in public school. Don’t like it? Home school.
Another bit of news: No Alabama school is forced to take any money from the federal government. That is completely voluntary. Don’t like that we take federal money? Get elected to a school board and fight against it. Good luck with that. You’ll need it.
They decide that through elected school boards.
Well, I imagine they could. If a local city school board decided to go 100% local and have their own locally supported public school and refuse federal money, they could do it. They may have some legal issues with the state but no one says school have to take state money, either.
If you don’t take the money, you don’t have to play by their rules.
Of course all this would be stupid but it could happen in some other reality.
“If you don’t take the money, you don’t have to play by their rules.”
States rights today! States rights tomorrow! States rights forever!
The Civil War is over. The South Lost. The Union won. It’s one nation “under God”, with liberty and justice for all. Remember?
Getting caught up on your history reading, stumbled across some facts that are new to you, and sharing them with our readers in case anyone else had also missed them. Thank you for your service.
What government/rules do you not want “abide by”?
Ya wanna know what one of the main driving forces is behind the rejection of the Standards? It’s not something you see in the news (i.e. “Federal Takeover” BS). No, what this is really about is the future of science education in Alabama. There are many well-funded fundamentalist groups in Alabama (and other states) that have a mission of teaching biblical concepts in a science class. Namely, the fight against “Evil-ution” and promotion of Intelligent Design.
Alabama will be revising their science standards come 2016 (It’s don’e every 7 years, I think). The Common standards give a fair treatment to all “theories” including germ theory, atomic theory, gravitational theory and so forth. But they also give a fair treatment to the grand Theory of Evolution. That is unacceptable to fundamentalists.
Take a look at the religious makeup of most all the institutions that are standing against this. Heritage Foundation comes to mind here. Take a look at the makeup of the Alabama Board of Education and our Supreme Court. This will be Very Big News come 2016 so all these organizations are making noise about it now to gear up for the big fight in a few years.
I know, I know, sounds like a conspiracy. I agree. But this one is real. You’ll see.
Lord help us.
Why do you oppose Common Core, Redeye?
“Despite Obama administration claims, research finds no link between achievement scores and academic standards”
.
http://nepc.colorado.edu/newsletter/2010/07/common-core-school-standards-roll-without-supporting-evidence
“Without addressing both the in-school and out-of-school influences on test scores, common core standards are not likely to improve the quality and equity of America’s public schools,” Mathis explains.
“President Obama has embraced “common core” standards and has pressured states to adopt them, stating to the National Governors Association (NGA) that it will withhold federal Title I aid from states that do not adopt standards such as those being developed by the NGA and the Council of Chief State School Officers. In addition, adopting the standards gives a state a major advantage in the administration’s Race to the Top application.”
I oppose Common Core because it’s about values, not education.
That was a 2010 program… It is irrelevant to Alabama.
A Teachers ask what are the goals of common core.
A comment from a teacher.
She writes:
I work with gifted students in an affluent district and I’m quite concerned with Common Core. Diane’s article points out some very serious flaws in how this is being foisted on states and thus, schools, teachers and the children in them. The students I work with will likely do well regardless, but I sense CC is created specifically to destroy public education by creating an environment where many are guaranteed to fail, much to the delight of non-educators behind this movement. Even gifted students, I fear, will find little in CC to inspire, motivate and guide them to find their areas of greatest passion and achievement and explore that area in all its depth and complexity. It will, however, develop in them a loathing of school drudgery by its heavy-handed sameness. Already our students have lost the freedom to accelerate, compact and skip previously mastered curriculum because of CC.
Gifted students who are just learning English, come from diverse cultures, live in poverty or have specific disabilities will be hog-tied by their “deficits” to the point where their giftedness is neither acknowledged nor addressed.
I have thought, ever since NCLB, that there is a determination to drive out of public education the difficult students, i.e. those who are cognitively, ethnically, culturally, or linguistically diverse or disabled. This is just the latest step in that direction.
Initially, we were told that it would be possible at some point for all students to be successful. Assessment was designed to create a culture where all students would, in a few years, be “Proficient and Above.” The Bell Curve was out. The reality is that the finish line (the level at which one must achieve to be designated proficient/successful) has constantly and continuously been moving. The reason is to ensure that we would *never* reach that point and that there would always be failures. CC is the next step in ensuring failure – the real, although largely unspoken, goal.
http://dianeravitch.net/2013/03/15/a-teacher-asks-what-is-the-goal-of-common-core/
Government schools provide a floor. This will be sufficient for some. Those wanting more do not need to limit their education and learning activities to what the government tries to provide.
Thanks for the insight. I suppose there are lots of folks out there that do not realize Alabama has not adopted the science Common Core.
Evolution is nothing more than genetics and natural selection. It is not about the origin of life, but merely how life changes over time. Agronomists and animal breeders exploit it continually, some of those folks are fundamentalists.