Nevadans Against Common Core (Nevada Academic Content Standards)
Why we oppose common core
By John Eppolito
Common Core State Standards (CC) are the biggest proposed change to education in the United States in our lifetime! CC was written and adopted with little public input. NV teachers who oppose CC have been silenced. Common Core is a ‘one size fits all,’ attempt to improve education.
1) STUDENT DATA COLLECTION, STORAGE, AND SHARING
2) MATH – the standards put us two years behind high achieving countries; and similar to ‘new math.’
3) ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS - the standards are fundamentally flawed: the reading standards are mediocre at best, the writing standards are ‘intellectual impossibility’ for the average middle grade student, there is less literature, inappropriate reading material, and cursive handwriting is eliminated.
4) SCIENCE STANDARDS (NGSS) - Fordham Institute got 8 million dollars to support CC they said: “We would not encourage states to adopt the science standards.” There is “virtually no math” in NGSS. Some object to the fact that evolution and global warming are taught as fact with no opposing views.
5) COMMON CORE IS DEVELOPMENTALLY INAPPROPRIATE AND NOT RESEARCH BASED
6) THE SCHOLASTIC APITUDE TEST (SAT) HAD BEEN 'DUMBED DOWN TO ALIGN WITH CC. The architect of Common Core is now miraculously president of the College Board. The College Board is changing the SAT and all AP classes to align with CC.
7) AP US HISTORY HAS BEEN CHANGED TO SHOW A CONSISTENTLY NEGATIVE VIEW OF OUR NATION'S PAST.
8) IT IS VERY EXPENSIVE TO IMPLEMENT CC.
9) THE FLAWED PROCESS. The writers were not K-12 teachers, the process was secret, and those involved had to sign confidentially agreements. There were only two content experts on the Validation Committee who had written high K-12 state standards, those two plus three others, would not sign off on CC.
10) Most states, including Nevada, AGREED TO COMMON COVER BEFORE SEEING THE FINAL STANDARDS. The reasons: a chance for federal funds, and waivers from No Child Left Behind.
11) COMMON CORE HAS NEVER BEEN TESTED – PBS: “A major experiment is underway in American public education.” Others call CC a “massive risky experiment.” Bill Gates is the largest non-government funder of CC, on 9/21/13 Mr. Gates said: “It will be about a decade before we know if our ‘education stuff’ worked.”
12) EDUCATION EXPERTS OPPOSE CC.
13) THERE ARE NUMEROUS PROBLEMS WITH THE HIGH STAKES TESTS THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH CC
14) PRIVATE SCHOOL AND HOME SCHOOLED STUDENTS CANNOT ESCAPE CC.
15) STATES FIGHT (DROP) CC AND WITHDRAW FROM CC TESTING.
Five states did not adopt CC.
Three states have dropped CC, at least 11 states are considering same.
There is legislation pending to slow, not fund, or stop CC in at least 31 of the 42 (74%) states still in CC.
The bad news NV is moving full steam ahead with CC!
Of the 42 states in CC 20 have withdrawn from CC (fed. gov. sponsored) testing.
The bad news NV is moving full steam ahead with CC testing!
16) CC AND NCLB WAIVERS MAY BE ILLEGAL. Congress was circumvented twice; the creation of CC, and reinterpretation of FERPA laws to allow the intrusive student data collection without parent consent.
18) THERE IS LIKELY A POLITICAL AGENDA BEHIND CC.
19) POLITICAL LEFT AND RIGHT FIND COMMON GROUND OPPOSING CC
20) LACK OF LOCAL CONTROL - NO ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CC WRITERS
21) There is no proof CC will improve student learning
If these standards could truly improve education in the United States why didn't we; take our time developing them, get appropriate feedback from all stakeholders, test them in a limited area to see if they really improve student performance, modify as necessary, then roll out the standards on a national level?
THE MORE AMERICANS LEARN ABOUT CC THE LESS THEY LIKE IT.
Common Core is a waste of time and money, is too controversial, will not improve student learning, and should be stopped.
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