Testing the Common Core in Tennessee
Tennessee has been at the epicenter of national education reform efforts in recent years, but there’s still debate about how much these changes have improved student learning. Test scores have been rising, according to the state Department of Education, but some teachers and administrators feel that the rapid pace of change has led to low morale. New standards mean lots of talking—and even writi
Helping struggling students: A view from one math teacher’s classroom
When Cicely Woodard was growing up in Memphis, math class was fairly straightforward. “My teachers got up there and they lectured and we took notes, and we practiced and then the next day, we came back and did it all over again,” she says. Perhaps because of that rote instruction, Woodard says she wasn’t a great math student. Testing the Common Core in Tennessee New standards mean lots of talkin
Common Core State Standards: The Hechinger Report Digs Deep
The new Common Core State Standards, adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia, are poised to remake the business of schooling in the United States. While the education initiative started with a wealth of bipartisan goodwill, it has now engendered confusion and controversy, and a handful of states have dropped out or scaled back their participation. What will the new expectations really me
NEWSThe impact of Common Core
Can the Common Core State Standards transform teaching and raise student achievement? The Hechinger Report and the Education Writers Association looked at seven states in depth. ...
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New standards mean lots of talking—and even writing—about math
Cicely Woodard has the daunting task of helping eighth-graders understand and even enjoy math. Five days a week, she leads her students at Nashville’s Rose Park Magnet Middle School through the intricacies of graphs, formulas and equations. It’s knowledge she knows they’ll need to get into college. Even on tough days, she says, “There’s nothing […]
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Are Pennsylvania students being set up for failure?New education standards, graduation exams highlight school resource needs
PHILADELPHIA — After three years of stops and starts, the state of Pennsylvania is moving ahead with new public education standards and exams required for high school graduation. But without funding to implement the new mandates, educators in Philadelphia and other cash-strapped districts say their students are being set up for failure. Many teachers, administrators […]
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Out with “The Great Gatsby” and in with “The Glass Castle”? Florida’s English teachers adjust to new standards
MIAMI—In Chris Kirchner’s freshman English classes at Coral Reef Senior High School, novels like “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Great Gatsby” have been squeezed off the syllabus to make room for nonfiction texts including “The Glass Castle” and “How to Re-Imagine the World.” For the first time, students will read only excerpts of classics […]
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Anatomy of an English class: How the Common Core is shaping instruction for one Miami teacher
MIAMI—English instructor Lois Seaman often speaks bluntly to her middle-school students about the increased expectations they will face under the new Common Core curriculum standards. “It’s like you are looking at this under a microscope; glean all you can from this text,” she told a class of eighth graders as they studied a passage from […]
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Florida teachers caught in the middle of testing dispute
MIAMI—The pushback against the testing component of Common Core here has endangered political support for the controversial national curriculum standards in a linchpin state. But it also has left Florida’s public school teachers in an uncomfortable limbo: Officials expect them to start teaching the new standards over the next year, yet educators remain unsure when, […]
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New York teachers excited and worried as Common Core standards launched in full
This October many high school students around New York State are taking an Algebra I quiz with some unusual and very tough questions. In one, students are asked about how much water is used in the tallest skyscraper in the world during a 24-hour period. Common Core standards shake up the education business Concerns about […]
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Common Core standards shake up the education business
New York State has become the epicenter of a major transformation in the $7 billion textbook industry that threatens the preeminence of publishing behemoths like Pearson. New York teachers excited and worried as Common Core standards launched in full Concerns about testing accompany new standards A few large companies have monopolized the business for decades, […]
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Concerns about testing accompany new standards
In New York starting this school year, classrooms will transform into havens of critical thinking and deeper learning—the opposite of the teach-to-the-test culture so reviled by many teachers for more than a decade. Or so promise proponents of a new set of standards known as the Common Core that the state’s schools are adopting in […]
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Amid budget cuts, school districts struggle to finance new reforms
School districts in Colorado, reeling from years of budget cuts, are trying to scrimp and save as the state launches a potentially expensive set of new reforms, including new teacher evaluations, online tests and more challenging standards. Ready or not, new standards hit Colorado schools As online tests approach, new state exams will provide trial […]
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As online tests approach, new state exams will provide trial run
When Colorado students take end-of-grade exams next spring, many will face arguably the hardest tests yet of their education careers. Rather than bubbling in answer sheets, students in five grades will complete various tasks on computers to show their mastery of new science and social-studies standards, which are rolling out this year across the state. […]