SKrashen:
Response to Southern Poverty Law Center Statement on the Common Core
Response to: Public Schools in the Crosshairs: Far-Right Propaganda and the Common Core State Standards (Southern Poverty Law Center). http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/Public-Schools-in-the-Crosshairs-Far-Right-Propaganda-and-the-Common-Core-State-Standards I agree that the debate about the common core must be rooted in the facts, and that the "propoganda machine on the
Reading for points vs. reading for pleasure
Sent to the Christian Science Monitor, May 9, 2014The book popularity data from "What are kids reading? Books like 'Hunger Games,' but classics, too," (May 8) comes from reading done in preparation for tests, not reading for pleasure. The data comes from reading done as part of the Accelerated Reader (AR) program. AR sells tests that students take after reading a book. Students are award
MAY 08
12th grade NAEP scores: Does the common core deserve the credit?
Sent to the Hartford Courant, May 7, 2014It is a premature to give the "new academic standards" of the common core credit for Connecticut's good performance on the 12th grade NAEP reading test ("State Students Excel On 'Nation's Report Card'," May 7). First, the improvement was not uniform: Grade 8 scores increased less than grade 12 scores, and grade 4 scores stayed the same a
MAY 06
Amount of time for testing "just right"?
The headline for "Survey: More Educators Think 'Just the Right Amount' of Time Is Spent on Testing" is deceptive. Yes, a slightly smaller percentage of teachers think there is too much time taken for testing, and a slightly larger percentage think there is "just enough"time taken for testing compared to two years ago, but 52% of teachers still think there is too much time prep
MAY 05
Those brave new tests
Ed Week cheerfully reports field-tests for Smarter Balanced and PARCC tests are going jus' fine:"Early Reports Suggest Few Field-Testing Snags" [http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/05/06/30fieldtest_ep.h33.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1]I posted this comment: This "field-testing" seems to be mostly about technical aspects of implementation. I get the impression that analysis of the t
MAY 03
"Pressing needs" in American Education
S. KrashenDiane Ravitch recently observed that there has been a big hurry to implement the Common Core. In 2009, she urged the authors of the Common Core to field test it before implementation, advice they did not follow. Again in 2010, at the White House, she urged field testing, but officials "quickly dismissed the idea. They were in a hurry. They wanted Common Core to be rolled out as qu
MAY 02
Four years of math?
Sent to the Washington Post, May 2, 2014.Maryland will now require all high school students to take four years of math ("Maryland to require math for all years of high school; universities also adjust rules," May 2). The fourth year, moreover, must be "non-trivial," such as algebra 2, trigonometry, pre-calculus, calculus, statistics and college algebra. This is in order to prev