Common Core: Much More of a Disaster Than We Thought!
This is a “must see” video for all Louisiana educators and for all parents wanting to know more about how Common Core is working in actual practice. I had heard the term “building the plane in flight” from great educators like Dr Lottie Beebe and Scott Richard, but I had no idea that some of the promoters of CCSS were actually proud of using such an analogy for education reform! This is unbelievable! Please watch this short video.
Breaking News: On Thursday, August 28, Judge Bob Downing of the 19thJudicial District Court in Baton Rouge ordered State Superintendent John White and the LDOE to produce detailed information about the setting of cut scores for the Mastery level student ratings for the 2014 Spring LEAP test that was designed to be more aligned with the Common Core standards. The LDOE had already released the minimum percentages of correct answers used for the setting of Basic level ratings just before the lawsuit demanding this information was filed. John White was found to be in violation of the public records law for refusing to release the score setting percentages on the 2014 LEAP test and for failing to produce the written communications with the testing company relating to the setting of cut scores. The LDOE was also required to pay all court costs and attorney's fees necessary to the prosecution of my public records lawsuit filed to extract this vital information from White, the LDOE, and the testing company. This post on The Louisiana Educator Blog had already analyzed the drastic lowering of the minimum percentage of correct answers on some areas of LEAP apparently designed to imply that Louisiana students were doing just fine on the new CCSS aligned tests. Apparently manipulation of test scores to produce predetermined results has now become standard operating procedure in the implementation of Common Core. The video referred to above shows how scores were set in New York to create the perception of failure of the entire New York state system.
Breaking News: On Thursday, August 28, Judge Bob Downing of the 19thJudicial District Court in Baton Rouge ordered State Superintendent John White and the LDOE to produce detailed information about the setting of cut scores for the Mastery level student ratings for the 2014 Spring LEAP test that was designed to be more aligned with the Common Core standards. The LDOE had already released the minimum percentages of correct answers used for the setting of Basic level ratings just before the lawsuit demanding this information was filed. John White was found to be in violation of the public records law for refusing to release the score setting percentages on the 2014 LEAP test and for failing to produce the written communications with the testing company relating to the setting of cut scores. The LDOE was also required to pay all court costs and attorney's fees necessary to the prosecution of my public records lawsuit filed to extract this vital information from White, the LDOE, and the testing company. This post on The Louisiana Educator Blog had already analyzed the drastic lowering of the minimum percentage of correct answers on some areas of LEAP apparently designed to imply that Louisiana students were doing just fine on the new CCSS aligned tests. Apparently manipulation of test scores to produce predetermined results has now become standard operating procedure in the implementation of Common Core. The video referred to above shows how scores were set in New York to create the perception of failure of the entire New York state system.
But the best part of the video is the carefully reasoned assessment by a top notch principal explaining how the CCSS and the testing for CCSS is being misused in New York. The incredible damage to education and the alienation of parents as a result of using an untested theoretical system is something we in Louisiana must seriously consider before we get any further into the quagmire that is called Common Core.
Carol Burris, the principal in New York who explains the pitfalls of CCSS and its testing, is not some nutty naysayer who is just interested in preserving the status quo at all costs. No, she is a highly acclaimed leader in New York education who has real credentials and who has won real honors as an education leader. Her criticism of CCSS and the mandatory testing that goes along with it is the most credible and most alarming indictment of these standards I have ever seen. We in Louisiana had better pay Louisiana Educator: Common Core: Much More of a Disaster Than We Thought!: