Friday, April 27, 2012

The Common Core: The Technocrats Re-engineer Learning - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

The Common Core: The Technocrats Re-engineer Learning - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:


The Common Core: The Technocrats Re-engineer Learning

As criticism of No Child Left Behind and the associated tests rises, we are hearing more and more about the Common Core Standards (CCS), the next great thing that is supposed to fix all that ails us. When a talking pineapple made New York tests a laughing stock, state education commissioner John King reassured us,

It is important to note that this test section does not incorporate the Common Core and other improvements to test quality currently underway. This year's tests incorporate a small number of Common Core field test questions. Next year's test will be fully aligned with the Common Core.

Arne Duncan, likewise, when pushed about our obsession with standardized tests, offers up the Common Core, and the new tests being designed with Department of Education funding, as the solution. According to him, we will soon move "beyond the bubble tests," into a new generation of assessments:
For the first time, teachers will consistently have timely, high-quality formative assessments that