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Friday, August 9, 2013

NYC Educator: Where's the Teacher Who Supports Common Core?

NYC Educator: Where's the Teacher Who Supports Common Core?:

Where's the Teacher Who Supports Common Core?

Norm Scott often says, "Watch what they do, not what they say." But I think it's important to watch everything. For example, in an email from UFT President Michael Mulgrew, he said, "Our students need to develop the higher-level cognitive skills and deeper learning at the heart of the new Common Core Learning Standards." This goes against what I know, to wit, that the Common Core standards have never been tested anywhere, and have never been proven to establish that.

Mulgrew continues, "The Common Core standards were created by educators — and adopted by 46 states — in response to the lowest-common-denominator standards that the states fell back on in response to No Child Left Behind testing requirements." As for being created by educators, there's a video below that says something very much to the contrary. You'll see names like Gates, Walton, Broad and ALEC, but I'm not precisely sure how many of them are teachers.

I don't know where Mulgrew gets his information, but I'd certainly welcome any commenter who can support it. I'm also a little concerned by a statement in Mulgrew's piece from yesterday's Daily News.

While teachers — many of whom helped create the new Common Core — support the new standards...
Once again, I'm unsure of who these teachers are who created the Common Core. While this, allowing for other contributors,  is an improvement over the blanket statement that