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Monday, May 25, 2015

Common Core Does Not Cure Student Mobility | gadflyonthewallblog

Common Core Does Not Cure Student Mobility | gadflyonthewallblog:

Common Core Does Not Cure Student Mobility



Common-Core
We have real problems.
We need real solutions.
But we get deceptions instead. And if anyone tries to complain, they get blamed for trying to avoid solving the problem!
However, there’s a good reason for its existence – student mobility.
We have too many children attending our public schools that don’t stay put. They move from district-to-district and therefore miss valuable instruction.
And that’s no deception.
This is a real problem that we need to do something to fix. But before any experts in the field – psychologists, sociologists, or (God forbid!) educators – can speak,billionaire philanthropists chime in with Common Core.
If we just had national standards for each grade level in each core subject, they say, it would greatly reduce the amount of material transient students miss.
If an 8th grade student at School A moves to School B, for instance, Common Core would ensure that he misses virtually nothing. Both schools would be teaching the same thing.
Good try. But it doesn’t work.
Common Core only ensures that the same standards are taught in each school during a single year. If a transfer student’s old teacher hasn’t gotten to something yet and his new teacher has already covered it, he might miss the concept entirely – even with Common Core.
Take it from me.
I am a teacher in a state that has adopted Common Core-look-alike standards. I get many transfer students from Common Core states. There is a definite and often profound gap in their grasp of the material.
Pause for a moment and digest that.
Common Core – as it is now – does not solve the problem of student mobility.
However, if we reinterpret that concept, if we appeal to the spirit of the Core, we may find a “solution” to this problem. And in some places this has already begun.
Our billionaire philanthropist friend might look at this problem and say, we need to Common Core Does Not Cure Student Mobility | gadflyonthewallblog: