Georgia students return to school and to new Common Core Standards
From the state Department of Education today:
Educators across Georgia will begin teaching the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards (CCGPS) in mathematics, English language arts, as well as literacy in science, social studies, and technical subjects, when they return to school this year.
The CCGPS are part of the Common Core State Standards, a state-led initiative developed two years ago in conjunction with the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). The goal is to establish a uniform set of expectations for what students will learn no matter where they attend school and to ensure that students are ready for college and careers after high school graduation.
“These standards will better prepare our students for success beyond high school and allow us to see how we measure up against other states,” said state School Superintendent Dr. John Barge. “Also, because we are such a transient society, these standards can help ensure some level of consistency in what is taught from state to state.”
The standards have been adopted by 46 states, the U.S. Department of Defense’s education programs and three U.S. territories. Georgia formally adopted the standards in July 2010.
In Georgia, educators have been training on the new standards since March 2011. The GaDOE has offered numerous resources, both online and in person, throughout the state.
School administrators from across the state will gather at the Centreplex in Macon on Tuesday for a summit on Common Core. Speakers at the summit will include Bill McCallum, head of the University of Arizona’s mathematics department and a lead author on the math standards. It also will include Cheryl Dunkle, president of the Colorado Association of Elementary School Principals.
For Georgia teachers and students, the move to CCGPS won’t create drastic changes because the state’s curriculum already closely matched the standards outlined in the Common Core.
Below are some examples of changes students will see under Common Core:
• Third-graders will learn how to multiply and divide large numbers. They also will learn the function of adverbs, which was previously taught in fourth and fifth grade.
• Fourth-graders will tackle adding and subtracting fractions, which was not taught until fifth-grade under the former curriculum.
• Eighth-graders will be taught the Pythagorean Theorem, rather than learning the concept in ninth-grade.
•Under Georgia Performance Standards, students were taught pronoun-antecedent agreement in seventh-grade. Common Core will teach that grammar rule in third-grade.
Explore more about the CCGPS at the links below:
-From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Scho0led blog
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68 comments Add your comment
Tired of Teaching
July 26th, 2012
4:41 pm
8th graders were taught the Pythagorean Theorem in the Georgia Performance Standards as they worked with squares and roots. That’s nothing new.
Common Core is very similar to what we’ve been teaching, there’s just more of a focus on open-ended, critical thinking questions rather than multiple choice.
Here are the differences for 8th grade math: Unit 1 was a 7th grade Unit last year (Transformations, congruence, symmetry). And when working with exponents, we’ll now deal with 3D figures to calculate volume. The rest is virtually the same.
CCMST
July 26th, 2012
5:13 pm
As a science teacher, I can say one of the biggest differences is the push in ELA (English/Language Arts) from literature to informational texts, with the target being 70% of their reading coming from those sources.
Science teachers are also getting ready for more of a push in reading and and writing as it relates to science.
However, our “content standards” – the “science stuff” we’re supposed to teach is still in the works – it’s not Common Core – it’s being prepared by a consortium called Next Gen, and should be rolled out in 2015-2016. Changes keep’a comin’
Jacob
July 26th, 2012
5:35 pm
If it were such an easy transition, why are there so many classes being offered to understand the new standards? Why is there so much money being spent on this transition? Teachers should be able to basically continue teaching standards as they have. The problem is: Once you get used to something, be prepared for it to change, because it won’t stay around for longer than a few years. It’s the old “Let’s throw it against the wall and see what sticks” philosophy…and then let’s screw up what stuck for good measure.
CCGPS
July 26th, 2012
5:37 pm
Actually, third graders will NOT be dividing large numbers. With GPS they divided two and three digit numbers by one digit. For Common Core they will be expected to multiply and divide WITHIN 100.
CCGPS
July 26th, 2012
5:44 pm
Also, even though the standards have not changed drastically, the teaching materials or methods have changed. We are back to thematic teaching. No textbooks, now, all the lessons should extend from the literature being read. This is why transitional classes were given.
Maureen Downey
July 26th, 2012
5:53 pm
@CCGPS, Have sent your comment to DOE as the AJC plans to use its examples and I want to make sure the DOE examples in its release are accurate.
Thanks, Maureen
Who will be left to teach our kids?
July 26th, 2012
6:03 pm
Will all 46 states launch the standards for the 2012-2013 school year. Where’s the research that supports this initiative?
carlosgvv
July 26th, 2012
6:12 pm
And, as always, in a few years, test scores will come in showing whites doing significantly better than blacks and Hispanics. Educators will offer “adjustments”, pundits will wring their hands, blacks will cry “racism” and the Govt. will come up with yet another in the neverending series of social experiments.
Digger
July 26th, 2012
6:47 pm
Which will fail.
Reallyperplexed
July 26th, 2012
7:22 pm
Same-old-same old. Basically, reading across the curriculum to elevate students’ critical thinking skills and lexiles, additional non-fictional readings sprinkled with Blooms’ Taxonomy and you have the recipe for Common Core. Now, let’s see how long it will take for Common Core to exist. Is the educational systems the only ones that are in constant flux? Do we analyze why students are not learning? Do we take into consideration ELL learners, Free and Reduced lunch data, broken homes, single family households, poverty, people just not placing education as a priority and the list goes on, or do we just come up with different strategies? Since we are supposed to be data driven, why not simply use Best Practices in all classes and individualize learning according to students’ needs? Would it be impossible to have an IEP for all students?
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
July 26th, 2012
7:47 pm
In elementary, the reading curriculum is shifting away from basal readers and towards trade books and integrated fiction/non-fiction themes. Math has picked up some concepts we did not previously teach. All fine by me. However, systems are so strapped for funds that teachers are not receiving any money to buy the necessary materials to support these changes, so teachers are spending hundreds of dollars of their own money on math manipulatives and trade books to use. I suspect higher ups are actually counting on this, because that is what teachers tend to do… spend their own money to make sure their students get what they need. But it is wrong! Do not implement a new curriculum requiring new materials if you do not have the funds available to provide the needed supplies! And certainly, do not “grade” teachers and schools upon student achievement, if you are not going to provide them with materials they need to support the curriculum you are requiring them the teach the students!
HS Math Teacher
July 26th, 2012
8:03 pm
Common Core = Common Results
Gerogia and education not compatible
July 26th, 2012
8:05 pm
Don’t forget the computer based assessments for 3-12. Yes, this is also a part of Common Core. It’s going to be quite interesting. My son graduates in 2017 and, I wonder, will Common Core still be around? In education things get kicked to the curb super fast!
teachlongtime
July 26th, 2012
8:17 pm
Having been a teacher in Georgia for 26 years, I find the word “new” in the title of this article somewhat inaccurate. I wonder how much money was spent rewriting what has been done by good teachers for years. If one truly examines the elementary math standards, they have been “dumbed down” so that less is expected from each grade level.
I can’t wait for my 30 years to be over. I have missed the teaching profession for about 15 years. I remember when it was fun and I got to see the joy of learning in my students. Now I can’t see my students for the “technology” improvements in my way.
catlady
July 26th, 2012
8:17 pm
At least in my area, until we require MASTERY of the skills (ie hold students responsible) and quit with the passing them on, we won’t succeed with the CC any better than we did(n’t) with the GPS. Example: 4th graders who cannot add and subtract quickly and accurately remain stuck at the bottom, unable to master the 4th grade CC or GPS. (for example, you must be able to add (never mind multiply) in order to work two digit by two digit multiplication. ) Year after year, not being able to post a decent score on the (sad little) CRCT. And yet we will send them on, where they will become 5th graders operating at a second grade level! Eventually, they will have to actually PASS a math course in high school and, surprise surprise, they won’t be able to, whether it is Cc or GPS.
Much of math is dependent on prior mastery. When you have to “discover” that 8+5=13 over and over, you aren’t likely to get too far.
And it will be the teachers’ fault, although we are not allowed to require any rote memorization of basic facts, terminology, etc.
mountain man
July 26th, 2012
8:29 pm
I agree with you 100%, catlady! No more social promotion!
teacher2012
July 26th, 2012
8:37 pm
Pythagorean theorem was taught at the middle school level in GPS already. Our lovely DOE “leaders” are not even sure what is going on. We aren’t supposed to rely on textbooks…seriously? ()and there aren’t many out there to choose from anyway! and what schools have the money to buy them anyway?) Math students need to practice, practice and practice some more and then once they have mastered the method, then and only then can they extend it to applications. Our lower achieving kids are still going to struggle–this is going to be the same fiasco as GPS was for the struggling high school math students. In two years, once the 2012-2013 freshmen are juniors, the state will realize their mistake just like they did when they added MATH SUPPORT 3 as a “math” credit. Then what? Everyone is not and should not take high level math courses. Ridiculous! Everyone is NOT going to college anyway. be real!
Mdw
July 26th, 2012
8:45 pm
I have been to several of these trainings– and there seems to be some contradictions in the methods of teaching Common Core. First, we are taught not to teach from the textbook–we already have been told to do this–but does that conflict with informational text? We are told by the Georgia Math Department that standards should no longer be posted-yet the Teacher Keys has it as part of the evaluation process. Also, we are told that we pulled our science representative from the Common Core Commission. Also, we are told that science will be more about environmental issues and impacts and that we really do not know if it will go to Common Core Science in Georgia by the year said. Also, the CRCT supposedly will be based on GPS but the questions will be aligned with Common Core and that up to 40% of our evals will be based on the scores. We are also told by the Federal Education Department not to under-serve those with special needs, but Georgia states we can only have a certain percentage of the students with special needs and that these students should be pushed through inclusions. We are also told that RTI is going out the door because it really overlooks the specific needs of students, but we are to follow RTI. Some good things I think can come from the Common Core–for example-high school math will be better aligned with other states, and middle school math will not cover as many topics, but cover more in depth, starting with 6th grade’s main focus on %, fractions, scale factors (even though I still don’t understand this-why at the math workshop we were told not to use cross-multiplying) and building a good foundation for the tools students will use in Algebra. We are told not to follow the pacing guide, yet in some schools if a teacher can not follow the pacing guide they are removed from that subject mid-year. Our state has already indicated that we need to do more assessments and breaks down those assessments into summative and formative. Using these should guide whether we should refocus on the previous task or go on to the next task–but yet we are told to use the curriculum guide. Remember there was a big push to uniform all the subject matter taught during the 80’s–but it died.
Elizabeth
July 26th, 2012
9:15 pm
CC does not dictate 70% non-fiction/informational reading in an ELA classroom. That is a guideline for the entire high school day, not the 45 minutes or a period (whatever your time is) in an English class. CC does get students reading more informational text across the curriculum, making students’ literacy the responsibility of all teachers, not just the ELA teacher. There are many things to criticize about the Common Core, like the developmental appropriateness of some of the standards, but this is not one of them. Well-intentioned people, and misstatements by David Coleman, are perpetuating this, but it is not in the standards themselves.
Brandy
July 26th, 2012
9:58 pm
The biggest problem (outside of how GA is recommending implementing the standards) is implementing them for all grades at once, rather than phasing them in over 3-5 years. When you have kids coming to 6th grade in an area like East Cobb unable to write an effective 3-sentence paragraph or unable to identify and correctly use nouns in writing–you cannot suddenly require them to be ready for higher level curricula. To be honest, I’m 110% behind a nationalized curriculum (and materials and funding and training…), but just as with any of the previous new curricula and “reforms”, test scores will drop initially and the entire thing will fade away before it’s even given enough time to be effectively tested and studied (minimum 3 years). I would love to see just one educational “reform” be fully funded, fully vetted, and given enough time to be tried out–it is just common sense. Of course, when business leaders and politicians, both of whom who have never taught a day in their lives, are making the decisions, common sense goes out the window.
Sorry for any unintended grammatical errors or typos. I’m typing on a SmartPhone.
Hey Teacher
July 26th, 2012
10:14 pm
@Brandy — I agree. At the high school level, we are expected to teach the new standards without the materials to go with them (what to do with a book room full of novels when one is supposed to be teaching “informational texts”?). We will supplement our materials with handouts and online resources, but there are still schools/systems where computer access and photocopying is limited.
A Teacher, 2
July 26th, 2012
10:33 pm
I thought it was odd that they referenced the Pythagorean Theorem in the PR. The Pythagorean Theorem was firmly embedded in the 8th grade curriculum when the GPS rolled out. How could they have picked such a poor example for their PR?
I can’t wait to see what happens when everyone finds out that the 9th grade Coordinate Algebra class is NOT just an algebra class, and the 10th grade Analytic Geometry class is NOT just a Geometry class! The CCGPS is probably more integrated on the HS level that the current Math 1-4. Those of you who are against integrated math that think we have “gone back” to Alg 1, Geometry, and Alg 2 have been duped. I’m really surprised that the outcry has not started yet. I guess not enough people have really looked at that 9th grade curriculum yet!
CDog
July 26th, 2012
10:48 pm
One size fits all . . . NOT! That being said, the CCGPS 9th grade math course should be easier than the GPS Math 1 which was a horribly designed course.
Brandy
July 26th, 2012
11:10 pm
@Hey Teacher, Similar problems at the middle school level, especially in regards to the suggested novel and support readings list. We either don’t have them (and I’m talking East Cobb here) or we don’t have enough of them. Plus, there are no clear recommendations for lower level readers, ELL students, et cetera. The entire implementation has been very poorly thought out.
Patricia Tomlinson
July 26th, 2012
11:24 pm
@ cat lady “And it will be the teachers’ fault, although we are not allowed to require any rote memorization of basic facts, terminology, etc.”
I am a bit confused. Why on earth would you not require students to have rote memorization of basic math facts? I have never in my entire teaching career ever taught in a system where students were not expected to memorize basic facts. Now, conceptual understanding of what the facts represent is also part of the deal, but practice, practice, practice is an equal part of the deal. I think you have a responsibility as a teacher to make sure your students learn the curriculum you are responsible for teaching. If you really teach in such an environment that essentially is telling you the teacher to not teach…then resign and start picketing your Board of Education OR run to become a member.
Now, as to Common Core…it really is not that much different from GPS…Yes, there are certainly differences, but not to the point people have to go nuts and then whine. It is not that Common Core just appeared on the horizon…I have been reading about them for the past few years, investigated them, did public response, etc. If teachers have to depend on a textbook, etc. to teach or design a unit to complement a standard that happens to be part of the job of teaching. If teachers can’t take a previous unit they have designed and tweak it for the Common Core, then they have a problem…they might not actually be real teachers. Teachers teach. As some of my friends will say “Just tell me what you need me to teach.” And they go from there.
I am also tired of hearing folks on this blog whine about the diversity in their classrooms whether it be language learners or poverty stricken youth or those with special needs. I have been a full time teacher since 1976 and I have yet to teach a class that was not diverse. The fact is children need teachers who see their students without excuses. Teachers who cannot figure out how to adapt their curriculum to meet the needs of their students need to be knocking on their peers’ doors looking for strategies, etc….searching the internet for strategies….joining a professional organization such as NCTM, or IRA, or whichever one is going to provide access to current research, etc. to meet the learning needs of their students. Read Education Week…visit Edutopia…read some real books designed to help you become better at your craft. That is not the responsibility of administrative personnel…that is the responsibility of teachers particularly in the world in which we teach. Don’t be sheep. Stop listening and arguing with those who want to tear our educational system apart. Politicians have no idea about education unless they have actually taught. Invite some of them to your classroom.
I do not really get into the parent issue either…if they want to be involved then we form a partnership…if they don’t, my responsibility is making sure their child is provided every opportunity to learn…they are not responsible for their parents support or lack of support…The number of parents who really do not care about their children’s success are in the minority based upon my 30+ years of dealing with parents from one extreme to the other. So people need to stop the whining about parents and using them as an excuse for the lack of progress a child makes. You are the teachers.
I think it would helpful for many of you to realize there are many school districts in Georgia who are not connected to Atlanta. I personally think the best thing that could happen to Atlanta and its surrounding school districts is to break them up into much smaller districts which might become more focused on the needs of their communities. Some of you might want to take a ride and visit some of the smaller county districts throughout our state…some which do not even have businesses or industries, etc. …just a bunch of trees particularly in the southernmost part of this state or western counties up and down the Alabama/Georgia line. A lot of great things are happening out there where common sense seems to prevail a bit more than it seems in our larger cities.
I apologize to any errors or to those I may have offended…but I love what I do and I believe what we do as teachers impacts the future in some small way. I am so tired of people not celebrating what we do…who allow politicians/organizations to treat our profession with such disrespect and are bent on destroying public education.
And..I have seen Waiting for Superman.
Ole Guy
July 26th, 2012
11:39 pm
Cat, you’re accentuating an issue to which I have drumrolled for quite some time. You, the educational system, shouldn’t have to teach the same concepts over and over. Once the kid is presumed to have mastered the building block basics…”discovering”, as you point out, that “8+5=13″…your ONLY course of action should be limited to one of two (and ONLY two options: Pass the kid, or flunk the kid. I realize that you, the “in-the-trenches teacher”, are faced with many pressures, emanating from parents, principals, and just about any-and-all who profess to know more than you on the art and science of education (and that just may include yours truly).
However, I know, and I’m sure you know, when something simply don’t work. When college kids, particularly those on HOPE (requiring that artificial A/B grade) must take remedials (high school redux); fail to graduate within the customary time restraints of 4 years…SOMETHING’S FREQUIN WRONG! YOU, the teacher corps, in NOT taking FULL AND COMPLETE COMMAND of your tidings, are, in effect, guilty of not doing your job; of malfeasance; of…conduct not becoming that of the professional you, collectively, profess to care about.
As I read all these well-intentioned posts and remarks, it becomes quite clear that there is a propensity to become bogged down in the minitua of the educational process. While there is much reference to the various flavors of algebra, geometry, and the alphabet soup of GPS, CCGPS, BS and more BS, the simple fact remains…NOTHUN’S FREQUIN CHANGIN’; NUTHIN’S GONNA CHANGE…till U, collectively, do what U must do.
Within the aviation world, there’s only one first solo/the kid can demonstrate the ability to remove the aircraft from the Earthly bonds and return SAFELY…ONLY ONCE. If he cannot do this, he must either repeat the effort as many times as his comptent instructor deems necessary, OR…he fails. It don’t matter if daddy is a general, an admiral, or a Washington guru…THE KID FAILS…or he dies tryin’.
By not taking…NOT asking for, but TAKING…command of your profession, YOU are setting up an entire generation to die. As stark as that may seem; as harsh as it may appear, that is the true reality.
So continue your discussions of “new and improved” standards, and the life and times of ole Pythagrius; continue to rub these kids’ bottoms with the baby lotions of false achievements, artificial self-esteem, and the abject failures perpetuated by these kids’ inability to read and think for themselves. When entire generations find themselves buried i loan debt simply because, all through their student careers, they came to realize that 1) they needn’t master nuthin, and 2) their screwups will always be covered by someone else, so…WHY FREQUIN BOTHER.
Keep it up, teachers…yer doin’ a hell of a job.
GATeacher
July 26th, 2012
11:42 pm
Ready, shoot, aim. Here we go!
Ole Guy
July 26th, 2012
11:45 pm
Tomlinson, don’t appologize for offending anyone, and certainly not for some “errors”. The biggest error, in public education, is sending a generation out into the world ill-prepared for much beyond becoming lifelong consumers of public services while offering next-to nothing in terms of contributorship.
madaboutmath
July 27th, 2012
12:07 am
@ A Teacher, 2–I expressed the same idea on here a few months ago. When parents find out that Coordinate Algebra is really a combination of algebra, statistics, and geometry, they are going to be ticked off. At least, with Math 1,2,3, we were honest about the integrated curriculum.
Patricia Tomlinson
July 27th, 2012
12:48 am
@ Ole Guy “By not taking…NOT asking for, but TAKING…command of your profession, YOU are setting up an entire generation to die. As stark as that may seem; as harsh as it may appear, that is the true reality.”
Well said!
SGaTeechur
July 27th, 2012
1:43 am
I am guessing that it is “true reality” rather than “faux reality” or just plain “reality?”
Ole Guy, are you sure you don’t work for GaDOE?
HS Math Teacher
July 27th, 2012
2:04 am
Diversity of talent in one class wasn’t much of an issue back in the old days. Only until recent years have smaller schools been boxed into a one-diploma pathway (no accelerated curriculum). Anyone on here who has taught more than ten or twenty years has had their share of teaching the lower-level courses. I actually enjoyed teaching most of them. I know that I brought those kids a long way in helping them getting to the next level. However, mixing kids who have never passed a middle school math course with higher-acheiving kids is a crazy idea, especially when you have over 30 in each class.
As to the quote above about how folks should get out of the ATL area (golden doughnut…perhaps golden bagel nowadays) and visit the “rest of GA” and see the “good things that are happening”….well, if you think in relative terms, yes, you’d see some good things going on. Sure, our local citizens have plenty of common sense. The problem is that we don’t have the power to change the bridling state controlled, ill-conceived, top-down policies that are foisted upon us.
If classroom diversity of talent SHOULDN’T matter, then colleges ought to admit ALL kids who want to go, regardless of their prior academic accomplishments. Gee….I wonder why they don’t.
Jerry Eads
July 27th, 2012
7:45 am
Wow. Several of you have done a very competent job of addressing what seem to be problems with CC implementation. Politics seems to require rapid, chaotic, underfunded and ill-planned implementation of knee-jerk “reforms” – as someone above pointed out, with absolutely NO research base.
I do support the purported move toward greater emphasis on “higher order” skills (use the label of your choice, I’ll use the term “critical thinking” for the moment). Last time I checked, the state is insisting on continuing to use its minimum competency tests during the transition to CC, and schools and teachers will be if anything punished to an even greater degree with the results of those tests, which by and large require little more than rote recognition of various simple factoids. So, in short, teachers will be required to teach critical thinking while being judged for how well they drill and kill kids on factoids and rote skills. If an individual were to exhibit the behavior represented by the state in this regard, he would be clinically diagnosed as schizophrenic.
That said, John Barge by all indication — starkly different from his two immediate predecessors — cares deeply for our kids and will do his very best to weave our way through the crazy hand he got dealt. I dearly hope for our sakes he succeeds.
Pride and Joy
July 27th, 2012
7:54 am
This part, especially, is music to my parental ears:
““These standards will better prepare our students for success beyond high school and allow us to see how we measure up against other states,” said state School Superintendent Dr. John Barge. “Also, because we are such a transient society, these standards can help ensure some level of consistency in what is taught from state to state.”
The students do need consistency because we are a transient society and we also need to know what we are getting for our taxes. We need to compare our schools with schools in other areas, including other states.
Businesses need to know what kind of work force they are really getting before they make a decision to move there and parents need to know about the schools before they purchase a home or make a decision to relocate with a company or take a job.
A friend of mine moved from Seattle WA to Atlanta GA. Her husband earns a high salary. She is a stay at home mom and part time volunteer. She researched the schools in Altanta and concluded she wouldn’t move to Atlanta unless the relocation package included $45,000 a year for her to send her children to private school — and they got it.
When Atlanta area schools are so bad that people insist on private schools, Georgia will not be able to attract businesses that create jobs. They’ll simply go to another state. My friend’s husband just happens to be an executive and could deman $45,000 more but it’s rare.
So having a common core will allow us to see how we are really doing and be abel to make better decisions for our kids and our State or simply make the decision to stay as we are, around 46th place and accept the consequences.
P and J
t
Pride and Joy
July 27th, 2012
8:03 am
I love teaching, you said “so teachers are spending hundreds of dollars of their own money on math manipulatives and trade books to use.”
Please go immediately to the PTA, tell them what you need and how much it costs. do the same to every parent in your room. You can buy one trade book if you have to and photocopy. I’ve seen the math manipulatives. They can be improvised. One doesn’t need to spend money at School Box, an expensive center. I go to the Dollar Store. Are you familiar with those little plastic squares used to measure things? Math manipulatives? I buy boxes of dice at the Dollar Store, which are the same size.
Explain what you need to the PTA and itemize and get an estimate. Do the same for the parents. Make a trip to the dollar store.
It’s what I successfully do at home.
Many parents won’t spend a dime regardless how much money they do have but there are many parents like me who will pay our share and then some.
HoneyFern School
July 27th, 2012
8:22 am
““These standards will better prepare our students for success beyond high school and allow us to see how we measure up against other states…”
Nope. Teachers will or will not do this. The standards are a framework, but if the teaching/implementation is bad, shiny “new” standards wil do nothing.
Likewise, if there are a million planned testing events (28 in 6th grade, I believe?), when will teachers teach?
CCS were created to make more money for the educational machine. State standards had been implemented, and sales were down. Re-tool the standards, re-write the texts = back in business. Shameful.
TeacherMom4
July 27th, 2012
8:37 am
Jerry, that is exactly what worries me at the present moment, especially in elementary science and social studies. These tests (particularly social studies) are already like playing Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit, but now we are to teach much of the content through non-fiction texts during literacy. That’s great if you have the books that will spell out the specific factoids the children will be tested on, but if you don’t, what do you do? At my Title I school, we already allocate the lion’s share of time to literacy and math. The time for social studies and science is 35-40 minutes/day–for both, not each. If we lose any more time, there is no way we will get through it all–we barely make it now, and that’s with the dreaded “teaching to the test”. As long as these subjects are explicitly tested, they should get equal time.
I love integrating; I do it all the time with the book choices I make during literacy, but I can’t teach all of the standards through integration alone because the way the material is tested relies on students knowing very specific facts. If the materials I have to use don’t teach those facts, the kids won’t pass the test, even if they know a lot about the topic in general. Now, if we drop the testing component for all but math and language arts, integration would be fantastic. I would love to let my students have more freedom to learn about the aspects that interest them about a topic and learn to love learning, rather than memorize factoids. If CC brings that change eventually, then great. I get the feeling it won’t though.
Pride and Joy
July 27th, 2012
8:43 am
To Really Perplexed, you ask “Free and Reduced lunch data, broken homes, single family households, poverty, people just not placing education as a priority and the list goes on”
I came from all of the above, including uninvolved parents and I performed very well and I always have. I never had a free lunch or a reduced priced lunch because we were too proud to do that but I would have qualified.
I think you are giving the poor a bad name. Poor people can and do learn and become successful thanks to the public education system. There are thousands of examples and I’ll name a couple: Oprah Winfrey who was poor, black, from Mississippi, came from a broken home, was raped by a relative…on and on and she speaks and writes liike the professional she is. She was a professional journalist and is also a remarkable human being. Just because one is poor, black or white and poor and just because they fulfill all the other items on your check list does not mean they are destined to fail. People can and do make a positive difference in these childrens’ lives. You can be that person who does or be that person who throws up her hands and says they are unteachable and destined to fail.
Double Zero Eight
July 27th, 2012
8:53 am
I am curious as to how GA will rank compared to
the 46 states utilizing this standard, when this data
becomes available,
Teachers will be pressured to promote students, and
there is a strong possibility that the test cheating scandal
will turn into a “social promotion scandal”. Administrators
will blame the teachers if their promotions do not meet
the target set, in addition to comparing them to their peers
in performance reviews.
Educators have been training on this new initiative since
March 2011 Unless there is meaningful and increased
parental involvement, nothing will change in the “inner city”
schools. As usual, the parents are left out of the equation.
Maybe an administrator will think “outside the box” and
incorporate an “Effective Parenting Class” in its PTA.
Mikey D.
July 27th, 2012
9:43 am
@Double Zero Eight:
“Maybe an administrator will think “outside the box” and
incorporate an “Effective Parenting Class” in its PTA.”
Administrators at some of our local Title 1 schools have been trying this for years. Only problem is, no one ever shows up. Some of the schools have actually started using Title 1 funds to order pizza because the only way the parents will show up is if they are given a free meal.
EduKtor
July 27th, 2012
9:44 am
It seems Carlosgvv (6:12 pm) has uncharacteristically seen through this rearrangement of Titanic deck chairs.
No doubt he likewise comprehends the unrelenting pressures on the education establishment to appear to be addressing failures we all know—won’t be. What will be accomplished, of course, is safe passage into taxpayer-assisted retirement for yet another sizable cohort of administrators and not a few teachers. While parents hopelessly await results.
When charter schools and tuition vouchers are the norm, there will also be failures. The difference is—they won’t be as easily or effectively swept under the rug.
Cleo
July 27th, 2012
9:48 am
Tomlinson, I wholeheartedly agree! I, too, have been teaching for some time. Teachers gets so tied into complaining about the constant changes or tweaking their teaching to match these ridiculous new instructional strategies. Reforms, curriculum changes, and the whims of administrators will never drive me to change what I know works for the success of my students. I just nod my head in staff meetings and go back to my classroom and instruct the way I know will work. In one format or another, there will always be these same issues in education. In fact, societal issues, social media, funding, etc….will only get worse. Teachers simply need to keep their focus where it belongs – on effective classroom instruction and the progress of their students.
Unblocked
July 27th, 2012
9:49 am
It seems Carlosgvv (6:12 pm) has uncharacteristically seen through this rearrangement of Titanic deck chairs.
No doubt he likewise comprehends the unrelenting pressures on the education establishment to appear to be addressing failures we all know—won’t be. What will be accomplished, of course, is safe passage into taxpayer-assisted retirement for yet another sizable cohort of administrators and not a few teachers. While parents hopelessly await results.
When charter schools and tuition vouchers are the norm, there will also be failures. The difference is—they won’t be as easily or effectively swept under the rug.
– EduKtr
Uncensored
July 27th, 2012
9:55 am
It seems Carlosgvv (6:12 pm) has uncharacteristically seen through this rearrangement of Titanic deck chairs.
No doubt he likewise comprehends the unrelenting pressures on the education establishment to appear to be addressing failures we all know—won’t be. What will be accomplished, of course, is safe passage into taxpayer-assisted retirement for yet another sizable cohort of administrators and not a few teachers. While parents hopelessly await results.
When charter schools and tuition vouchers are the norm, there will also be failures. The difference is—they won’t be as easily or effectively swept under the rug.
Patricia Tomlinson
July 27th, 2012
10:06 am
@ HoneyFern “Nope. Teachers will or will not do this. The standards are a framework, but if the teaching/implementation is bad, shiny “new” standards wil do nothing.”
Exactly!!
Patricia Tomlinson
July 27th, 2012
10:13 am
@ Cleo: “In fact, societal issues, social media, funding, etc….will only get worse. Teachers simply need to keep their focus where it belongs – on effective classroom instruction and the progress of their students.”
I agree!
mommamonster
July 27th, 2012
10:22 am
@Cleo,
Unfortunately our evaluations are based on whether we are “towing the County line” and posting the standards, EQs, etc. rather than measuring our true effectiveness. I am a Special Education teacher and our evals are even more confusing and subjective. Our admins’ attitudes and opinions determine whether or not we are put on a PDP and non-renewed if we aren’t doing as we are told. AND, Cobb County in its typical backassward fashion is CHANGING the Common Core which makes it NOT common…sheesh!
10:31 am
July 27th, 2012
10:32 am
It seems Carlosgvv (6:12 pm) has uncharacteristically seen through this rearrangement of Titanic deck chairs.
No doubt he likewise comprehends the unrelenting pressures on the education establishment to appear to be addressing failures we all know—won’t be. What will be accomplished, of course, is safe passage into taxpayer-assisted retirement for yet another sizable cohort of administrators and not a few teachers. While parents hopelessly await results.
When charter schools and tuition vouchers are the norm, there will also be failures. The difference is—they won’t be as easily or effectively swept under the rug.
10:36 am
July 27th, 2012
10:36 am
It seems Carlosgvv (6:12 pm) has uncharacteristically seen through this rearrangement of Titanic deck chairs.
No doubt he likewise comprehends the unrelenting pressures on the education establishment to appear to be addressing failures we all know—won’t be. What will be accomplished, of course, is safe passage into taxpayer-assisted retirement for yet another sizable cohort of administrators and not a few teachers. While parents hopelessly await results.
When charter schools and tuition vouchers are the norm, there will also be failures. The difference is—they won’t be as easily or effectively swept under the rug.
– EduKtr
AlreadySheared
July 27th, 2012
11:10 am
Not a thing in the world wrong with common national math standards. Dunno about other subjects, but for math a common, national test for each course would be the next correct step.
Pride and Joy
July 27th, 2012
11:24 am
Catlady, speaking of rote memorization, I agree with rote memorization, particularly when it involves multiplication tables “to the twelves.”
Just curious, do you do any interesting activities to encourage math?
I use my measuring cups at home to teach fractions. One half a cup of this plus one half a cup of that equals one cup — using water and measuring cups.
I use playing cards to teach math as well. We play black jack at home to help my children learn to memorize sums.
Yahtzee and dice are also good and cheap ways to sneak math into the curriculum.
I have my kids roll the dice. They get a six and a two. I ask them to multiply six and two. I’ll then get two di with a six showing on each and have them count it, then punch it in on the Dollar Store solar calculator to check their work. They like it. They get it.
Just wondering what you do in the classroom.
No
July 27th, 2012
11:26 am
@ Jerry
Can’t agree about Barge. Especially after he just supported and endorsed the award to Chip Rogers of all people the “Education Reformer of the Year Award” in conjunction with Rhee’s Student First.
It’s all about the money and power.
Ole Guy
July 27th, 2012
1:40 pm
So Ga Teach…I’m not sure if I should interpret your question, as to my work status, as insulting or merely one of curiosity. For the record: no, I do not/would never associate myself with an organization which has demonstrated, over the years, the unique skill of achieving less than nothing while expending millions…and keeping a straight face the whole time. I am retired, both from commercial enterprise, and from the services of the Red White and Blue; I currently serve, in a consultative basis, for that very same flag. I’ve “been there; done that”, and I’ve seen what “organizational blindfolders” can do; the effects these lead weights have on output, whether it’s producing widgets or conducting military operations under trying conditions. Judging from the dismal “products” of the current educational systems, both in Georgia, and across this great land, it is all too apparent that education has become infected by the very same organizational impediments which history has shown to be the best guarantee of organizational breakdown, systems failure, and ultimate disaster.
While we, as a Country have, over the years, watched our global posture diminish on economic, political, and educational fronts, we are constantly bombarded by the “new and improved” mantra; all our leaders (our so-called leaders) know how to do is take the same ole approach to the challenges and label this approach “new and improved”. Meanwhile, those who occupy the “front lines” of education simply stand by and await further instructions from the bridge, even when they know that the bridge is manned by “Daffy Duck leadership”…unlike social (in general) and (specifically) educational challenges of the past, no one, within those trenches, seems truly interested in taking the initiative in assuming a leadership role in correcting the many “anomalies”, within education, which have come to be accepted as…par for the course.
While my comments have probably bordered on “teacher bashing”, the hard, sad reality remains…EVERYONE remotely associated with education…teachers, administrators, parents, politicians, and, yes, even the kids themselves, have become so damn lazy. REAL…and I mean REAL change can be both tough and extremely unpopular, but that’s the ONLY…and I mean ONLY way we AND that which we euphamistically refer to as THE FUTURE can possibly realize real achievements. Otherwise, everyone’s simply fooling everyone else.
Truthbetold
July 27th, 2012
3:31 pm
To Mikey D.
July 27th, 2012
9:43 am
Title I funds can no longer be used to purchase food. If this is the case, at your school, someone is in violation of misappropriating federal dollars.
catlady
July 27th, 2012
4:20 pm
Ole Guy and Patricia: I swear! Can’t use timed tests, can’t use flash cards. I guess it is someone’s thinking that having those basics established by rote is not important to being able to do more complex math problems. And when I said that kids who don’t master those facts should be held back, you would have thought I suggested hanging!
Parent/Teacher
July 27th, 2012
5:53 pm
Math is not fun or enjoyable if you don’t understand the basic facts or concepts of numbers. The best way I have found to reach my students is to incorporate throughout the school day. Students do need rote memorization and they get it whether someone says not to. It may be as x-tra credit for timed test or competition. Fractions, geometry, money, time and place value can all be taught during the day whether it’s in the pacing chart or not. Students want to feel non-threatened about math and making it a constant has really helped my students.
Patricia Tomlinson
July 27th, 2012
6:38 pm
@ catlady As I said in my earlier posting I have never taught where rote memorization was not part of the package when teaching basic facts. Flashcards, timed tests, etc. was and is a part of the package as well as any other system such as TouchMath. There is no one way for all to learn, so lots of different strategies must used to build understanding of the fact as well as memorization of the fact whether it is through pictorial representations or the use of manipulatives to build concrete examples of the fact as well as real world examples such as a parking lot.
@Pride and Joy Every manipulative you mentioned I have used in my public school classroom when teaching math concepts.
@ Ole Guy I don’t necessarily think we should tear the entire system down, but perhaps you might want to find one of your local schools volunteer some of your time.
Prof
July 27th, 2012
6:48 pm
@ EduKtr. You’ve repeated your same post here 5 times, at 9:44 am, 9:49 am, 9:55 am, 10:32 aqm, and 10:36 am. Are you trying for the gift card offered by the charter school movement for blog entries? See this post on the blog about Parent Trigger laws which favor charter schools by Caroline Grannan, July 27th, 3:43 pm:
“Students First offered me a gift card if I post a positive comment about the parent trigger. Way to buy support, corporate ed reformers!
From: Catherine Robinson
> Date: July 26, 2012 9:58:12 PM EDT
> To: Catherine Robinson [Grannan]
> Subject: rapid responses needed – and a contest!
>
Hi all,
… starting right now, there will be a monthly contest for the best rapid response. The more comments you leave on blog posts, the more times you can enter! Post a polite and persuasive pro-reform comment and email me the link so I can check it out….”
Ole Guy
July 27th, 2012
11:47 pm
Excellent thoughts, Cat…timed tests, flash cards; anything which transposes the educational process from (what I have witnessed as…) passive lecturing to the “on-your-toes keep your head in the game” pattern of question/response/question/response, etc.
There is a concept known as MATH SENSE…the process by which basic quantitative relationships are “engrained” into the gray matter. The kid, for example, should not have to start counting fingers and toes in order to view quantitative data in easily manageable groupings of ten, rather than multi-digit numbers. As applications move along the progression from elementary arithmetical concepts to the advanced mathematical disciplines, the kid develops “mathematical maturity” by which these basic relationships are applied to the Xes, Ys, and Zeez…the unknowns; the tans/cotans, etc, and THEIR relationships to the strange concepts of advanced mathematics. The entire process is predicated on developing that MATHEMATICAL MATURITY which can only be attained through the DISCIPLINED approach to the very basics. So if it takes flash cards, tarot cards, or ju ju beads…just ensure it gets done. Those who can hack it…GREAT! Those who can’t/don’t care to expend the effort…GIT EM OUT SO THEY CAN’T INFECT THOSE WHO WANT IT. THIS, Cat, is where YOU, the entire teacher corps, can affect good things…ONLY if you’ve (collectively) got the guts.
This NCLB crap is/was, perhaps one of the worse forms of trickery/chicanery the educational elite ever pulled on a generation. In 4th grade, we all had to EARN the title “master multiplier” by reciting the tables…2 thru 12…clickety clickety click…failure/the slighest hesitation was met with Sister Mean Face’s scowl of disapproval followed by a few “reminders” of why we were sitting in that class; why we had better pull our heads out of warm dark recesses and get with the program. FAILURE WAS NOT AN OPTION! Oh, I’m sure there were some who, somehow, failed to fully grasp this basic concept. However, remedials, within the collegiate environs, was an almost unknown factor, MOST-CERTAINLY not known among scholastic scholarship (ie HOPE) winners. Conversly, we seem to have developed, through the educational systems, a generation of LOOSERS, simply because the teacher corps has been brainwashed into thinking that they cannot teach as they see fit…ie your example of the employment of flash cards.
I gather, by your remarks, that the use of flash cards is not well-received…just exactly WHO balks at the possibility of holding back those who fail flash card mastery? The kids? Parents? Principals?
If my Commander ever gave me a hard time (which he never would have) because I wouldn’t allow a student to solo, do you think I would be inclined to bow to the “pressures” of parents, students, or even “the brass”? NO FREQUIN WAY! Either they had failed to acquire the basics of “aeronautical adventure”, or they simply “didn’t have it”…NO GD NCLB…and these were, for the most part, kids not too many years from that high school graduation stage.
So you can either flunk em’ now, and they just might find it within themselves to “recover”, get with the program, and meet standards, OR they WILL have a great opportunity at achieving dismal lives.
YOU, the teacher corps, know what to do.
Tomlinson, thanks for your suggestion. I only “tear the entire system down” based on the “system output”. Ever heard of the Lemmon Law? If the new car, despite repeated trips to the fixit shop, persists in a “systems failure”, the car is considered a lemmon. The sooner you, the educational community, drops the notion that ALL kids are teachable; that ALL kids must pass, and start the unpopular process of GETTING TOUGH ON THESE KIDS, we just might start seeing the glimmers of generational INCLINE. Rates of college graduation, INTELLIGENT consumerism, and SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY just might start showing signs of recovery.
I’m on the road a good deal of time; I still have ample time to enjoy retirement, as well as volunteerism at a few local entities. I have been in a few local schools, though not recently. To be perfectly honest, I do not care to aid and abete in the travesty imposed upon these kids. I’ve had more than a few “head-knocking sessions” with educational idiots up and down the educational echelons; I DON’T LIKE WASTING MY TIME ON LOST CAUSES. I defer that to you, the professionals. Unlike me, YOU have invested a great deal of time and professional energies in “the game”. If YOU, the teacher corps, can’t/won’t take the initiative, than I’ve got a whole lot of better targets for my time.
Prof
July 28th, 2012
12:23 pm
@ Ole Guy. Then why do you spend your time attacking “the teacher corps” over and over on this blog?
Ole Guy
July 28th, 2012
2:14 pm
Good question, Prof; what the hell do I care? MY pawprints have been left upon the Earth, as have the footprints of those who followed me. The teacher corps simply cannot help it; despite their collective “love” of the profession, and of the kids who, it would seem, need their help…alas…they must contend with far too many overpowering outside influences. Perhaps, rather than label kids “at risk”, the entire teacher corps should be labeled thusly. At least they would have, like those kids, an “official” reason for sub-standard results.
You’re absolutely right, Prof…we should all just all give up on teachers, give up on any real educational reform, and while we’re at it, let’s just give up on kids. They all deserve all the slack; all the understanding and patience the demands of the 21st century can muster up.
Prof
July 28th, 2012
3:26 pm
@ Ole Guy. My question was about you, not the teachers.
ccgps
July 28th, 2012
10:10 pm
I personally like some of the ideas behind the common core.
I don’t like the fact that there is no such thing as state standards and that we are all under the guidance of the feds.
Will these kids and parents rise to the challenges set forth by these new standards? Doubtful. Who wants to read when you can play games, go to little league all the time, and so on.
Lulu
July 28th, 2012
10:47 pm
From those who have been in GA about 15 min. the obvious question for your headliner is: GA’s schools have standards? Those of you who have been here the better part of a long lifetime as I, can answer: yes, we once had standards. Time will tell if we return to them. History is abandoned because people have not always been politically correct, whatever that is in relationship to truth. It is as important as language and science as a discipline. And forget the ridiculous math mess of the last decade. The person(s) responsible for that need to be sent to the principal’s office and their parents (if they have any who admit to it) called in for a serious conference. Then there is the ridiculous test cheating by teachers, principals, high paid administrators and superindindants!!! What looked like it might produce justice and punishment is more and more becoming a ‘we didn’t really mean it’ exercise’ as they’re remaining in their posts and escaping by the so-called tribunals. Where is Madame LaFarge when you need her? Don’t expect the ‘educators’ to get the last reference as it requires an education..
Ron Hyatt
July 28th, 2012
11:39 pm
If teachers were Auto Makers, Cigarette Companies, or any other Fortune 500 company, they’d already have been sued out of existence for producing such a defective and dangerous product as the youth they disservice each and every day.
Ole Guy
July 29th, 2012
12:58 am
Prof, we appear to be heading for the “circular discussion” on this one. My reply WAS about me; in stark frankness, I really shouldn’t care what goes on within the educational circus. I’ve traversed two careers, somewhat successfully, and I can now look back and say I gave it my all. It wasn’t always easy; it wasn’t always fun but, dammit, I ALWAYS took an aggressive stance in gaining and maintaining at least a semblence of career control. I can only hope that those who I mentored have enjoyed at least the same level of career satisfaction as those from whom I was priveleged to be mentored. In both of my careers, I ALWAYS held firmly to the belief that my individual efforts, miniscule as they may have been to the overall picture, counted for something. SOMEHOW, both through first hand experience (albiet, somewhat limited) and through media, I am left with the unmistakable impression that the teacher corps, which the younger generation must look toward for that mentorship, simply ain’t up to the task. Are the problems, within the educational community, exclusively THEIR fault? YES and NO…yes (repeating my worn-out drumroll), they have not taken the interest in their “calling” to truly commit self to actively addressing AND rectifying those “professional landmines” which are sure to crop up in any worthwile endeavour. I would seem that, as a whole, teachers, while professing love of this and love of that, are simply “along for the ride”; not willing to “get muddy”. On the other hand, there have been so many “outside influences”…parents, administrators, yada yada yada…which have infiltrated the very classroom which the teacher, once upon a time, was in charge; was lord and master of the universe known as the classroom.
We’ve all heard the ole saw, “You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution”. It would appear, Prof, that the teacher corps had adopted a somewhat neutral ground of being neither problem nor solution, but simply waiting for the inevitable organizational storms to clear.
I hope, Prof, my reply is clear enough. I also hope that, rather than await the “good fairy of REAL educational reform, some educator out their has the professional guts to pick up the ball.
Lovestoteach
July 30th, 2012
12:17 am
Where do you teach “loves to teach, hate what it’s becoming”?
In Cobb, our classrooms are overflowing with math manipulatives and great literature. I don ‘t need to buy anything new for the common core. We also have lots of leveled book sets. You need to advocate for educators in your county and get the materials and resources you need!
Best of luck!
Common Core Curriculum Comes to Cobb | Acworth
August 8th, 2012
1:21 pm
[...] adhere to the new standards. According to a Georgia Department of Education press release found at The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, some of the following changes will be [...]