Common Core State Standards (or CCSS) have presented themselves as the cure for America 's education system. The standards do raise the bar for students, but at what cost? There are very many children and young adults that can’t keep up with those demands for one reason or another.
Common Core State Standards will not help more students than previous methods because it only focuses on ideal learning conditions. This is evident when looking at the English language arts (ELA) standards and mathematics standards. However, another topic that should be explored is the testing system, and how it fails to address the issue of different learning preferences. Firstly, a look at the ELA standards.
The ELA standards for CCSS provide a few …show more content…
CCSS quote William Schmidt stating that previous methods were “a mile wide and an inch deep,” (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers, Common Core State Standards) this, however is an exaggeration of the truth. The truth is that teachers gave students instruction in a wide variety of topics to form a basis for the next stage of learning (i.e. the next grade level). According to the research and opinion of the writer, this is virtually the same as the description of CCSS which states in part: “Therefore, the standards are designed around coherent progressions from grade to grade. Learning is carefully connected across grades so that students can build new understanding onto foundations built in previous years.” (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers, Common Core State Standards) The new standards then take a bizarre twist by not allowing students to memorize facts. Students must use their own knowledge to draw conclusions on how to reach the answer, weather that answer is correct – or not. “This requires a deeper level of understanding. It is tougher than following a memorized algorithm to a solution.” (Gardner, and Smith, 54) The fact that the standards force students to think out solutions without allowing teachers to provide a necessary …show more content…
It should come as no surprise that the rigorous Common Core standards require just as rigorous testing to ensure that students and teachers are keeping up with their curriculum. VanTassel-Baska tells readers that they should constantly be wary of educational standardization versus personal variations. (61) The amount of testing and the lack of personalization (especially when talking about ELA) is concerning to a lot of teachers and parents. This cold environment can be detrimental to the creativity of some students. Krashen also suggests that there is little evidence that all of this testing will actually facilitate a better learning environment for students. (38) Forcing students and teachers to follow these standards does nothing to help students, more over students that are not good at taking
Common Core State Standards will not help more students than previous methods because it only focuses on ideal learning conditions. This is evident when looking at the English language arts (ELA) standards and mathematics standards. However, another topic that should be explored is the testing system, and how it fails to address the issue of different learning preferences. Firstly, a look at the ELA standards.
The ELA standards for CCSS provide a few …show more content…
CCSS quote William Schmidt stating that previous methods were “a mile wide and an inch deep,” (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers, Common Core State Standards) this, however is an exaggeration of the truth. The truth is that teachers gave students instruction in a wide variety of topics to form a basis for the next stage of learning (i.e. the next grade level). According to the research and opinion of the writer, this is virtually the same as the description of CCSS which states in part: “Therefore, the standards are designed around coherent progressions from grade to grade. Learning is carefully connected across grades so that students can build new understanding onto foundations built in previous years.” (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers, Common Core State Standards) The new standards then take a bizarre twist by not allowing students to memorize facts. Students must use their own knowledge to draw conclusions on how to reach the answer, weather that answer is correct – or not. “This requires a deeper level of understanding. It is tougher than following a memorized algorithm to a solution.” (Gardner, and Smith, 54) The fact that the standards force students to think out solutions without allowing teachers to provide a necessary …show more content…
It should come as no surprise that the rigorous Common Core standards require just as rigorous testing to ensure that students and teachers are keeping up with their curriculum. VanTassel-Baska tells readers that they should constantly be wary of educational standardization versus personal variations. (61) The amount of testing and the lack of personalization (especially when talking about ELA) is concerning to a lot of teachers and parents. This cold environment can be detrimental to the creativity of some students. Krashen also suggests that there is little evidence that all of this testing will actually facilitate a better learning environment for students. (38) Forcing students and teachers to follow these standards does nothing to help students, more over students that are not good at taking