Common Core Argument Analysis

“The law's annual testing requirements in math and reading have led many schools to pump up the amount of time they spend teaching these two staples — often at the expense of other subjects, such as history, art or science.” (Blass, 2007) Another problem is that the assessment doesn’t take individual learning into account. There is no correction for a learning disability in a student, or for students in Special Ed. Rob Andrews put it best by saying, “A school's AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) should not be based on standardized tests that fail to account for a child's cognitive capacity… in many cases [the standardized test] is beyond the abilities of special education students.”

As a student in high school did you ever feel like the standardized test are helping you or making you get in to a better college? Have you ever thought about how many hours students and teachers spend preparing for the standardized test? Many hours and studying are being put into those test but are they really effective and are the test doing the students good in life? Standardized tests are really just to effective, teachers and students spend too much time on them and it’s not doing the students any good, and even it’s not doing the teachers any good. Standardized tests in schools today in Ohio should be stopped because they are causing for teachers to be evaluated by the test results of how the students do on the tests, they are having the students more stressed about school and do they benefit you in colleges and university and do they really look at how well students do on them test.

(3-5) Other critics argue that exit exams might cause students who are already struggling academically to drop out of high school or get a general equivalency (GED) diploma instead. "There's no evidence that these exams encourage students to stay in school," Keith Gayler, of the Center on Education Policy, told The Boston Globe, some educators are also concerned that the exam will disproportionately hurt students for whom English is a second language and those who come from schools with already low graduation rates. Twenty-six states either currently have a high school exit exam or plan to put one in place. Given the number of high school students in these states, it means that exit exams affect more than two-thirds of the nation’s public high school students. These exams vary from state to state in terms of content and opportunities for students who do not pass to retake the test and/or demonstrate competency.

Zinsheteyn goes on about extensive test prep, “And the College Board is arguing that the new SAT more accurately reflects what students learn in school, rebuffing criticism that acing the SAT requires mastering a separate curriculum through extensive test-prep services.” Many parents are willing to spend a large amount of money to see their kid succeed. Some test-prep services can cost up to $1,000 or more depending on the type of service you choose. Some families do not have that type of income to send their kids to elite test-prep programs which help even out the fairness for the test

Furthermore, School would be different in the way that students would only learn what would be useful. Math in high school would include math that is helpful for life. A life skills class would also be something required in high school. Students would be taught about credit, mortgage, taking out loans, the truth behind applying to college and financial aid, as well as other useful things that are not usually discussed in high school. Students would be taught about facets of self-love, including caring for your body mentally and physically.

In paragraph 8 of the article it says,"American students do not achieve well and do not choose to study mathematics beyond basic courses...". Students need to be able to understand the importance of math. In paragraph 10 of the article it says,"Math and physics as well as science are mandatory considered 'bread and butter' ares of education are emphasized more heavily through high school at a more advanced level than even freshman college year in the U.S.". Math may be hard but as long as we study more and more as we grow older it will become easy.

Large amounts of class time are spent “teaching to the test, to the practice tests and the pre-practice tests” (Mora 3). Teachers put their primary focus on what they think will be on the standardized test. Watson, Johanson, Loder, and Dankiw quoted Jones in their article; He wrote “…science, social studies, and the arts are subjects that are pushed aside and taught only if there is extra time left in the schedule” (2). Standardized testing causes students’ education to be narrowed. Instead of having a broad education with many areas to achieve, students are forced to concern themselves with only math and

That is where the negative message of math needs to start changing. Stop testing children and grading them as if they are an object and teach them to understand and apply real math. What is taught in school is not what a mathematician would recognize as math. Through this, children lose their interest of math hitting elementary

Modern day schooling forces students to fit a mold only a select few can fill by creating too much structure and having an overbearing emphasis on math and science, when other, less structured extracurricular activities can promote respect, discipline, and teamwork. Most would agree that, in early stages of life, art is a detrimental and necessary part of any child’s early development and education. In fact, Pre-K through third grade’s education curriculum is usually centered around promoting early creativity and a fondness for learning. Kids learn math by counting colorful pieces of bricks. They learn both science and the basic principles of functionality by playing with train sets and toy cars.

This has made teaching nearly impossible, since now teachers are teaching a sliver of the class what they really need to learn and because of this and the barriers that students face, “U.S. students slipped from 18th in the world in math in 2000 to 31st place in 2009, with a similar decline in science and no change in reading” (Shatzky). Students are no longer being taught how to learn and how to critically think, and are instead taught how to take a test because although we see a decline in the rankings of the world; the test score averages have increased over time. How is it that we as a country are falling in rank, but increasing in test scores which should reflect an increase in

The right answer is no longer the correct answer and that estimating the answer is the way to go. I feel like this would be extremely hard for parents to help their children with homework because the parents don’t know how to solve math problems like

In the article “Idiot Nation”, Michael Moore states that America is a society full of idiots who are falling behind in education compared to other countries around the world. Moore gives examples of how Americans could not figure out how to solve the simplest school problems in their heads, or had a reading proficiency past a fourth grade level. Even so, Americans do not have a clue to where half of the countries are on the map (Moore, 121-40). But is the American education system really that bad in making students fail to succeed beyond what is expected of them? Compared to one of the world’s best education system, South Korean students excel in science and mathematics (Alters, 4).

In 2009, governors and state commissioners alike came together to formulate the development and implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Through membership organizations such as the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) (http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/frequently-asked-questions/), they were able to create a system that represented a clear-cut caliber of expectations meant for students in kindergarten to grade 12. Over the past several years, new amendments have been added to keep up with the standard that 48 states have adopted into their school systems, although the adoption of the policy was voluntary (http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/frequently-asked-questions/). Despite majority of the states in the U.S. having decided on the policy already, there has been conflict amongst the parents of the children who are subject to the rigorous and exhausting amount of tests they must take to keep up with what is fixed into their school systems. The argument against test-taking is a controversy in itself as many believe

There are many teachers that I know against Common Core State Standards. They are partially right to be against it. I align more closely with the first statement because common core standards create an opportunity for all students across the nation to have equal education. As educators, our ultimate goal is to prepare our student for post-secondary education and to make sure that they are college and career ready. In my school, State of Nevada mandates high school students to take the ACT tests as a graduation requirement.

Common core is a set of standards for English and math to teach kids k-12 “Nationwide 43 states and the district of Columbia have adopted the common core standards” -Tully. Many people oppose the standards and so do I “Republicans showed the highest opposition 76% with 38% of democrats says they oppose the standards.” -Osborne. Common core should be discontinued because instead of teaching the course, it teaches the test, there is less flexibility for teachers to adapt to how the students need to be taught, and it does not prepare them for college. If the common core standards are implemented some states will have to take a step back because their standards are actually better than the common core standards.