Common Core is a program set on improving the American education system, but in reality it is ruining it. Many problems have been found with it including educational difficulties. Education must be improved, so that America can still compete with other countries.
States that have Common Core implemented have seen a decline in student test scores and achievement. This is shown in one of the states with the earliest implementation of Common Core, Kentucky. Kentucky has seen a decline in their student achievement since the implementation of Common Core. This shows that Common Core needs significant improvements, or needs to be removed completely. One parent stated that “Our children who were testing in the 80th or higher percentile in math last year, are now coming home with C’s, D’s, and F’s on their report cards” (Lamoreaux).
This is a key part in schools today because it’s enforcing a higher bar of achievement for teachers and students (Catapano, 2018). Implementing standards into a school system that are internationally benchmarked means all states and countries have a way of measuring their academic performance. They can use this also as a tool to compile scores and understand the weaknesses to improve students’ knowledge. This provides teachers with various ways to assess their students more frequently through observations and informal assessments to understand the student’s comprehension level of the lesson material. It will help the teachers to strive to improve her test scores by adapting lesson materials to the needs of each
Schools in America take a test each year called the standardized test, which is a tool used to measure the effectiveness of the school, the teacher, and the performance of the student. However, “standardized tests have been a part of American education since the mid- 1800s. Their use sky rocketed after 2002’s No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandated annual testing in all 50 states” (Standardized Tests - ProCon.org.). In addition, for years teachers have been on a schedule to cram their students with information that is a majority of the time only relevant to what is on the standardized test. Teachers push this information onto their students because the Standardized test scores are really important to the school, and it makes the school appear
Considering these pros into action, there are cons to it. Higher salary based on standardized tests will have negative effects. More manipulation of test results will occur within this. If school board officials are seeing that students are achieving higher test scores, they will take action and give teachers the bonuses, but what the school board does not know is that the teachers are the ones manipulating the tests for their own benefits in this case for money. “Cheating teachers are on the rise as figures show the number illicitly helping children pass GCSE and A-level exams has trebled in the past two years” (Turner). The amount of stress standardized testing gives to one can cause this type of cheating on tests by teachers. Teachers feel all this pressure when they see they will get bonuses based on the scores their students receive and if they are not a good teacher they will have to improvise and manipulate the results just to get that one bonus they crave badly. “There were 388 penalties issued to school and college
With over one million signatures and comments from parents against the program, there has been little progress with the disputes they have made. Some claim that education should be left entirely out of the hands of the government, with little to no interference in how classrooms are run or taught. The belief that the education of a child is best left in the hands of those closest are the best to make the decisions, rather than federal acts. The Common Core is a substandard arrangement of benchmarks which negatively affect instructor assessments, school responsibility measures, instructional procedures, educational modules, subsidizing, intercessions for low-performing schools, and school tests
High school education is stuck within the constraints of “common core standards”. These
Although the common belief is that certain aspects of school are important for an ideal education for all students, the main problems that need to be rectified as soon as possible include the lettered grading system and test scores as the main measure of achievement as well as a lack of disciplined and motivated in teachers who do their jobs correctly in order for their students to reach their full potential and excel in life. Out of all the issues with American education today, one of the most overvalued yet problematic for students is the grades and scores that represent their classroom proficiency and content knowledge. It is true that today, in the United States, the easiest and seemingly most reliable way to track student performance and rank schools by quality of education is by simply marking students based on their scores on assignments and assessments done in school or on standardized exams designed to measure mastery of content, and by comparing and analyzing the
Introduction Standardized tests may be used for a wide variety of educational purposes. For example, they may be used to determine a young child’s readiness for kindergarten, identify students who need special-education services or specialized academic support, place students in different academic programs or course levels, or award diplomas and other educational certificates. Thesis Statement Standardized tests should not be eliminated completely, but should rather be evaluated in addition to other factors such as grades, extracurricular activities, and volunteer hours. This would take pressure off of students during standardized tests, allow colleges to see how well-rounded the students are, and give students who are better in other areas
The United States Common Core State Standards for Education The Common Core State Standards is a controversial subject among educators, parents and general public. What most people do not realize is state standards have been around since the 1900’S, and every state has had their own standards in the early 2000’s. Each state standard has levels or benchmarks, which state what the student should be proficient in per grade level. Most of these standards are in place for third grade through high school.
Increasingly today in America’s school system, there is a recognition of tension between individuality and conformity. The struggle between students’ personal needs and the needs of the whole continues to grow. This can be seen though the controversial issue of standardized testing. These are tests that are designed in a way, which are administered and recorded in a consistent method. In standardized testing, all test takers are required to answer the same set of multiple-choice, true or false questions, short answer, and essay questions.
Nevertheless, schools are facing hard times and taking the loss right where it hurts, the pocketbook. Many states signed up for the new curriculum within only two months, which was not nearly long enough to make sure that the new learning standard was fit for them. By signing up, these states agreed to buy tests and upgrade their technology to administer the tests. All of this added up to thirty dollars per student, more than what half the states can afford. “Common Core Causes Collateral Damage” reveals, “Just last month, Maryland announced it would need $100 million to get schools up to speed to administer the tests”(McShane, 2).
“A basic Common Core idea is that the standards are supposed to emphasize depth over breadth, ensure students really master concepts, and build on previous learning (“scaffolding” is the term some educators prefer) (Paulson).” In other words, content is not taught by the “mile wide and an inch deep” idiom that represents what has been employed in the past. Instead, students are given more time to learn content specific objectives which provide a more solid foundation for future
Meredith Broussard explains how standardized testing does not prove a child’s general knowledge nor creative in-depth thinking by stating, “Standardized tests are not based on general knowledge... they are based on specific knowledge contained in specific sets of books: the textbooks created by the test makers” (Broussard). Miner also states that standardized testing, “... leads to a dumbed-down curriculum that values rote memorization over in-depth thinking, exacerbates inequities for low-income students and students of color, and undermines true accountability among schools, parents, and community” (Miner). The assessment of a child should encourage a child to want to learn for the sake of learning. Alternative assessments could address a child’s development and learning process. These evaluations can determine why children are more likely to read behind grade level, instead of highlighting their inabilities.
Recently, the Common Core State Standards were developed and kids were going to be tested more than ever. However, all of this education reform has been a failure because our testing scores have not improved, the testing makes children suffer, and it doesn’t improve how teachers teach. Education reforms has had little effect on our testing scores. The average score for a 17 year old student doing a reading test in the beginning of school is 285 and over 40