Posted on 08/08/2013 7:17:21 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The number of New York students passing state reading and math exams dropped drastically this year, education officials reported on Wednesday, unsettling parents, principals and teachers and posing new challenges to a national effort to toughen academic standards.
In New York City, 26 percent of students in third through eighth grade passed the tests in English, and 30 percent passed in math, according to the New York State Education Department.
The exams were some of the first in the nation to be aligned with a more rigorous set of standards known as the Common Core, which emphasize deep analysis and creative problem-solving over short answers and memorization. Last year, under an easier test, 47 percent of city students passed in English, and 60 percent in math.
City and state officials spent months trying to steel the public for the grim figures.
But when the results were released, many educators responded with shock that their students measured up so poorly against the new yardsticks of achievement.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
GRIMM STATS:
* Across the state, the downward shift was similar: 31 percent of students passed the exams in reading and math, compared with 55 percent in reading and 65 percent in math last year.
* New York City still outperformed the state’s other large school districts — in Rochester, for example, only 5 percent of students passed in reading and math.
* Striking gaps in achievement between black and Hispanic students and their counterparts persisted. In math, 15 percent of black students and 19 percent of Hispanic students passed the exam, compared with 50 percent of white students and 61 percent of Asian students.
What? Were they FORCED to give minority students unweighted scores with respect to white children? That’s just not FAIR!
Where in the world is Matt Damon when you really need him? Just can’t trust these liberals.
So lets make the tests easier!
We need more stupid people with high self-esteem!
There is NOTHING like an idiot who is sure he knows better than you.
Give them all a trophy for participating
Without knowing the full scope of these test results, I can GUARANTEE you that when they look at results at children from broken homes and single parent families, they will find they did WORSE than children from normal homes with Mom and Dad at home every night.
This ain’t rocket science folks. You want your kids to do well, stay in school, stay off drugs, not get pregnant as a teen and stay outta prison?
Then get married. Have kids. Stay married.
Or.... You could try the Trayvon Martin approach.
He’s an actor. And activist. And, so brave. A bravactivist. Who high-tails it from the status quo he enables at the first sign his own children might have to suffer the crappy education the rest of the little people do.
A father of four (three daughters, aged seven, five and three, and a stepdaughter, 15), this summer he is moving his family from New York to Los Angeles, and the challenge of giving them a childhood that remotely resembles the one he enjoyed is about to get even harder.
Choosing a school has already presented a major moral dilemma. “Sending our kids in my family to private school was a big, big, big deal. And it was a giant family discussion. But it was a circular conversation, really, because ultimately we don’t have a choice. I mean, I pay for a private education and I’m trying to get the one that most matches the public education that I had, but that kind of progressive education no longer exists in the public system. It’s unfair.” Damon has campaigned against teachers’ pay being pegged to children’s test results: “So we agitate about those things, and try to change them, and try to change the policy, but you know, it’s a tough one.”
As a mother of a recent 4th grader who took the test this year, I can tell you that myself and most parents didn't care if they passed the exam or not. Common Core should be called Crap Core because that is exactly what it is. Creative solving problem is a joke and should not a substitute for memorization, especially when it comes to math. I have had to teach my child multiplication memorization myself because he is not being taught to memorize his time tables anymore. Instead he has to figure out (as in the case of 10x10) little columns of 10's etc. which takes longer and is just plain stupid. Basically, I am homeschooling him at the same time as having him in the public school system, which is what many parents like me have to do. Common Core will not prepare these kids for the real world - it is just dumbing them down.
“There is nothing like an idiot who thinks he knows better than you”— This article is about education NOT POLITICIANS
I recently advertised for an entry level dispatcher position and now have dozens of applications on my desk. I’m amazed at the poor spelling and written communication skills. One lady had a masters in education. Her app was probably the worst.
From what I’ve seen, Common Core is geared to the very bright who at a young age can think somewhat abstractly, and jettisons the average and lower ability students who at that age are better served by memorization and rote learning. It seems in line with the elitist future libs are preparing for us.
We are all different. No one ever sat in a classroom with his or her equal on either side--unless an identical twin or triplet;--and the sooner we all recognize that collectivist/egalitarianism helps no one but demagogues & scoundrels, the better. (See Compassion Or Compulsion?)
William Flax
That’s ok - even the private schools in L.A. suck.
I know, but this is where here they start
I would take a red pen and correct the spelling and grammatical errors and send them back
can you scan and post their applications? (black out the names, of course)
Your post makes the most sense.
People have to remember... This is all political, and its all about Commie Core.
It was intentional that the kids would do poorly. They’ve been telling them all year they would do poorly.
And now the can say... “See! You see how much we NEED Bill Ayer’s curriculum?”
“”26 percent of students in third through eighth grade passed the tests in English, and 30 percent passed in math, according to the New York State Education Department.
The exams were some of the first in the nation to be aligned with a more rigorous set of standards known as the Common Core””
Common Core is the problem but anyone paying attention knew that would be the result of adapting it in schools.
What happened to the New York Regents exams for 8th grade students to enter high school? They’re sure not entering high school with results like that. Are they no longer given? Replaced with Common Core which does diddly squat?
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