Free Republic

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Some North Carolina elementary school teachers were initially told they would lose their jobs if they didn't pass a Math test they call difficult and unfair. Teachers say they recently got a call from their school district informing them they have another year to pass the test. Hundreds of teachers have failed the test repeatedly. Teachers argue what's on the test has nothing to do with what they teach in a classroom for students in Kindergarten to 5th grade. "Never in a million years would we even come close to teaching some of the topics on...

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...