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Common Core

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A **** ton of noise has been made about this issue, and I'd like to understand it better.

What, specifically, is Common Core, and why are so many of you opposed to it?
 
Common Core is a set of nationally coordinated government standards for achievement in math and language arts...basically what your kid is supposed to know by each grade level. It is measured through standardized testing. While some will tell you it is a state run program, which technically it is, access to federal money is on the line for adhering to the national standards.

Now, obviously there are plenty of arguments for and against standardized testing that go back to NCLB. Another problem with Common Core is the methodology being used by schools to meet the Common Core standards. Singapore math is one...some Department of Education genius decided that since kids in Singapore score higher in math it must be the methods they use to teach them (as opposed to say the fact that they are all wealthy Asian kids with hyper achieving parents who push the crap out of them). So they decided that in order to adhere to Common Core schools must use this curriculum, which is the most convoluted ****** up way of learning math you can imagine. My girls missed it but my son had to switch from regular math to Singapore math in third grade. He went from being an absolute math whiz who loved math to hating it and begging me nightly to let him do math the way he already knew how. This is a kid who scores in the top 1% on standardized math tests. Whether this system does anything to help kids who can't do math I couldn't tell you, but I doubt it. From what I've heard around here tests scores have been dropping.

Luckily when he hit 6th grade he started algebra and didn't have to do Singapore math anymore. But whoever believes this ridiculous curriculum is the key to teaching kids math in this country is beyond stupid.

I've seen some other pretty eyebrow raising curriculum changes in terms of social studies, history, etc. but honestly I can't tell you if that's related to Common Core at all or just to the fact that many of our teachers are fairly recent products of our ultra liberal university system.
 
Here's Common Core in a nutshell. Take a simple Mathematics problem like 23+34. Simple right? Add it up, the end. Common Core will turn that simple single step problem into a highly confusing 10 or 12 step problem. In order to answer the question properly you must write out all 10 steps in their proper order. If you write 23+34=57 on your paper, it will be counted as a wrong answer.

Anyone who has had Elementary aged children in the past couple years and has helped with their homework will tell you it's the biggest bunch of bullshit waste of time. Let's force the kids to work a problem in such a convoluted way that it has no value because nobody is going to take 10 steps so solve a ******* addition problem when they are standing in line at a store. It's a waste of time.

You should google the video of the Mom who is against the program going in front of the lawmakers that are proponents of Common Core. She explains the problems she has with Common Core and then tells them she wants to give the panel a Math problem to solve. She gives them a multiplication problem which they all start writing down. She asks for the answer and the guy up at the podium gives the answer all cocky because he got it right. She asks him how he got the answer and he replies "I multiplied it". She says "exactly" and then proceeds to tell him that he did it incorrectly based on Common Core standards and goes through all the ridiculous steps. She then tells him that if he was in her daughter's 4th Grade classroom, he would have gotten it wrong and earned no points for his answer. And these are the idiots who were ramming it down everyone's throats. It is beautiful.
 
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A **** ton of noise has been made about this issue, and I'd like to understand it better.

What, specifically, is Common Core, and why are so many of you opposed to it?

I've only seen some of the math problems, which teach a crazy way to do it.

I can't figure out why teaching the addition/multiplication/division tables was bad.

In any event, if you want to know what is bad with it, I think you only need to know one thing: It is federally run.
 
Two plus two is not four, anymore. **** common core.

Sing that to a Gene Simmons bass line.
 
I know a lot about it. I was a teacher for 18 years - math and elementary, both highly qualified.

Common Core was born from a good idea, which was to keep the grades on the same track, from state to state. But, it became (like so many fed ideas) something entirely else.

While it is best known for the odd (but sometime very legit) math and social studies methods, it it very often a way to revolutionize education. No longer are the Constitution, Declaration of Independence or complaints of the Founding Fathers made known. But, most of these kids will know that Obama is hated because he is black, even though he did great things (I am barfing as I type this), how to figure out your sexual identity (one of eight or so options), and that the USA is inherently racist.

It also is VERY heavily dependent on the idea that word problems are best in math, but times tables are not. (For fun google "Engage New York" to see the most commonly used CC curriculum. BTW, it is open on the internet, with tests and answers there for anyone to see......).

When the kids I last taught (inner city, Hispanic, very low socio-economic zip code, Title One kids) gave up on this stuff (which was very early on in the year) and my grades went in the toilet, I found out that this was the reality for most of the other math teachers in the district, we had meetings. At one of these meetings a "guru" on CC was brought in. He had a Doctorate in something or other, and proceeded to explain to us that the student failure rate was the fault of the grading scale and not the students. We were told that the old 90% = A, 80% = B, etc., method was not fair to kids. He said that a kid with a 50% was doing well and was now "proficient" (a technical term in education), in math. So, we had to lower our standards and give them passing grades. We were then told that the kids who got an "F" on any test or assignment was to get a 49% for that assignment, no matter what percentage they earned, even if it was a zero for not doing it. This way they could pass if they decided to try at any point in the semester.

Never once was the idea that the CC curriculum lousy, or was the lack of effort on the parts of the kids brought into the equation.

This illustrates CC very well. The idea behind it is to not make the student responsible for the success of their learning, but the teacher. The kids know this and work it.

Shortly after the meeting I told you about, many of the math teachers in the district quit. I was one of them. Shortly after that, the entire math department of the middle school quit, once of whom was the district math coordinator.

In short, CC is a good idea that sucks because agenda driven DC liberals got their hands on it. It sucks.
 
Add it to the list of ostensibly good intentions by the federal government realized by inefficient bureaucracies and markets that relentlessly make the stated problem worse.
 
Here's Common Core in a nutshell. Take a simple Mathematics problem like 23+34. Simple right? Add it up, the end. Common Core will turn that simple single step problem into a highly confusing 10 or 12 step problem. In order to answer the question properly you must write out all 10 steps in their proper order. If you write 23+34=57 on your paper, it will be counted as a wrong answer.

Anyone who has had Elementary aged children in the past couple years and has helped with their homework will tell you it's the biggest bunch of bullshit waste of time. Let's force the kids to work a problem in such a convoluted way that it has no value because nobody is going to take 10 steps so solve a ******* addition problem when they are standing in line at a store. It's a waste of time.

You should google the video of the Mom who is against the program going in front of the lawmakers that are proponents of Common Core. She explains the problems she has with Common Core and then tells them she wants to give the panel a Math problem to solve. She gives them a multiplication problem which they all start writing down. She asks for the answer and the guy up at the podium gives the answer all cocky because he got it right. She asks him how he got the answer and he replies "I multiplied it". She says "exactly" and then proceeds to tell him that he did it incorrectly based on Common Core standards and goes through all the ridiculous steps. She then tells him that if he was in her daughter's 4th Grade classroom, he would have gotten it wrong and earned no points for his answer. And these are the idiots who were ramming it down everyone's throats. It is beautiful.

That is a grossly inaccurate representation of common core math.

I just had my 3rd grader come in and asked him how he does 23 + 34.

He did it exactly the way you and I did it. He put the 23 on top of the 34, added the columns and was done. Less than 5 seconds (if that). He DOES use different terms to describe what he is doing. They don't just say "carry the one", they define it as "regrouping". And they did spend a LOT of time before cutting corners in turning 23 = 10 + 10 + 3 and 34 = 10 + 10 + 10 + 4 so they understand the logic behind what they are doing.

All those "logic" steps are VERY IMPORTANT and instead of just memorizing how you stack numbers and add columns of 0-9, they now graphically try to imprint in their brains concepts of size and degree. They also spend a ton of time "guessing" at sizes of numbers. They do a lot of rounding. They do a lot of what number is close to 845 + 210. Again, all based on not just memorizing numbers but to UNDERSTAND what numbers represent.

All basics for moving forward into algebra.
 
I just had my 3rd grader come in and asked him how he does 23 + 34.

He did it exactly the way you and I did it. He put the 23 on top of the 34, added the columns and was done. Less than 5 seconds (if that). He DOES use different terms to describe what he is doing. They don't just say "carry the one", they define it as "regrouping". And they did spend a LOT of time before cutting corners in turning 23 = 10 + 10 + 3 and 34 = 10 + 10 + 10 + 4 so they understand the logic behind what they are doing.

All those "logic" steps are VERY IMPORTANT and instead of just memorizing how you stack numbers and add columns of 0-9, they now graphically try to imprint in their brains concepts of size and degree. They also spend a ton of time "guessing" at sizes of numbers. They do a lot of rounding. They do a lot of what number is close to 845 + 210. Again, all based on not just memorizing numbers but to UNDERSTAND what numbers represent.

All basics for moving forward into algebra.

You're right. And what a lot of people get up in arms about is really good strategy. The word "regrouping" has been used for many years. It means borrowing and carrying.
 
That is a grossly inaccurate representation of common core math.

I just had my 3rd grader come in and asked him how he does 23 + 34.

He did it exactly the way you and I did it. He put the 23 on top of the 34, added the columns and was done. Less than 5 seconds (if that). He DOES use different terms to describe what he is doing. They don't just say "carry the one", they define it as "regrouping". And they did spend a LOT of time before cutting corners in turning 23 = 10 + 10 + 3 and 34 = 10 + 10 + 10 + 4 so they understand the logic behind what they are doing.

All those "logic" steps are VERY IMPORTANT and instead of just memorizing how you stack numbers and add columns of 0-9, they now graphically try to imprint in their brains concepts of size and degree. They also spend a ton of time "guessing" at sizes of numbers. They do a lot of rounding. They do a lot of what number is close to 845 + 210. Again, all based on not just memorizing numbers but to UNDERSTAND what numbers represent.

All basics for moving forward into algebra.

How did all of us move forward into algebra before this?
 
How did all of us move forward into algebra before this?

First of all, many of us come from a time when there was home support for education, and kids gave a rip about it. Kind of rare in public schools these days. It used to be that a teacher could teach one way to do something, and expect the kids to go home and practice it. No longer. In fact, homework is becoming a thing of the past. Kids just don't do it these days.

Secondly, these were tricks that we had to teach to algebra students along the way, so it was decided to move these skills up into pre-algebra. Unfortunately, it becomes a "thing" so we have to write curriculum about it, have inservices about it, and make a course about it. Don't forget that this is the fed we are speaking about.
 
I have two main issues with common core. 1st the Federal government has ZERO authority to be involved with education at any level. The Service academies are the only educational entities the congress should dabble in. Education is a state and local issue. It's being pushed nationally by companies that write, grade and administer standardized tests. Second because it's all geared toward standardized test scores we aren't teaching kids facts and information that they retain. It's wrote memorization that they brain dump. So this is a case where they are not teaching kids to use the knowledge, solve problems or think.
 
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Actual question on a Common Core math test for a third grader:

Can you get 10 from 8+5?

The child answered "NO, because 8+5=13."

He got it wrong. The teacher wrote " The answer is wrong. You CAN get 10 from 8+5. You subtract 3 from 8, which gives you 5. Add that 5 to the other 5, and it gives you 10."

I **** you not.
 
Common Core is terrible. It must go.
 
Even for those of us who understand the concepts, the methods are unnecessarily drudgerous. Let's say my son couldn't remember what 9 + 6 was. I might say to him "Well, what's 10 plus 6? So 9 +6 is one less." Same concept with about 50 less steps than the problem below. For a kid who can look at 23 + 24 and say "That's 47" having to go though all of these drawings and groupings is absolute torture. And no, it doesn't help with algebra. If you have a lengthy algebra problem to do, you damn well better know off the top of you head what 9 + 6 is. If you have to "deconstruct" every basic addition problem you are not going to be able to do algebra. At some point no matter how great your understanding of the concepts, you have to know basic addition and multiplication.


“Our young learners might not be altogether comfortable thinking about what 9 + 6 is,” Ryan relates. “They are quite comfortable thinking about their friend, 10.”


The novel addition method emphasizes 10 for younger students “as we’re working in ‘Base 10 System.'”

“So if we can partner 9 to a number and anchor 10, we can help our students see what 9 + 6 is.”


At no point does Ryan explain how this impressively complex method of adding 9 + 6 will lead students to any understanding of “why” 9 + 6 is 15.

“We’re going to decompose our 6,” the teacher continues, drawing two small diagonal lines under the 6, then adding a number 1 and a number 5.

“We know 6 is made up of parts,” she instructs. “One of its parts is a 1 and the other part is a 5.”

Then, things get super-complex.

“We’re now going to anchor our 9 to a 1, allowing our students to anchor to that 10″ Ryan says, while drawing a big, oblong circle around the 9 and the 1.”

“Now our students are seeing that we have 10 + 5,” she declares confidently. She stutters a bit and adds, “Having, uh, now more comfort seeing that 10 + 5 is 15. That’s much more comfortable than looking at 9 + 6.”



Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/09/03/c...-add-9-6-that-takes-54-seconds/#ixzz44xfwsSkg
 
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I work with numbers every day at my job as a Budget Chief and my 2nd and 3rd grader comes home every day with these new hieroglyphics that I have absolutely zero understanding how they work. Instead of adding numbers they have groups of 10's and random blocks, columns and rows of blocks, number lines and values that don't total to their true added amounts. It's not the way I was shown how to accomplish math and very frustrating having to figure out myself after a 12 hour work-day and two hour commute. I actually read our towns teacher contract and over half the teachers are making over $90K in this town working 9 months a year.....I'm really at the point of telling them enough of the BS homework every single night and teach these kids proper. I shouldn't have to explain their new math which is what I'm doing at night.
 
The point of common core math is to make sure kids look smarter on paper by manipulating grading systems and teaching a method which is supposedly easier. In reality, the methods are designed to slow down the smarter kids who understand math. Exceptional students are seen as a problem to common core because they make the others look bad by comparison.

There is also a stupid belief that all kids are the same. That "smart" kid probably just had some kind of unfair advantage somewhere. So they want to drag those kids back to the pack. I mean they have to. If kids are left to their own devices, then that group of exceptional students may not have the exact racial and gender mix that is desired.
 
I've seen some examples of common core word problems that are very far left in nature. There is no need to further indoctrinate our population with crap like that. Sure the following link is from a web site for young conservatives and must be taken as subversive but I found this in about 5 seconds...teaching 4th graders that Obama was elected despite America's racism and that people weren't ready for THAT kind of change. WTH?

http://www.youngcons.com/beyond-dis...book-is-teaching-children-about-barack-obama/

Here's another good one that is full of outright lies. Who in the **** approved this garbage to be taught in our schools?

eagnews.org/common-core-math-question-for-sixth-graders-was-the-2000-election-fair/

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics will be holding a conference April 9-12 in New Orleans where they will be discussing

“such crucial issues as formative assessment in the common core state standards, number and operations, social justice, teaching computational fluency with understanding, leveraging technology, and supporting new teachers.” [Emphasis added]
...Delving into a couple of lessons just a bit:

In a lesson on Histograms vs. Bar Graphs, teachers are advised to “Start the lesson by engaging students in a discussion about the Presidents of the United States.” Then,

“if no students suggest party affiliation and age at the time the person enters office, bring these characteristics into the discussion.”

The recommended website to gather data is Presidents — Infoplease, where a list of presidents and their political parties and religious affiliations are listed, as well as the their ages when they entered office and when they died.

Abraham Lincoln’s religion, by the way, is listed as “liberal,” whatever that means.

The presidents are all linked to pages that describe their respective presidencies, and some of the revisionist history is jaw-dropping.

For example, Ronald Reagan’s page reads in part,

“Over strenuous congressional opposition, Reagan pushed through his ‘supply side’ economic program to stimulate production and control inflation through tax cuts and sharp reductions in government spending. However, in 1982, as the economy declined into the worst recession in 40 years, the president’s popularity slipped and support for supply-side economics faded.”

What an interesting way to avoid the economic boom and massive reduction in unemployment that took place between 1983 – 1989.

Isn’t this a math class???

Another one of the lessons points to a CNN worksheet that explains the electoral college.

It says (falsely!) in part,

“Some of the Constitution’s authors did not trust the ability of the common voter to make the ‘right’ decision, so they devised the Electoral College as one way of lessening the power of the popular vote.” [Emphasis added]

This statement is embarrassing. And blatantly false.

In fact, the founding fathers were highly critical of a pure democracy, which has been referred to as a “Tyranny of the Majority.” A great example of how a majority can lead to tyranny is the how Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently revoked the 200-year-old senate filibuster rule known as the “nuclear option.” The founders’ vision of checks and balances was relabeled as “obstructionism” and the tyranny of the majority has raised it’s ugly head, as the founders warned, and as discussed at Liberty Unyielding.

In Federalist Paper #10, James Madison explains,

“Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the friends of public and private faith, and of public and personal liberty, that our governments are too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.” [Emphasis added]

In Federalist Paper #10, James Madison explains,

“Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the friends of public and private faith, and of public and personal liberty, that our governments are too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.” [Emphasis added]

The founding fathers are repeatedly misrepresented. The only way to really understand their intent is to read their actual words.

Mathematics and Social Justice

After searching “social justice” on the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics website, one finds that it is quite a popular phrase, with 130 results.

Some random clicks include such language as,

“Educators increasingly recognize the important role that mathematics teaching plays in helping students to understand and overcome social injustice and inequality.”
“This case study examines the practice of a full-time mathematics teacher and social activist working in a secondary school with the twin missions of college preparation and social justice.”

Those are two examples, out of 130. It is overwhelming.

Admittedly, this author is not an expert on Common Core standards or the new “radical math,” but just a cursory look at these lesson plans indicate that “math” is not the only thing elementary school children are learning.

More on radical math and Common Core can be found at Dr. Susan Berry’s must-read piece posted at Breitbart, as well as Danette Clark’s article posted at EAG News.

Authored by Renee Nal and first published at Liberty Unyielding.
 
How did all of us move forward into algebra before this?

I thought the whole point of this thread was to discuss those that AREN'T moving forward into algebra? Which one is it?

Obviously, for the super smart and mathematically curious, much of what common core is teaching "just came naturally" to us. We figured out very early how to regroup numbers in our heads. That 98 was close to 100 and 48 was close to 50 and 98+48 = 146 (because it's 2+2 less than 150). But mostly we figured stuff like that out on our own, through our own curiosity.

I remember playing with a stupid little calculator for HOURS when was a kid. Just to play around with numbers.

And for 20% of the population they would learn math if they went to school or not. And for 20% of the population they could probably survive algebra without ever having taken a math class up to that point.

But we're not talking about them. We're talking about people that are "in the middle" or "in the bottom half" of predetermined math skills. There are people that need help. And the way you help them isn't by memorization of adding/subtraction/multiplying/dividing numbers 0-9 and that's it. You don't teach "speed".

You teach bigger concepts of "size" so that the minute any number gets into 3 or 4 or 5 digits they give up because it's just to damn hard to remember all those columns in your head. And this is hugely important in daily applications of math like figuring out a tip or how much you pay over a 60 month loan at a certain monthly payment or checking to make sure you taxes withheld on a paycheck are correct.

We take stuff like that for granted but there are a LOT of people that struggle with very simple math because they can't go from what they "memorized" with 0-9 digits and apply it to real math questions.
 
Different people have different methods of learning and frankly standardization is idiotic. I understand the positives and negatives to this but I disagree the way they are implimenting it. for every one kid they help, they crush another... and the schools have dropped quality to ensure people pass... again i am all for a correct overhaul of our schools, but this was utterly imbacilic
 
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