Who will Stop Hurting our Kids?
Common core hurts kids, parent see their children come home confused and frustrated by the nonsensical math and the idiotic way the English Language Arts are being taught. But the stress and anxiety caused by high stakes testing is what is really harming the students. Stress related issues with anxiety and even self-mutilating increased dramatically in New York State who implemented common core a year ago. Most of these tests and assessments and the stress they cause is totally unnecessary, used to evaluate teachers. The common core system requires data, individual student data, and assessments are the primary tool of the data gatherers
However, as a growing number of parents are finding out, that students, with their parent’s permission can refuse many of these assessments, without it affecting their grade. Furthermore, here is where your local school board does still holds a little authority.
The School Board can determine how much, if any the End of Course exams count as a part of the student’s grade. School Boards can determine what alternative test can be used to demonstrate their competencies. Finally the School Board will determine how students who legally refuse the assessments are treated. With the wrong School Board in charge, children refusing the assessments will be forced to sit and stare for the duration of the test. Really bad School Boards may seek to use the students, refusing the assessment, be made into an example, punishing her or him with bullying tactics unfit for the playground. Some children have been targets of intimidation tactics, attempts to ostracize them from their friends, and made to take the blame for the entire class loosing privileges. If there are bullies on the Board, it best to vote them out when you can. They will probably be those who voted for the Race to the Top and common core in 2010, making them all incumbents.
In St. Johns County, the only School Board candidates who have promised to protect our kids from common core are Kelly Lorbeer and Karen Harvey. You will still be able to have your child refuse needless high stakes testing, but with anyone but Karen and Kelly, your child may have to sit and stare or worse.
References and Additional Information
- Karen For Kids
- Kelly Lorbeer ; No Child is Common
I'm positive the future holds many discoveries waiting for the bright young minds of today to discover tomorrow. How many in our school system are getting the... - Florida VAM Scores: The Most Meaningless Teacher Evaluation Exercise Ever? | Scathing Purple Musings
So writes Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post: There are numerous problems with using VAM scores for high-stakes decisions, but in this particular release of data, the most obvious and perhaps the most egregious one is this: Some 70 percent of the Florida teachers received VAM scores based on test results from students they did’t… - Child Psychologist: Common Core Early Elementary Standards Inappropriate | Caffeinated Thoughts
Child Psychologist Dr. Megan Kosciusko Criticizes Common Core Standards for K-3 as Age and Developmentally Inappropriate. - radical math | Danette Clark
Posts about radical math written by danette3 - Kindergarten teacher resigns over too much testing and the TODAY show pays attention! | Defending the Early Years
A powerful story got some much-needed attention this week. Susan Sluyter, a veteran kindergarten teacher based in Cambridge, MA, had her resignation letter posted by Valerie Strauss at The Washington Post's education blog, The Answer Sheet: Kindergarten teacher: My job is now about tests and data — not children. I quit. In her resignation letter… - The Testing Madness in Rhode Island | Diane Ravitch's blog
Carole Marshall is a retired teacher in Rhode Island who explains how State Commissioner Deborah Gist's insistence on standardized testing has discouraged educators and students across the state. The most pernicious effect of this policy, Marshall shows, has hurt poor and minority youngsters the most. In an article in the Providence Journal, Marshall writes: The… - Utah Clinical Psychologist Attacks Assessments Under Common Core That Ignore Ethical Standards On Disclosure » Florida Parents Rise
Clinical Psychologists accuses assessments done under Common Core will be done outside ethical guidelines requiring full disclosure - Common Core Math Standards: Making the Simple Complicated | Hoosiers Against Common Core
- High Stakes Tests hurt kids! High Stakes Test results are JUNK Science! | Teachers' Letters to Bill Gates
Dear Bill and Melinda Gates, I write to you as a very concerned parent and public school teacher. The high stakes tests that you swear by are causing so much stress to young children. I have heard stories from concerned parents about their children who have been stressed to the point of not liking school… - School Psychologist: The biggest obstacle to learning is high stakes testing. | Teachers' Letters to Bill Gates
Dear Bill and Melinda, As a School Psychologist, I love nothing more than good data. After thirteen years on the job, I still get a thrill every time I score a cognitive or academic test. There is something very solid and reassuring about a standard score and percentile rank that can be reported in writing… - Special Ed Teacher: High stakes testing is not the way to assess student progress or teacher effectiveness. | Teachers' Letters to Bill Gates
Dear Mr. Gates and the Gates Foundation, High stakes testing is not the way to assess student progress or teacher effectiveness. The tests currently in use - and worse, the ones coming, such as the PARCC test - have little or no data on statistical validity or reliability. Despite this lack of statistical rigor, these… - “What is the ranking of my child?” | Teachers' Letters to Bill Gates
Dear Bill and Melinda, “What is the ranking of my child?” This is a pretty common question that teachers get at parent-teacher conferences. It seems like a simple question that would result in a simple answer or number. And herein lies the fundamental misconception – there is nothing simplistic about education. This is what the… - High Stakes Testing | Teachers' Letters to Bill Gates
Posts about High Stakes Testing written by Teachers'LettersToBillGates - Florida School Board Member Opts-Out His Children From High-Stakes Testing | Scathing Purple Musings
In a press release from three Florida parents organizations and Lee County School Board member Don Armstrong: Lee County School Board Member, Don H. Armstrong, announced at Tuesday night’s Board meeting that he intends to ‘opt his children out’ of high stakes testing this school year. Armstrong is the father of twins enrolled in fourth… - Florida - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform
- Common Core Brings a New Chapter of High-Stakes Test Horrors | FairTest
- The Dangerous Consequences of High-Stakes Standardized Testing | FairTest
- Psychological Manipulation in Common Core
Common Core has as a basic tenet, setting children's attitudes and perceptions of social justice. Read more. - The Biggest Fallacy of the Common Core Standards | Diane Ravitch
Across the nation, our schools are suffering from budget cuts. As more money is allocated to testing and accountability, less money is available for the essential programs and services that all schools should provide. Our priorities are confused.... - Some teachers should opt out - Letter - Newsday
Much has been written about the state tests and the "opt out" movement by parents - Children should not be a number.: More testing resistance stories
- The 6% Club - YouTube
Dr. Yong Zhao Yong Zhao is currently Presidential Chair and Associate Dean for Global Education, College of Education at the University of Oregon, where he a... - Children should not be a number.: Is an "Opt Out" Letter on Your Back-To-School List?
- Carole Marshall: High-stakes tests hurt urban students | Opinion - Rhode Islanders speak out on issues | Providence Journal
The Oct. 15 Commentary piece (“R.I.’s diploma system brings out the best”) by Deborah Gist, Rhode Island’s commissioner of elementary and secondary education, is yet another demonstration of her ability... - How standardized tests are affecting public schools - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post
A new white paper from the Central Florida School Board Coalition details how Florida’s standardized testing program — seen as a model by other states — is harming public schools and negatively impacting student learning. - Common Core tests fail kids in New York again. Here how. - The Washington Post
'Why would policymakers create tests that are designed to mark as failures two out of every three children? ' - The Impact of High Stakes Testing: The Case of Josh Tolley - YouTube
This is one of many stories that shows how the exit exam was a problem. - Indoctrination in Common Core ELA Texts - YouTube
http://www.utahnsagainstc... - Have you heard the notion that Common Core standards don't indoctrinate? Well they don't. It's the curriculum that i... - High-Stakes Testing and School Push-Out: How Testing Feeds the Pipeline - YouTube
This animated presentation explains how the rise of high-stakes testing has contributed to pushing students out of school, especially Black and Brown student... - 1st Annual NYS iREFUSE! Rally FULL LENGTH VIDEO - YouTube
New Yorkers gather for the 1st Annual NYS iREFUSE! rally, a forum and protest against high stakes testing and Common Core. Featuring Dr. Joe Rella, Mark Ferr... - The Truth About Common Core - YouTube
You may have heard about Common Core standards that are being implemented in public schools. This video is a brief explanation of some parts of Common Core. ... - Babies Discuss High Stakes Testing - YouTube
This video is in no way a criticism of our educators. It is intended to make light of a difficult situation. There is a place for assessment in education, ho... - The Trouble With Common Core - YouTube
Sept. 2013 - Stan Karp speaks in Portland Oregon about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the over use of high stakes standardized tests and their roles... - High Stakes Standardized Testing in New York....the DOWNFALL ! - YouTube
Thought you'd all like to see what will be going on this Spring at the New York State Education Department ! ! - Dr. Megan Kosciusko presents on Common Core at APP Conference - YouTube
Child clinical psychologist presents on how the Common Core Standards are developmentally inappropriate for young students at a conference held at Notre Dame