Very true, many unqualified and unprepared students waste tax payers money making repeat attempts at college courses. True that the schools get federal funding per head for these students. Making it all the more reasonable in my opinion that many in the tax paying public would want even more testing. I am not saying that the testing is the solution at all, only that I understand that people would want it. In reality, most college prep courses, as well as advanced placement courses offered in public highschools across the nation are simply not an equivelant to taking the college level coursework. The colleges and universities however have to play the game and accept these AP credits knowing full well which school systems are not actually sending students who have sucessfully covered the material. I know for a fact that universities in Florida had to develop new chemistry and physics courses with new course numbers so the brilliant kids with all the AP science credits could take a course with a new number and still recieve scholarship and or loan money for it. These new courses bridged the gap between what the kids learned in ap courses and what the should have making it possible to pass the next courses in the sequence or courses that depended on it as a prerequisit
Per the Constitution education was left to the individual states to determine how and if they would regulate it. NY is within it's rights to determine a different level and requirements than GA. I can say that the more of a push to have a level playing field, either within a local district or across states has lowered the standards of education in NYS. When I was younger NYS Regents classes were recognized to be of a hire caliber than a standard class. As I went through working in the ps I saw a push to make everyone take a Regents type test. At first there was a competency test for those who were not taking Regents classes. Then there was push back that everyone was not being offered the same level of education. Well the competency tests were done away with and now everyone takes the Regents, as a result the difficulty level of the Regents has dropped, there is more teaching to the test and the quality of both the college prep programs and the standard track have dropped. Now districts (because of the push on everything being the same) have instituted district wide unit test in subjects, so every child in the same class across the district takes the same test on the same day. Teachers are pretty much told you will teach this on this day in order to have the work completed for the test. Now lets say school b has a power outage for 2 days so the teacher is behind, or they want to do an in depth project with the kids it does not change when that test is given, since everything needs to be the same. There becomes no flexibility. State have the right to determine what are the basics that need to be taught (now most states will have a pretty similar list) and what the requirements are. States can choose to have different types of programs such as trade programs, agriculture programs.... Each to fill the needs of students in those states, determined by the people of that state and not held hostage to federal funding (which there should not be any for education imo) Does that mean that one state may be better than the other, yes and that is ok. Individuals in the particular state, district.... can work to improve standard for their students. Once it becomes fully top down and not bottom up in making decisions for education I believe that education will and has become too bureaucratic and the focus becomes more on the standards than on the individual needs of the child. I have seen this happen time and time again and where it is heading is away from "teaching" and interacting to more program students with certain facts and just expecting them be at a level they are not developmentally at yet.
http://www.missourieducationwatchdog.com/2013/05/a-common-core-worksheet-from-missouri.html Check out this on Common Core and what the curriculum actually looks like, and particularly follow the link to the interview with mental health professionals. Does anybody remember all the flak about Outcome-Based Education??? Everybody thought it had gone away for lack of popularity. Well, here it is again, stronger than ever, repackaged, renamed, and couched in "acceptable" terms...
http://www.asliceofhomeschoolpie.com/2013/04/should-homeschoolers-be-concerned-about.html This one addresses why homeschoolers should be concerned about CC. Watch both videos!
Here is the Heritage Foundation: http://blog.heritage.org/2013/05/27...ity-to-reject-common-core-national-standards/
OK, I watched the videos... undoubtedly this is a bad idea. But I don't see anything in THESE VIDEOS that show why it would be negative for homeschoolers. I hear from you all how it can affect the admission to college. But if my kids are homeschooled and are more advanced than the kids in public school because they are reading literature and doing Algebra in 8th grade instead of 9th, I just see them as being ahead of the curve. I can also spend a few months "teaching to the test" so they can attend college, just like we now spend some time prepping for the ACT or SAT using prep materials. I read the bullet points about how it will affect homeschoolers... If your child participates in ANY public or private school activity, their information is now part of the school's Data Collection which means the government now has access to your child's information. Publishers may have to change their curriculum in order to align with Common Core meaning your child will now be taught the SAME thing as public/private/charter school students. If it's accurate that the quality of these new standards is poor this is something you may not appreciate. Could the government someday mandate that ALL curriculum publishers align their curriculum with Common Core? SAT/ACT tests will also have to be revised to align with Common Core. Homeschool students take SAT and ACT tests so this will affect what they learn in order to pass these tests. Someone is going to have to pay for the implementation and upkeep of Common Core. As a taxpayer, could that someone be you? The Federal Government is now involved in our children's education. Are you familiar with the Romeike case - the German homeschool family who fled to the United States for political asylum because it is unlawful to homeschool in Germany? This is a family who was threatened by their government with the possibility of having their children taken away if they didn't stop homeschooling. Do we really want our Federal Government to be involved in our children's education? The info sharing stuff doesn't bug me as we stay as FAR away from government controlled "school" environments as possible. The curriculum stuff doesn't really bug me... I still pick and choose what I use and when I use it. I taylor it to my children. As a homeschooler I can have my child take algebra whenever I think he's ready. I can also have my child read the classics, and write book reports on them. A LACK of curriculum on these subjects don't really affect me. I'll create them on my own if I have to. The testing stuff doesn't bug me.... I would "teach to the test" anyway in prep for the test. That doesn't affect my entire curriculum. The tax thing doesn't bug me... I already pay LOTS of property tax to support the local schools that we don't use. Seriously, over 2/3 of my property tax is for the schools. This isn't really any different. It would just be another thing I pay for that we won't use... no diff. My thoughts are this will just make more people want to homeschool so they can get away from sub-standard public education. That makes homeschooling more main stream and homeschoolers stronger as a group. Of course I'm seeing this from the state of IL where I am not bugged by anyone about what I teach, or when I teach it. I have no reporting requirements at all. I suppose if the standards lead to a change in homeschool laws in my state I will sit up a notice very quickly. The thing with the German Family is troubling. But I didn't see that in this movement... is it a step closer to taking away my rights as a homeschooler... maybe. But what am I missing? Edie
