I know we discussed this before, but I read this article and wondered what ya'll think after reading this...... http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2013/07/29/how-common-core-is-coming-to-homeschoolers/ sorry....title of the article is "How Common Core is coming to Homeschoolers"
I believe that Common core will impact homeschoolers. If you do not mind, I would like to share this link on your thread. Click on "Will the Common Core affect homeschoolers?" http://www.hslda.org/commoncore/
Our state is moving to PARCC and I am glad of the change from the current state test. The thing is the SAT/ACT changes every so many years. When I was in school it was much different than when my sister graduated 4 years later. They made more subjects mandatory and changed certain styles of the questions. They made graduation exit exams that must be passed before you graduate no matter your grades. It was talked about a lot back then and they had meetings about the changes. Anyway, I graduated almost 20 years ago and that is about how long schooling methods and testing go before they are re-evaluated and changed again. The world is shifting from previously needing at least a high school degree to get a decent job in the work force to needing a college degree. I do think eventually college will be seen as necessary as high school was seen by previous generations. I can see the need for college entrance tests to reflect the current academic standards.
There seems to be a potential conflict of interests by the gentleman who works for both the PARCC and the College Board that produces the SAT exam. Changing the dynamic of such an exam from an aptitude test to a knowledge test is a big deal. That is sort of like saying we are not testing for intelligence but rather for memorized facts. One statement in the article quoted from another article indicated that the SAT test has some flexibility built in to allow it do determine aptitude even if students come from varying quality schools. Again the SAT has been used to indicate potential for success in college in various subject areas, not entirely to measure specific knowledge in those areas. Changing that to knowledge testing alone so you can have more students apply for college seems like a change in agenda. It seems like the idea that not all students are meant to go to college is still abhorrent, as the idea that some will excel in a subject others do not. So in the mean time we try to teach everyone the same stuff and give them all the same exam. I guess they can figure out how to make it so more intelligent or economically fortunate kids will score more moderately.
Maybe I am terribly confused, but the SAT is knowledge based. It is higher level math and language arts. I know I took it a long, long time ago but it didn't measure what I might know or what I might guess. I spent a lot of time in test prep memorizing words and definitions for the vocabulary portion and well if you don't know Algebra or Geometry you aren't going to do well. When I think of aptitude tests, I think of those career tests they give you. Standardized tests aren't aptitude...they measure knowledge in subjects compared to peers. That isn't changing.
Patty, thanks for the link. It added more information that really needs to be looked at. When I started homeschooling umpteen years ago, there was an ideal....a freedom. My child did not have to be herded like cattle and pegged in a box.....here was another way. Back in those days, you didn't have a lot of choices for cirriculum, support groups weren't every town and any subjects outside of the norm, well, you had to be creative and do it yourself. From that has sprung things like "eclectic", "unschooler", and "classical", etc. It was the freedom that allowed this. And over the years wonderful people have fought at their state levels to keep that freedom but I see this common core to be a way that will sneek in the backdoor of a state law level to undermine that freedom. Just like Vantage said "Changing the dynamic of such an exam from an aptitude test to a knowledge test is a big deal. That is sort of like saying we are not testing for intelligence but rather for memorized " Common core will set the standard for many things.... When your kids are young you may think it wont matter, but at high school level you will have to be concerned with your child being able to regurgitate their decided facts. You might not be able to decide one year to teach your child a financial class/consumer math to prepare them to be good stewards of their money; you wont have the time! Decide you don't care and wont do it? Then will your child be able to provide for their family in a society of jobs requiring college degrees? These are all questions I am asking myself and trying to wrap my head around. I realize that the effects of this may not be seen immediately, but I can bet in 10 years it will totally change the face of homeschooling.
