Common Core Standards

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when i talked to the teacher of my kid, she said she would be very worried about her own kids (who is young right now) when they started school in a few years.
does this tell you something about this new CC ?
 
Yes, it is unfortunate that your kids are the first to go through this but someone has to be first (and I'm sure once my kids go through this it will not be perfected yet).

let's see how long does it take for this CC to make everyone equally dumb. then we will have a very high passing rate for the new test. yay!
 
I am not a stuck up parent, nor did I say my child is a genius.

If a kid is going to be tested on material, then it should have been introduced in the classroom beforehand.  I think most reasonable people would agree with that.
 
sentosa said:
when i talked to the teacher of my kid, she said she would be very worried about her own kids (who is young right now) when they started school in a few years.
does this tell you something about this new CC ?
Yes. It tells me it's a new system and just like everyone else, your teacher is used to the old method.

But then again, you never know, after a few years, we could find out it was a total failure and all of you can revel in how right you were.

And to clarify, I'm not saying you shouldn't be complaining, like I said, I probably will too, all I'm trying to do is take a more optimistic look at this system because the overall goal of it seems to be for the better.
 
sentosa said:
let's see how long does it take for this CC to make everyone equally dumb.
If your kids are smart, and you stay involved, no system can make them dumb.

Cream rises to the top.

(I am full of idioms today)
 
irvinehomeowner said:
sentosa said:
when i talked to the teacher of my kid, she said she would be very worried about her own kids (who is young right now) when they started school in a few years.
does this tell you something about this new CC ?
Yes. It tells me it's a new system and just like everyone else, your teacher is used to the old method.

But then again, you never know, after a few years, we could find out it was a total failure and all of you can revel in how right you were.

And to clarify, I'm not saying you shouldn't be complaining, like I said, I probably will too, all I'm trying to do is take a more optimistic look at this system because the overall goal of it seems to be for the better.

I have the same optimistic look at the beginning of the school year when the principle talked about this transition. unfortunately I was very disappointed at the end of the school year.
 
abcd1234 said:
If a kid is going to be tested on material, then it should have been introduced in the classroom beforehand.  I think most reasonable people would agree with that.
But that's has always been an issue, even before Common Core.

There are a number of times where my kids have homework that they didn't cover in class and I'm the one teaching them the fundamentals of how to solve it. My only problem is my method of solving may be different than what theirs is supposed to be (which is why I'm glad that the homework is on tear-out sheets that are part of the teaching material so I can reference it).

Again, this sounds like an issue with the teacher that you might want to talk to them about.
 
Qwerty- You seem to want the last word on everything- I won't respond to your nonsense anymore so that you feel vindicated :) 
 
I'm frustrated not because my son did not pass the test, but because potentially he might be wasting a couple of years on some BS during his math class in school.  I'm not saying he is a genius, but he is interested in math and gets excited when learning new concepts and moves forward.  When things are repetitive, when the topic gets massaged for an extended periods of time he looses interest and the excitement of going to math at all.  He is taking Algebra and Geometry as an extra curriculum on Sundays so he can continue to be excited to learn.  If he fails the test in the summer we would continue with our Sunday math school regardless of his school curriculum.
 
WasToldToChangeMyName said:
IrvineRes said:
I'm frustrated not because my son did not pass the test, but because potentially he might be wasting a couple of years on some BS during his math class in school.  I'm not saying he is a genius, but he is interested in math and gets excited when learning new concepts and moves forward.  When things are repetitive, when the topic gets massaged for an extended periods of time he looses interest and the excitement of going to math at all.  He is taking Algebra and Geometry as an extra curriculum on Sundays so he can continue to be excited to learn.  If he fails the test in the summer we would continue with our Sunday math school regardless of his school curriculum.

I'm sure he will pass.  Plus I'm sure pretty soon, all these korean and Chinese learning centers will offer courses on how to pass the common core. If only 4 kids passed at one school, sounds like a great biz opportunity.

Believe it or not - Avid Math already offers it - however, someone of this board mentioned that it did not help. 
 
abcd1234 said:
How many here have current 6th graders?

6th graders took the MSMAT in May.  This test was given to all 6th graders to see if they can test out of Common Core 7th grade math.  If that happens, they can then take the AAT test in a few weeks which will test them out of Common Core 8th grade math so that they can take Algebra in 7th grade.

The teachers in our school were saying that the bar was going to be set very high- and indeed it was.  Less than 2% passed the MSMAT at our elementary school.  There was one Chinese boy who was literally crying in class.  He is arguably the smartest kid in the 6th grade.  He already takes 7th grade math as a 6th grader, was a finalist at the state level for the science fair and is now competing at the national level.  He didn't pass the exam.

There were 5 sections and to pass the MSMAT, you have to pass all 5 sections.  Apparently the hardest section was probability. 

I have spoken with parents who have called the district to make inquiries about next year's math.  There will not be clustering for the math classes.  Kids who did not do well at all on that test (did not pass any of the five sections) will be in the same class with kids who passed 4/5 sections- but didn't pass that test. 

Anyone get results from their schools?


This test is a complete scam, in my opinion.  It's just so that IUSD can say "see, we still offer advanced math even though we switched to Common Core (which LOWERS previous math standards by about a full grade)".  But they made it so hard on purpose that no kids can pass it, ensuring that all kids next year a held back A WHOLE YEAR IN MATH.  They have effectively held back all your kids this year.  Congrats!  An entire generation of kids held back a year.  This is a complete disaster.

Even the documents describing this test admit that those who fail the test will be forced into "8th grade Common Core math"

Those who pass it get to take "7th grade algebra".  Whaa?

$2.5B in CA taxpayer money wasted to LOWER our standards to Common Core, folks.  It's lunacy and few in Irvine (or anywhere in California) realize what has happened right beneath their noses.

Home school or private school (that doesn't have Common Core) is the way to go.  Or move to Texas.  Their standards are now much HIGHER than even California or Massachusetts.
 
Irvinecommuter said:
sentosa said:
Irvinecommuter said:
Wait...common core is both too difficult and dumb at the same time?

this is why :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x2ZyXWHeMw

Seriously...it's not that difficult.  It's just a different way of thinking about how to do math.  Rather than being solution-based...it's about the process.  Yes there are some bad implementations but it's basically critical thinking.

Completely wrong.  Do you have friends in IUSD administration? 

The standards are LOWERED compared to what we used to have (by a whole grade in math).  However, the Common Core test questions are now more convoluted and open to interpretation.  The actual math content of the tests isn't harder (it is easier).

California or IUSD could have made our own standards and tests more focused on "critical thinking" if that is really what was needed.  Yet, this option was thrown out in favor of political motivations in 2010 paving the way for lowered standards with Common Core. 
 
We had this discussion a million times...you can believe the standards are "lower" but they're not.  Every teacher I have spoken to on the matter have expressed relief about how the standards have increased because of the implementation of common core and allowed them to have more freedom in challenging/instructing their children rather than stick to some antiquated standards created years earlier.

Change is hard...doesn't mean it's bad.
 
IrvineRes said:
I'm frustrated not because my son did not pass the test, but because potentially he might be wasting a couple of years on some BS during his math class in school.  I'm not saying he is a genius, but he is interested in math and gets excited when learning new concepts and moves forward.  When things are repetitive, when the topic gets massaged for an extended periods of time he looses interest and the excitement of going to math at all.  He is taking Algebra and Geometry as an extra curriculum on Sundays so he can continue to be excited to learn.  If he fails the test in the summer we would continue with our Sunday math school regardless of his school curriculum.

I don't know you or your children but the issue with common core/test is that children were learning to focus on the answer and not on how you get there.  Go to any college class and you will see that the solution gets your 25-50% of the credit.  For higher level  math, process is just more important as the solution because it's about application, not necessarily result.

Why don't you post some questions from the test and see if how all of us do?
 
abcd1234 said:
we never got the test back.  just the IUSD form saying they passed/did not pass with the score of each section.

I am sure that there were sample problems that your child got to practice.  The fact that your child "failed" doesn't mean that he is not smart...it's a different way/method to think about things.  Rather than blaming the test or IUSD, why don't you find out why your kid "failed" and work through the problem with him.  It can be a great learning experience and expose your kid to a new way of thinking about an old problem

It's like when phonetics were introduced into teaching...it made no sense to those who didn't learn the language through phonetic but it is a better way to teach kids how to read and recognize sounds. 

It's interesting that people in the US don't understand that the education system in the US is actually very good and unique.  Most Asian countries emphasis repetition and memorization.  That makes very impressive tests and demonstrations but not very good when the kids go to college, they are robots and incapable of creative thought.

Common core puts emphasis on looking at the problem and figuring how to solve the problem.  In real life...there are often no "right" answers...just different approaches on how to get to a result.  In fact, the result/answer is often already known...the difficult part is how to get there and how to do so more efficiently. 

For all the attacks on the American education system, the US still have the best colleges and most of the innovative thinkers.  It's not a surprise that people from outside of the US send their kids to the US for higher learning. 
 
Irvinecommuter said:
Most Asian countries emphasis repetition and memorization.

repetition and memorization are indeed very important in elementary math. without that, any thinking skill or problem solving skill is just some imaginary high riser building on the sand.

i noticed whenever i went buy some grocery or fast food, let's say it cost $16.39. and i gave $20 bill at first. and then i found out that i have some change to use. so i gave the cashier another $1.39 expecting him just to give me $5 to make things easier. unfortunately most of the time, the cashier got so confused and can't figure out how much they should give back to me and i have tell them the answer.

this is basic elementary math and you will never have this problem in any asian country. here in our country without the machine/computer, people's brain just go dead because they just  can't do math. and with this CC, now i am expecting to see every cashier use an ipad to sketch some graphs or draw some circles in order to figure out how much they owe me.

 
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