The train has left the station. The students are on board. Do you know where they are headed? Whether you are a parent, a guardian, a grandparent or a taxpayer, the federal and state government are about to transport children, their education and their privacy into a dark tunnel of concern.
The introduction of the Common Core, a nationwide stream of learning standards, has quietly slipped its way into our state, communities and schools. Accompanied by Common Core is the PARCC assessment poised to replace the MCAS in Massachusetts.
The Common Core standards have been creeping into our schools for a few years. Families have seen more homework, more timed assessments, more testing. At the same time, students have been exposed to far less science, social studies, penmanship or creative projects in the arts in order to devote time to teaching to the tests. On these same lines, the Common Core standards have totally ignored how young children learn. They have been developed without developmentally appropriate guidelines.
Next month the PARCC testing will be piloted by a sampling of school children from Grades 3-8. The two-day timed assessment will be administrated despite the knowledge that the field test results and data will not be shared with parents, teachers or administration. No one is saying what kinds of data will be gathered or how the data collection will be used in the future. However, once the field test results have been reviewed by the commissioner of elementary and secondary education, the commissioner of higher education and the governor, all Massachusetts school-age children will be mandated to participate in the assessment and data collection programs.
Parents need to realize that this train is traveling at top speed. It is headed for uncharted and dangerous areas for their children. It will not stop with high-stakes testing. It will eventually stop at the loss of privacy for all children and their families. It will stop with a huge dollar price tag to cities and towns. Even if not opposed to the academic testing, we should ponder for a bit who is going to pay for this assessment. Schools will need technology infrastructure updates, computer tablets on which to take the test, and the cost of the PARCC assessment itself, which is reportedly costing $29.50 per student. Tax dollars will need to be increased, or services for children will be decreased. Neither should be acceptable.
We owe it to ourselves and our children to become aware of this new initiative. Read, discover, critique and learn about the Common Core and the PARCC assessment. Collaborate with others. Those who are satisfied with the results should do nothing. Those who are not should speak out to their local school committee, and should write, email or call town and state officials to express your worry.
The only way to stop this speeding train is for concerned parents and citizens to lie down on the tracks and stop the Common Core and PARCC assessment.
4 comments:
Amen! I am most worried about the lack of concern about developmentally appropriate learning. Young students are required to sit at desks all day "quietly". Teachers who try to do creative writing projects with student drawn illustrations have been told by administrators that it wastes too much time on learning! And then "silent lunches" on top of it all! And then we wonder why there are "behavior problems". What about varied learning styles? Common Core (and its evil cohorts, MCAS and PARCC) are attempting to turn all children into cookie-cutter robots with no creativity, no spark, certainly no joy of learning! I fear for this generation of "programmed" children and young adults.
It's about money.
Children of New Bedford are NOT FOR SALE!
Of course they are, you fool!!
Post a Comment