Curriculum Issues- Week 5

     I found Marion Brady's article Eight Problems with Common Core very interesting. I believe the 8 problems are straight forward in the fact they are problems with Common Core. I'm not sure how exactly sure how we should go about  changing them, or what the best ways to rework them so they aren't problems anymore. 

      There are a couple I didn't think of as problems until I read this article. Do we want kids to be standard, all uniform, without being unique? I do think there should be a national Common Core for with standards, but I think those standards should allow students to show their uniqueness, and their creative minds. Also, the ways testing is occurring isn't in line with the ways we are being taught as teachers, to teach our students. We need to start seeing different forms of assessment as necessary, and common place, like portfolios, reflections, and self-assessment.

1.) The word “standards” gets an approving nod from the public (and from most educators) because it means “performance that meets a standard.” However, the word also means “like everybody else,” and standardizing minds is what the Standards try to do. Common Core Standards fans sell the first meaning; the Standards deliver the second meaning. Standardized minds are about as far out of sync with deep-seated American values as it’s possible to get.

2.) The Common Core Standards are a set-up for national standardized tests, tests that can’t evaluate complex thought, can’t avoid cultural bias, can’t measure non-verbal learning, can’t predict anything of consequence.