Arne Duncan: ‘White suburban moms’ upset that Common Core shows their kids aren’t ‘brilliant’

[Android3.14]

56. Yes and no.

You have a few incorrect statements.
1. You said, "Common Core is a business mostly thought up by business people" which is incorrect. I refer you to this fact check.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/oct/21/fact-checking-common-core-school-standards/

2. "You cannot teach children anything with a system that is based on constant testing." This is sort of correct. Teaching requires constant evaluation, testing and retesting, When I was in front of my secondary students, I would check for understanding/comprehension/evaluation/etc. at least three or four times every five minutes. But I'm assuming you mean constant testing using standardized methods mandated by the government. It isn't constant, though it is too much because it does take up 10 days at least out of the 180 teaching days each year.

What I despise is the local pressure to pass unqualified students and then for the government to berate a school or teacher because the standardized scores are blow expectation.

The last school at which I taught (4 years agfo) had over 60 percent of the students achieving below expectations on two or more basic content areas such as math, reading, and writing. But somehow, over 80 percent of the student body is on the AB honor roll.

In order for the public school system to survive as anything but a cruel joke, we must have accurate evaluations which the schools/parents/teachers/students can use to determine the next step in an individual's education. Sacrificing accuracy in learning evaluation on the altar of self-esteem is why we have tea baggers.