Seattle Schools Community Forum

Thanks to S Parent for bringing this to our attention.  From the Wall Street Journal and UC Berkeley math professor, Marina Ratner, I think it is one swell piece of writing that - in a straight-forward manner - explains why Common Core is deeply flawed.  Ms. Ratner is professor emerita of mathematics at the University of California at Berkeley. She was awarded the international Ostrowski Prize in 1993 and received the John J. Carty Award from the National Academy of Sciences, of which she is a member, in 1994.  I loved this part at the beginning of the article: As a mathematician I was intrigued, thinking that there must be something rea...

The Tampa Bay Times published this article in March 2014 about math textbooks not aligning to Common Core standards. As with much of Common Core, the issue is - what's the rush?  Meaning, many of these textbooks do not fully (or even by half) align with CCSS because they had to rush into production in order to get them out for consideration.  A lot of this "alignment" is WILL have to happen at the school/district level. To understand, there is no "CC seal of approval" - any publisher can say their books are aligned and unless a researcher or school district official thoroughly checks, there's no one to check publishers' claims. Now, there's concern that a darker unreality is on the cover of textbooks in order to sell the books to adults: seals that say the texts are aligned to the new Common Core standards. According to a study by a University of Southern California researcher, textbooks marketed as being in step with the Common Core and...

You know how you really need to get something done but drag your feet because of time, overwhelming amounts of data/research and just plain organization?  That's been me with an overview of Common Core.  It took a nudge from a member of one of the City's Commissions to kickstart me and get it done. It's much longer than I had hoped but this is not a simple subject.  I also do not offer an alternative vision of what I believe should happen but, at the least, I think: there should be a moratorium on assessments for at least three years,  K-2 needs to be reviewed for developmental appropriateness and  the high school math standards need revision (they are not "college ready" in their current form). I have done my research and I believe I have the facts correct.  I did throw in a bit of editorializing in trying to give focus to rising issues around Common Core but overall, I tried to stick to the facts. Common Core Overview  Here are what I con...

  From a mom in NY State:  My son's KINDERGARTEN homework. I hold a Master's Degree and have won multiple Emmy Awards and my husband is a Lieutenant in the NYPD. We couldn't figure it out. It's a SAD SAD SAD state when two well educated parents can't help their child with their KINDERGARTEN homework.  This is what you have to look forward to in the future.  Data walls and homework you may not be able to decipher and, if you can, will you be able to help your child the Common Core "way?"

 Update: First, here's a link to School Board policy (see top of chart "Selection and Adoption of Instructional Materials"). To review, here's what we reported (via reader Rick B) in early January: The top three programs are to be selected as finalists by Friday the 10th. Additional copies of these finalist programs will be ordered from publishers and distributed to ~5 locations around the city for formal public review and comment during the month of March. Final selection of a single program will take place by the end of March, to be submitted to the SB for introduction Apr 23rd and approval May 7th.  Clearly, those finalists have not been selected (or, at least, no announcement made).  The next meeting of the Math Adoption Committee is Feb. 7th so I would hope we would hear something then. Also, SPS Communications reached out to us with the SPS Math Director, Anita Box.  She was kind enough to answer some of my questions. The process seems to b...