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Topics in the News:
Common Core Learning Standards
AFT President Randi Weingarten on April 30 called on education leaders to “put the brakes on the stakes” attached to this year’s standardized tests to give schools a chance to integrate the Common Core Learning Standards into classrooms.
Play is steadily disappearing from kindergarten, which can have negative consequences for children’s academic success. This was not the intent of the Common Core. High-quality Choice Time experiences contribute to the overall development of a child.
UFT Assistant Secretary Robert Astrowsky testified before the New York City Council Committees on Education, Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Group Relations and the Select Committee on Libraries.
Overly long tests in an overheated testing environment plagued the administration of the first Common Core Learning Standards English language arts exams, given to the city’s students on April 16-18. The lack of Common Core-aligned curriculum for teachers this year made the situation worse.
A new set of science standards for the nation’s schools focuses less on having students memorize facts than on teaching them the process that scientists go through to gain knowledge.
This op-ed by President Mulgrew, which ran recently in the Daily News, helps to inform the public about the changes the next mayor needs to make to DOE policies.
Hundreds of teachers, frustrated and angry after watching their students struggle through the first round of tough new state tests, turned out for the New York City launch of the Share My Lesson website on April 19 and 20, eager to learn about the 260,000 teacher-generated lesson plans — many aligned to the Common Core Learning Standards — offered on the site.
With six weeks to go before students take new Common Core-aligned state tests, the Department of Education on March 4 finally announced recommended curriculums designed to meet the standards.
The Department of Education on Feb. 28 announced it had chosen new curricula for grades K-8 based on the national Common Core Learning Standards. UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, "The DOE’s announcement is a welcome acknowledgment that teachers need curriculum that will help their students meet the demands of tests based on the new Common Core standards."
The coming of new tests aligned to the Common Core Learning Standards signals a radical change of expectations for American students and mean a radical reset in instruction.
The UFT recently surveyed members about how prepared they feel to teach to the new Common Core standards, and the responses came fast and furious. “Our survey offers a troubling portrait of a system on overload, with a workforce that fears for the educational well-being of students,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew.
Unfortunately, the Department of Education under Mayor Bloomberg continues to fail us, this time by failing to provide the tools and instructional supports that we need to teach to the new Common Core Learning Standards.
Results from new Kentucky state tests tied to the Common Core State Standards show that the share of students scoring “proficient” or better in reading and math dropped by roughly a third or more in both elementary and middle school the first year the tests were given.
Most public school students will soon be expected to take tests online because their states have adopted the Common Core State Standards. Yet with tight budgets, school districts wonder how to pay for improvements.
A high-level gubernatorial commission on education reform on Oct. 16 got a rapid-fire earful from UFT President Michael Mulgrew, who warned that most teachers still do not have the curricula to prepare students for new state assessments this year that will incorporate challenging Common Core Learning Standards.
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