What impact will/does "school choice" or "vouchers" have on K-12 education? The article we bring you today from The American Conservative takes out the crystal ball for a look... Ever since June of 2022, when Arizona became the first state to legalize universal school choice, the adoption of this K–12th grade reform has accelerated beyond even its longtime boosters’ wildest dreams. Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia have all enacted policies that fund families to educate their kids, not just at the local public school, but at a private school, a homeschool, an online academy, a tutoring service, or a parent-run … [Read more...]
The New Standardized Morality Test. Really.
You've seen our articles on S.E.L. (Social Emotional Learning) and our concerns. Then we saw this new article at Forbes by Peter Greene. When will it be coming to a school near you? Stop laughing...this is serious! I'm not really sure how to start this, because -- well, I'll just let the lede on this press release speak for itself: IOWA CITY, Iowa—ACT, the nonprofit developer of the ACT® test and other assessments taken by millions of individuals worldwide, announced today that it was selected by the Crown Prince Court in Abu Dhabi to provide the Moral Education Standardized Assessment (MESA) for the Moral Education program in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). That's right. The … [Read more...]
Post-Common Core, U.S. Kids Slide On Another Academic Measure
Common Core...renamed in some states. Called Washington State Learning Standards...is Common Core. Why change the name? To fool parents and watchers. So, let's be clear...a rose by any name is still a rose rather...a swamp is still a swamp until you drain it. Common Core has harmed education in the United States. Along with the associated high stakes testing we've spent billions...yes...billions of dollars on new curriculum and testing for what? In the following article more attention is drawn to the failure. The article ran in The Federalist. The author is Joy Pullmann. International test results released this week show U.S. students losing ground on yet another measure in the … [Read more...]
Back to School: Students Primed for ‘Social and Emotional Learning’ While Failing in Math and Reading
Social Emotional Learning...yes...another article that lists the very same issues we have raised already. But...heck...since other people are saying it too we thought it worthwhile to bring you yet another view of SEL. We really believe that education goes in "fad waves". Administration and teachers get bored and need to do something different. Give this a read. The author is Dr. Susan Berry and the article ran at Breitbart. Only 37 percent of U.S. 12th graders were prepared for college-level coursework in mathematics and reading in 2016, but many public school districts have become fixated on the latest progressive trend of “social and emotional learning.” There is little to boast … [Read more...]
Students Can’t Hide From Common Core No Matter What School they Attend
From an article at Nancy Bailey's Education Website The more I read about Common Core and education reform, the more I am convinced that one of the most important issues is that all students will have to be instructed with these standards if they choose to attend college. A misconception exists about students in private or parochial schools being lucky that they won’t have to mess with the Common Core. But this is a myth, unless these schools will be willing to take criticism when their seniors wind up not answering correctly on the SAT/ACT tests to get into their dream colleges. I’m not saying students will be better prepared for college, but they will have to learn what is on … [Read more...]
Study: Homeschoolers Creaming Other Students on the SAT?
Intellectual Takeout offers us this article - Author is Annie Holmquist Last summer, George Washington University announced that it would no longer require students to submit their SAT or ACT scores as incoming freshmen. This move was made because the university “had concerns that students who could be successful at GW felt discouraged from applying if their scores were not as strong as their high school performance.” Some students, however, did not get off so easy. Homeschoolers, the college noted, would still have to submit their SAT scores before they could be admitted. While such a caveat seems rather unfair, a new survey of 2014 SAT scores shows that the requirement shouldn’t be … [Read more...]
College Kids Can’t Discern Between Fact & Opinion?
The Intellectual Takeout offers us this story: Is this an outcome of Common Core or is it a signal of a problem much deeper? As the ELA (English Language Arts) reading requirements have changed the materials used have shifted away from classical literature to data driven writing. What do you think? By this point in the year, most high school seniors have walked across the stage and grabbed their diploma. Many parents sit proudly by during this process, sniffing back tears and saying, “I can’t believe they’re ready to move on to college!” The unfortunate fact of the matter is, they may not be as ready as the parents, teachers, or even students themselves think. That’s one … [Read more...]
Common Core Does Not Prepare Students for College, New Report Finds
From a story at The Daily Signal Editorial Comment about this story - At SWWEducation it's clear we are against Common Core. Not because it is an attempt to create a base set of standards but because the standard choices are wrong, incomplete, damaging to children (and thus our future), cede control of education to the federal government and trying to make everyone the same...when it's simply not possible nor desirable. So, when you read this story consider all the past attempts to change basic education (sight reading, "new" math and others) and, perhaps, just perhaps you'll begin to understand why Common Core Warriors fight so hard. A recently released report confirms what … [Read more...]
Act, Inc. -> CBE (Competency Based Education) -> CCSS Machine
From Common Core Diva Skill Building the CCSS Way Recently, anti CCSS/ESSA Warriors, the CCSS Machine organization known as Act, Inc. (think high stakes assessments, data mining, and workforce based alignment) published a paper about the ‘soft skills’ education alignment MUST include if we are to have employable students. It is the 2016 National Curriculum Survey (more about this later). Many researchers, like myself, have been sharing with you over the years how the CBE (Competency Based Education) is a huge component of the illegally based education reformation we are witnessing. The evidence is plentiful, so I will not waste our time rehashing CBE’s roots. I would like to … [Read more...]
Common Core isn’t preparing students very well for college or career, new report says
From: The Washington Post A new report that surveys curriculum nationally and reaches thousands of K-12 and college instructors as well as workplace supervisors and employees has some bad news about the Common Core State Standards: Many people in education and the workplace don’t think some of the English Language Arts and math standards — which are being used in most states — are what students and workers need to be successful in college and career. The report, issued by ACT Inc., finds: • There are gaps between some Core standards and what college instructors consider important for students to succeed — especially in the area of writing. For example, middle- and high-school … [Read more...]