COMMON CORE STANDARDS AND THE 2016 SAT:
“What To Do About Common Core Standards and 2016 SAT”
by Donna Garner
3.11.14
Study the issues, offer alternatives, and take action.
3.6.14 -- “David Coleman, 2016 SAT: A Sow’s Ear” – by Donna Garner --
http://www.educationviews.org/david-coleman-2016-sat-sows-ear/
Excerpts:
“It is all too obvious that the new changes in the 2016 SAT are meant to enable students from language-impoverished homes to raise their SAT scores without their being held accountable to write well in English. Granting them the low expectations of the new SAT is not doing them a favor but is instead setting them up for failure in their future lives. The new SAT’s dumbing down of English proficiency does not bode well for good English communication skills in this and future generations. All students can learn to improve their English proficiency if they are taught correctly and if they dedicate themselves to the task.
ACTION STEPS FOR PARENTS AND THE PUBLIC
The public must continue to fight for the Type #1 classical, traditional, knowledge-based, academic content in students’ classrooms, curriculum, and tests. Common Core Standards is Type #2. (Link to Type #1 vs. Type #2 Chart -- http://www.educationviews.org/comparison-types-education-type-1-traditional-vs-type-2-cscope-common-core/
In actuality, students who are taught a Type #1 education will be ready for college/university because they will have the foundational skills and knowledge necessary to be successful, independent, and capable students. They will be good readers, writers, and thinkers who can then transfer that knowledge to all of their other college/university courses.
Jane Robbins of the American Principles Project has stated that by the time 2016 gets here, there may be other testing companies that will rise up, compete with the SAT, create their own Type #1 test, and take over the market. The results from a Type #1 test would be fair to students because the questions would be fact-based/verifiable, would have right-or-wrong answers, and would not be based upon the wishy-washy, subjective beliefs of an unknown evaluator. A Type #1 test would give colleges/universities the college admission and placement information they actually need to evaluate students’ academic achievement.
According to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, there are already close to 800 colleges/universities that do not even require the SAT nor the ACT for undergraduate admission. Will it even be absolutely imperative for a graduating high-school student to take the SAT and/or the ACT by 2016?
As a veteran English teacher of more than 33 years, I believe that parents need to do everything possible to make sure their children receive a Type #1 education even if it means supplementing their children’s education themselves. Then when it comes time for their children to consider college/university enrollment, their children will have the knowledge and skills, the good judgment, and the cognitive tools with which to analyze and think. Those abilities will serve them well on any test that they take and more importantly will help them to make good citizens, voters, family members, and contributing members of society.
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2.14.14 – “TESTIMONY: Alternative to English Common Core Standards” – by Henry W. Burke -- Truth in American Education -- http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-state-standards/testimony-regarding-proposed-nebraska-english-standards/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TruthInAmericanEducation+%28Truth+in+American+Education%29
LINK TO ENGLISH SUCCESS STANDARDS -- http://truthinamericaneducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/English.Success.Standards.doc
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VIDEO: 3.4.14 – Henry W. Burke explains the problems with Common Core Math and recommends to the Nebraska State Board of Education that the state adopt the same standards as utilized in Saxon Math (marker 17:32 through 27:47) -- ABC’s of Math -- Accuracy Brevity Clarity) -- http://www.education.ne.gov/movies/stateboard/March_2014_Board_Meeting.mp4
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PODCAST: 2.16.14 (6 minutes) -- Dr. Peg Luksik explains the egregious and very disturbing Common Core testing questions that will be imbedded in students’ computer-adaptive assessments, resulting in behavior change without children nor parents even knowing what has occurred. Because the 2016 SAT is to be computer administered, the same thing could occur on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY4iMwlarNA
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3.11.14 – “Indiana’s Attempt To Replace Common Core – Under Fire” – by Joy Pullman -- Heartland Institute-- http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2014/03/11/indianas-attempt-replace-common-core-under-fire
Excerpts:
“The first draft of Indiana’s testing and curriculum standards meant to replace Common Core national standards has grassroots activists in arms and educators and business leaders complaining, which has caused Gov. Mike Pence and his staff to slightly delay the rewrite process…Said Ze’ev Wurman: ‘[T]his draft did not focus strongly enough on improving the glaring weaknesses of Common Core standards but instead made minor (and sometimes negative) changes, and piled a whole lot of new content on top of already massive Common Core…’”
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COMMON CORE WOES LEAD TO NEW 'DUMBED-DOWN' SAT
3.10.14 –“Common Core Woes Lead to New Dumbed-Down SAT” – by Dr. Susan Berry – Breitbart -- http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/03/10/With-Common-Core-in-Trouble-Obama-s-Social-Justice-Education-Agenda-To-Be-Achieved-With-New-Dumbed-Down-SAT
Excerpts:
“‘One of the first things David Coleman promised when he assumed the presidency of the College Board was to align the SAT with the Common Core,’ [Ze’ev] Wurman told Breitbart News. ‘Now he delivers on his promise and dumbs down the SAT to match the low level of Common Core expectations…Common Core claims to prepare students for college, yet at most, its content prepares them for community and four-year, non-selective colleges…So, in the name of this ‘social justice,’ the SAT is now being dumbed down so it will find more students ‘ready,’ whether truly ready or not…’” ========
3.6.14 -- “David Coleman and New York Times Tied Together” – by Donna Garner -- http://www.educationviews.org/david-coleman-york-times-tied/
Excerpts:
For one thing, the Common Core Standards (CCS) are not built upon the empirical reading research. Louisa Moats and Marilyn J. Adams started out helping to write the CCS because they hoped to make sure phonemic awareness/decoding skills, systematic reading instruction, cognitive progression of writing skills, and other important skills were placed into the CCS. That did not happen. (1.22.14 – Huffington Post -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-bertin-md/when-will-we-ever-learn_b_4588033.html )
Without those all-important skills, students will not be able to do well in school nor on the 2016 SAT! By neglecting the most important fundamentals of education, the CCS will create failure for children...
The College Board produced good research on 6.18.08 to show how valid the new 2005 SAT version was. The research showed that in predicting success for students in their first year of college, the Writing score was even more predictive than either Math or Critical Reading. Since the grammar/usage is 70% of the Writing score, it is logical to assume that the strongest predictor of first-year college success depends on how strong a writer a student is, yet the new 2016 SAT intends to take that Writing section with its right-or-wrong grammar/usage questions out and to make the essay optional. What a loss for students and what a bad decision by The College Board to “dumb down” the 2016 SAT…
Donna Garner