Fox News: Classroom chaos? Critics blast new Common Core education standards

Says Fox: “A full year before students around the nation submit to the new Common Core standardized tests, the federally-backed program is already causing chaos and confusion at local school board meetings, in the classroom and at the dinner table.”

Kentucky, of course, already “submitted” its children. So has New York. And, Fox points out:

“Just 31 percent of New York students in the third through eighth grades were deemed proficient in math and English on the new tests, down about 50 percent from the traditional test given the year before. Kentucky, which also implemented its own Common Core-aligned tests, experienced similar declines in scores.”

We are hearing rumors that scores will be up somewhat when the next round of Kentucky’s Common Core test results from the spring of 2013 get released later this month. However, that is what usually happens in the second year of any new testing program after teachers get a look and start to teach to the questions.

So, the jury is very much out on Common Core.

And, it’s about to get even more interesting.

Common Core actually only covers English language arts and mathematics. Kentucky’s fad-chasing educators are currently in the process of adopting the even more contentious Next Generation Science Standards as the state’s only education standards for science. There is plenty of contention over these science standards – the Kentucky Board of Education reportedly got around 4,000 comments when the NextGen Science enabling regulation, 704 KAR 3:303, went out for public comment in July. Though no-one seems to track these statistics, that might be close to a record response. Oblivious to the concerns, the Kentucky Board of Education ignored all of those comments and now the regulation is in final review in the Kentucky legislature.

In fact, 704 KAR 3:303 is on the agenda for the September 11, 2013 meeting of the Kentucky Legislature’s Administrative Regulations Review Subcommittee. At present, the meeting is scheduled to begin at 1 PM in Room 154 of the Capitol Annex in Frankfort. It could be a lengthy affair. If you decide to come, come early. It may be a standing room only event.

Clueless about Common Core State Standards? Click Here.