Common Core – The College Fix

‘The battleground is education’: classical SAT, ACT alternative gains ground

Maggie Kelly - Assistant Editor — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 04:02:32 +0000

Founder is ‘optimistic’ at least two states will introduce classical learning exam into legislation next year An alternative, classical college entrance exam moves forward with plans to rival the College Board after scoring a major victory in Florida. “I think there’s a real fight right now for America’s future, and I think the battleground is education,” Classical Learning Test founder Jeremy…

Source

New college entrance exam disavows Common Core, targets classical education

Nathan Rubbelke — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 05:04:04 +0000

A new college entrance exam focusing on classical liberal arts education serves as an alternative to the ACT and SAT while linking students with a number of conservative Christian universities. The Classic Learning Test (CLT) debuted in June with a few factors contributing to its creation, CEO Jeremy Tate said in a phone interview. One component, Tate said, was the SAT’s alignment with the…

Source

Most college students think America invented slavery, professor finds

Kate Hardiman - University of Notre Dame — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 06:05:40 +0000

For 11 years, Professor Duke Pesta gave quizzes to his students at the beginning of the school year to test their knowledge on basic facts about American history and Western culture. The most surprising result from his 11-year experiment? Students’ overwhelming belief that slavery began in the United States and was almost exclusively an American phenomenon, he said. “Most of my students could…

Source

Students are wising up to mandated standardized tests: They ultimately mean nothing to them

Dave Huber - Associate Editor — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 22:07:35 +0000

Perry Stein’s article in The Washington Post on Friday covers a topic I had been wondering about for several years: When will students begin to openly voice their displeasure at the quantity of standardized testing they’re being subjected to … by simply ignoring the tests? When standardized test scores at Washington DC’s high-achieving Wilson High School had dropped off noticeably…

Source

Deadline looms for public input re: US DoE punishing schools for standardized testing ‘opt-outs’

Dave Huber - Associate Editor — Sat, 30 Jul 2016 20:53:16 +0000

Monday’s deadline for public input is fast approaching regarding US Secretary of Education John King’s proposed amendment to the Every Student Succeeds Act — the 2015 successor to No Child Left Behind — which would penalize schools with a high number of student testing “opt-outs.” The amendment would require a student testing participation rate of at least 95%. Without it…

Source

Common Core is pushing morality discussions out of the classroom, teacher claims

College Fix Staff — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 18:22:49 +0000

Kentucky teacher Paul Barnwell has a class full of students who wouldn’t turn in their boyfriend or girlfriend for committing a felony that “badly harmed” other people. Their responses to this hypothetical scenario “troubled me,” Barnwell writes in The Atlantic, and he has a theory on what helped make them so morally callous: Common Core. Despite polling that finds nine in 10 adults support…

Source

Former Ed. Sec. Arne Duncan: Chicago youth ‘marginalized’ by lack of top-down education strategy

Dave Huber - Associate Editor — Sat, 09 Jul 2016 18:10:30 +0000

Former US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says the “marginalization” of Chicago’s current generation — the “lack of educational and economic opportunities” — needs better solutions other than just policing. Kids don’t turn to criminal activity just because they’re bad kids, he says. “When the gangs are the only ones hiring […] it is no wonder that the cycle of violence continues.

Source

Some elementary school teachers revolt and disobey idiotic Common Core math guidelines

Jennifer Kabbany - Fix Editor — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 05:06:49 +0000

Under Common Core, the answer to a math problem doesn’t have to be exactly right — as long as the student shows he or she understands generally how to solve the problem. Yes, that’s right. There’s that 2013 shock video that showed a Common Core curriculum director explaining why, under the then-new federal education standards, how 4 x 3 can equal 11. Add that to all those screenshots circulating…

Source

Prof’s ‘Whose Jerusalem?’ Common Core lesson teaches students to support Hamas

Alexandra Zimmern - University of Wisconsin Madison — Mon, 18 May 2015 07:41:23 +0000

A “Whose Jerusalem?” workshop created by a Boston University professor that’s been taught in many high schools in recent years and was added to the Common Core-approved national curriculum has come under fire by critics who contend it whitewashes terrorism, promotes an anti-Israel and anti-American political agenda, and encourages young people to sympathize with Hamas. Americans for Peace and…

Source

MOM SPEAKS OUT: 3 Weeks Into 1st Grade, And Common Core Is Driving Me Nuts!

Jennifer Kabbany - Fix Editor — Fri, 05 Sep 2014 05:55:04 +0000

My daughter started first grade about three weeks ago, and I can say in just that short amount of time I have come to despise Common Core. I never liked it to begin with – school districts and teachers should not be told what and how to teach by socialist dictators in Washington D.C. But beyond the local control angle, Common Core is just a horrible, horrible way to teach kids. Here’s my story.

Source