Transcript Common Core Power Point

Common Core &
Smarter Balance Test
What Parents Need to Know
Timeline of Events
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2008: U.S. Department of Education received $5 billion
for education reform
2009: Race to the Top: states could apply for grant money,
as long as they agreed to specific terms, which included
adoption of the Common Core Standards
CT applied for the RTT grant several times, even before
the standards were completed and released in July 2010
In August, 2010 the Commissioner from the CT SDE
acknowledged that the “prevailing paradigm for school
improvement…is not based on a solid foundation of
research or hard evidence. (See Ravitch 2010)”
Elementary & Secondary
Education Act
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May, 2012: CT received No Child Left Behind
Waiver.
The approval was based Connecticut’s
willingness to adopt the Common Core
Standards; establish a P-20 Council (State
Longitudinal Data System), transition to “Next
Generation Assessments” (SBAC) & evaluate
teachers differently, among others.
The Common Core Mission Statement
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To provide a consistent, clear understanding
of what students are expected to learn, so
teachers and parents know what they need
to do to help them. The standards are
designed to be robust and relevant to the
real world, reflecting the knowledge and
skills that our young people need for
success in college and careers.
Who wrote the Common Core Standards?
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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
gave $4.35 billion to the NGA & CCSSO to
develop the standards
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All of the writers of the standards were affiliated
with businesses that make educational and testing
materials, including: ACT, Achieve, The
College Board and America’s Choice
(Pearson).
However:
writers of the standards said “the
concept of college readiness is minimal and
focuses on non – selective colleges”
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One of the key
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5 Members of the Validation Committee refused to sign
the validation statement.
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300 early childhood health and education professionals
expressed their concerns (and were ignored) that the
standards were not developmentally appropriate in
kindergarten & early grades
Feedback group & Validation Committee
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The feedback group
was populated
primarily by college
professors and one
classroom teacher.
Many members of the
feedback committee
also served on the
validation committee.
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Members of the
validation committee
were nominated by the
NGA and CCSSO.
 According to the
CCSS website, there
were 29 members of
the VC; but only 24
signed the certificate
of validation.
The Validation Committee
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Of the members that
signed the certificate of
validation: one served as
the education advisor to
the Obama campaign,
and at least 8 had ties to
organizations that
received funding from
the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation
Conflict of interest?
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Dr. Sandra Stotsky & Dr.
James Milgram have been
very vocal regarding their
concerns with the
standards.
2 other members of the
VC that refused to sign
were college professors
1 was from Education
Testing Services (SATs)
Evidence Based?
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No evidence the standards will enhance equity.
No evidence that students who study these
standards will be prepared for careers.
No evidence that this will cause more students to
study math and science.
No evidence that these standards will make our
children Globally competitive.
No evidence of international benchmarking…..in
fact, “Internationally Benchmarked” has been
removed from the Common Core website.
The Math Standards
Slide from the 2011 Connecticut Assessment Forum
William McCallum, one of the lead writers of the Math standards presented draft
standards to a panel at the National Math Conference in SF, 2010. The panel, which included
elementary school teachers felt that the standards were too obtusely written, and that they
expected too much from students in the early grades. McCallum agreed that the standards were
“front loaded” with demands but that overall they would not be too high, especially when
compared with Eastern Asia where math education excels.
James Milgram, the only mathematician on the VC refused to sign the off on the
standards. He testified that the standards were not “legitimate math”. He also testified that by
7th grade the CC math standards are roughly two years behind high achieving countries.
Bill Evers, a research fellow at Stanford University and U.S. Asst. Secretary of Education from
2007-9 testified that the math standards were “sloppy and inadequate”, “many topics were
missing or not developed” and that they “prescribe an approach to geometry that is experimental
and has a track record of failure for K-12.”
Jonathon Goodman
NYU professor
shared Evers’ and Milgram’s opinion. He stated
that CC standards were “significantly lower expectations with respect to algebra and geometry
than the published standards of other countries”.
Trevor Packer – VP of the College Board was quoted as saying that “Calculus is not part of
the CC sequence. In fact, the CC asks that educators slow down the progressions for math…”
(@ National Conference on Education, 2/2013)
Algebra?
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A 1999 Study “What does
it take to succeed in
college?” found that the
highest level of math in
high school has the
strongest influence on
getting a Bachelors
Degree. If the math is
higher than Algebra 2, it
doubles the odds.
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A 2004 Meta-Analysis
Study took 25 years of
research on what
constitutes success in
college. The results: The
higher the math, the
higher the success rate.
80% of students who took
Calculus got a Bachelors
Degree; and were 28x
more likely to be a high
achiever.
The ELA Standards
Slide from Peg Luksik
ELA Shifts
From Dr. Sandra Alberti (Director of Partnerships and Professional
Development for Student Achievement Partners/CC)
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The shift will be to bring informational text
to the majority of what students read, so that
we are “building knowledge through text”.
She explains that students spend most of
their time writing about personal
experiences and opinions, which are not
grounded in evidence. She states, “It’s
interesting conversation… but is not a
college and career ready skill.”
Dr. Sandra Stotsky on the ELA Standards
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The idea that nonfiction should outweigh fiction is not
evidence based. In fact, the historical and empirical
evidence weighs against this concept.
In her letter to the VC (which clearly explained why she
would not sign off on the CC standards), Stotsky wrote
that the standards for grades 6 – 12 did not reflect
knowledge needed for authentic college level work. She
found the standards to be “a set of poorly written, content
empty and culture free generic skills”
Regarding international benchmarking – Stotsky reported
that no material was ever provided to the VC or public on
the specific college ready expectation of other nations in
mathematics or literature.
Standards stress writing more that reading at every grade
level.
Writing standards lack coordination with the reading
standards.
Classic Literature
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Multiple studies and years of experience tell us
that:
 Through classic literature students learn to express
themselves.
 They develop analytical thinking and vocabulary.
 Students who read fiction develop a love for
reading, and become better readers in the process.
But State can add to the standards,
right?
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States were allowed to supplement the CCSS with an additional 15%
of state-specific standards.
As a follow-up to the May 2010 standards comparison study, the
CSDE content specialists reconvened a core group of the ELA and
math comparison study team members in November 2010 to review
the Connecticut standards that did not match the CCSS.
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The groups spent a day reviewing all unmatched standards to
determine whether any should be considered for part of the
additional 15% option.
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They decided that Connecticut
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(From the ESEA Flexibility Waiver)
would not add statespecific standards for ELA and mathematics.
For the Future
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Common Core Standards are not just for
Math and ELA.
 Common Core Standards for Science are in
the process of being written and are
projected for release in the next year or two.
 Common Core Standards for Social Studies
are projected to be released in 2017.
TESTING
Tests Dictate Curriculum
The Smarter Balance Assessment
Consortia (SBAC)
There are 2 “Next Generation Assessment”
consortia – PARCC and SBAC
 CT signed a Memorandum of Understanding with
SBAC in June of 2010.
 Membership conditions included:
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adopting the CC standards
administration of the (not yet) developed tests by 2014/2015
Establish comparable scores across all consortia states
Provide achievement and growth information that can be used for
teacher and principal evaluations
– Administration of tests online
SBAC’s track record:
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Alabama, Alaska, Kansas, Utah and Georgia
have withdrawn from the SBAC
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North Carolina has delayed the SBAC for 2
years
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Pennsylvania has opted to use its own testing
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Iowa has drafted a bill to opt out of the SBAC
What went wrong with the SBAC in New Hampshire
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Staff at a middle school in NH used the December Early
Release to take the SBAC in order to gain insight as to
how they could incorporate the CC and SBAC format into
their instructional practices.
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Instead they collectively found that the SBAC “is
inappropriate for our students at this time and that the
results from this test will not measure academic
achievement of our students; but will be a test of computer
skills and students’ abilities to endure a cumbersome
task.”
And students’ results will be part of teacher evaluations?
New Generation Testing
Slide from the CT Assessment Forum, 2011
Connecticut SDE
What is an Adaptive Test?
An Adaptive Test is a test that dynamically
a d j u st s t o t h e t r a i t l e v e l o f e a c h e x a m i n e e a s
t h e t e st i s b e i n g a d m i n i st e r e d .
Bureau of Student Assessment
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Connecticut SDE
This Year’s Test
(From the SBAC website)
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Beginning mid March, the “field
students in grade 3 – 8 and 11.
test” will be administered to
“The field test is a trial run of the assessment that helps
ensure the assessments are valid, reliable, and fair for all
students. Because the field test is a test of the test, students will
NOT receive scores.”
The field test will evaluate the performance of more than
20,000 assessment items and performance tasks as well as the
performance of online testing systems. Not assessing our
children, but assessing the test.
Data from the field test will allow the SBAC to set preliminary
achievement standards in the summer of 2014.
Sample SBAC Questions
Math
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Grade 3: In the box below, write a number
that meets the following conditions.
 The number must be between 1 and 9
 When the number is subtracted from 523,
the digit in the ones place of the difference
is greater than the ones place of 523
Sample 2
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1.
2.
3.
4.
Grade 3: Choose all the expressions that
are equal to the product of 3 and 7.
2x7+1x7
(7 x 5) - 2
(3 x 4) + (3 x 5)
3 x (7 x 1)
Sample ELA SBAC Questions
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Read the paragraph and complete the task that follows it.
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Children should choose their own bedtime. There are
things to do, and most have homework. Some people need
more sleep, but children like talking to friends. The time
to go to bed should be children’s decision when they are
tired they go to bed earlier. There are activities to go to, so
children learn to be responsible.
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Rewrite the paragraph by organizing it correctly and
adding ideas that support the opinion that is given.
“Common Core requires children to read
informational text that are owned by a
handful of corporations. They don’t have
a filter to distinguish good information
from bad, so whatever you put in front of
them, they take that as gospel. They are
literal.” (Mary Calamia)
“We have to stop Common Core as
it is currently instituted today. One
size can’t fit all. Parents are, and
must always be, the resident experts
of their children. The SBAC and their
vendors are not bigger than my
children.” (Gary Thompson)
Computerized Summative Assessment
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Given that the statewide test will be administered
via computer, a study was released from the 2012
CT Assessment Forum titled, “Can third graders
type?”
 The 3rd and 4th grade CC standards state: With
guidance and support from adults, use technology
to produce and publish writing…
 Yet, there is no “guidance and support” offered by
teachers during the SBAC assessment.
From An ELA Scoring Director: (Grade 3) it was noted
that there were unusually high numbers of responses that
ended abruptly, as if the writers had run out of time
before finishing their narratives. They wondered if this
was because the third graders were unable to type as fast
as they could write. Very few responses went on to the
second page and many were only a half page long. This
could be an issue with the time and typing speed too.
(From a Math Scoring Director) They saw evidence that
some third graders didn’t know how to use the shift key.
An equal sign would appear in their responses instead of
an addition symbol.
My child = SBAC Guinea Pig?
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Research activities under contract with the USDE
must conform with Institutional Board Standards,
which requires INFORMED CONSENT FROM
THE PARENT OF MINORS.
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Guidelines on children in research clearly states
that committees must assure that adequate
provisions are made regarding assent of the child
AND permission of at least one parent or
guardian.
Data Mining
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Part of CT contract with the Federal
Government included a State Wide
Longitudinal Data Base.
 What does Data Mining have to do with
Common Core and SBAC?
ELA Assessment = Customizable Data – Mining
Slide from CT Assessment Forum 2011
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Data - Mining
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Nine states have agreed to pilot the data
mining process with no parent input. (CT is
not one of the 9)
 The database is managed by inBloom, Inc
(funded by Gates Foundation)
 “Districts who use inBloom … may choose
to disclose certain student information to
third party providers.”
However,
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CT has established a P – 20 Council. This was prescribed
by the Obama administration (every state in the union is
to have one, the state longitudinal data base…..can be
shared across state lines)
(2012) Malloy stated “A cross-agency data governance
structure has been formed, data sharing agreements have
been approved and the technical infrastructure is being
developed.”
P – 20 stands for Pre – K to age 20, or the span over
which student data will be collected.
The National Education Data Model defines the types of
data that states MAY collect on the P – 20 database.
There are hundreds of data elements listed, including
health history, non school activities, religious affiliates,
SSN, voting status…
Florida’s “strong data collection system”
Address &
Bus
route/stop #
Attendance
Lunch Status Pre – K
program
(based on
participation
income)
DOB &
Health
Place of birth information
Health
exams
SSN
Incidents:
Alcohol or
Drug related
Bullying
Community
Service
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
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Under FERPA, parents have certain rights
regarding their child’s education record. Included
is the right to inspect and review the child’s
education record.
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FERPA was amended in 2012 at the request of
Arne Duncan. The new FERPA outlines 11 ways
personal identifying information can be shared
without parent consent.
Why parents are opting out
1.
Test of the test
2.
Aligned with Common Core Standards
3.
Developmentally inappropriate
4.
Data – mining
How to opt out
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3.
Write a letter stating your intent to opt
your child out of the SBAC test OR use
one of the samples at Unitedoptout.org
Send your letter to the teacher, principal,
assistant superintendent and
superintendent
Follow up with a phone call to confirm
receipt of your letter.
http://www.ccssoptout.com
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Go to above website
 Choose your Town
 Choose letter template
 Insert your name and your child’s name
 Letter will be sent via email to your district.
State Response:
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The State and District will try to tell you
that you cannot opt your child out – this is
not true.
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You may get some “push back” but if you
stand your ground there is nothing that the
state or district can do.
States that adopted CC
States Rejecting the CC (Blue) & Rejections Pending (Red)
To facilitate change
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Consider opting out
 There will be a public hearing on
Wednesday, March 12 at 12:00 in Hartford,
at the Legislative Office Building, Room 1E
 Or, you can testify via email by 2:00
Tuesday, March 11
 [email protected]
 Attend your local board of ed meetings, ask
questions, share what you have learned.
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