Common Core? (Seattle, Issaquah: homes, tenants, school district)

[joy_ful]

We will be relocating to the area (not sure when) and we are investigating schools on the Eastside. We know that WA state has adopted the Common Core, and that schools are in the process of converting. Which schools (public or private) on the Eastside either have or are converting to CC? Are there any that aren't? We are currently in a system that has implemented CC and we are not fans...

[benleis]

I'm not a fan of common core either. Unfortunately because its a state mandate you're not going to find any public schools that won't eventually align or already in the process of doing so. The public testing regimens that are administered state wide are going to be the first pieces that will start to affect everyone. On top of that all the major textbook publishers are switching to match the tests leaving very few options for any district to totally avoid pieces of the effort. Private schools are probably your best route and even then I expect a lot to get swept up in parts of common core. As an example of how all the systems tend to move in sync, a few years back Everyday Math achieved really high penetration in both the public and private schools in the area.
Ben

[flyingsaucermom]

Our state award winning school is currently adopting it (Grand Ridge Elementary) in the Issaquah School District. I didn't realize the whole state was (!!!)... but honestly, I wasn't a fan of the math curriculum (Everyday Mathematics) that we had/still have in Issaquah, Seattle and Michigan...

[beautifulseattlehomes]

Common Core is being adopted by all public schools in the state of Washington and many schools have already implemented many aspects of it. The only way to avoid it is to go to private school unfortunately.

[Back2Texas]

Forgive me for my ignorance here... Common Core has been off my radar as we live in Texas (which has not adopted the Common Core). But we're getting ready to move to Washington, so I'm trying to understand it better and understand why everyone seems to hate it

Anyway, it's my understanding that it's just a bunch of standards, right? And then each curriculum implements those standards however it chooses.

So when parents complain about Common Core, are they complaining about the standards themselves, or about how whatever curriculum their school uses implements those standards?

Specifically, most of the Common Core complaints I've seen are regarding math (not language arts), and they seem to mirror the complaints that have been going on for quite a while regarding reform math curricula (e.g. Everyday Math, TERC Investigations), as opposed to traditional (e.g. Singapore Math, Saxon Math).

Do the Common Core standards force a reform-math approach? In which case, it doesn't matter what curriculum your school uses, if it's aligned to Common Core, it's gonna suck. (Assuming you are not a fan of reform math.) Or is it that parents think their school's curriculum sucks because it's aligned to Common Core, when really, it sucks because... it sucks

[beautifulseattlehomes]

As I understand it, Common Core is a set of educational standards, much like many countries in the world have, that set out a list of the benchmarks every senior in the United States should have met upon graduating from high school. It is pitched as a way to help our students compete in the 21st century both for a place in university and in their future career and align what they learn in the US with what is being taught in high preforming countries in the rest of the world.

I actually agree with many of its tenants and believe that we have woefully unprepared our students to compete in math and science when matched up head to head with many other countries in the world...unacceptable for sure! That being said, I think that what many people would find concerning is the drive toward more standardized testing in a culture that already has a standardized testing mania that many believe is more harmful than helpful to our children, making children into professional test takers rather than individual human beings.

It is new and unproven so I think we all have to take a wait and see. Common Core uses the right buzz words like "critical thinking" but many people have complained about, as an example, the way math is taught where not only do you need to give the what but also the why of the answer which many teachers say is harmful to the early years when the math facts are being learned, complicating the most simple math problem. The Common Core belief is that the conceptual understanding must come before practical skills can be mastered. It also delays by up to two years when certain math is taught.

[flyingsaucermom]

One thing I noticed different this year is the focus on nonfiction reading and I"m not sure if it has to do with these new standards. On one hand I'm happy with it: I've never liked fiction and I like to read when it has a "purpose", meaning I'm gaining "real" world information that I can use for a task. That said, I feel like vocabulary is best learned in fiction and I'm worried that children won't be able to appropriately communicate because they lack the vocabulary required to discuss nuanced ideas. Does that make any sense?

[beautifulseattlehomes]

Yes...it does make sense and an emphasis on non fiction reading is very much part of the Common Core. The feeling is that people need to be able to read complex informational texts and have the ability to fully grasp their meaning and that fiction reading does not adequately prepare one to do so.

[kaday]

Seattle schools are fazing out Everyday Math or at least exploring other options.There is a pilot program right now in some schools using a different math curriculum.

[Back2Texas]

Originally Posted by beautifulseattlehomes

As I understand it, Common Core is a set of educational standards, much like many countries in the world have, that set out a list of the benchmarks every senior in the United States should have met upon graduating from high school. It is pitched as a way to help our students compete in the 21st century both for a place in university and in their future career and align what they learn in the US with what is being taught in high preforming countries in the rest of the world.

I actually agree with many of its tenants and believe that we have woefully unprepared our students to compete in math and science when matched up head to head with many other countries in the world...unacceptable for sure! That being said, I think that what many people would find concerning is the drive toward more standardized testing in a culture that already has a standardized testing mania that many believe is more harmful than helpful to our children, making children into professional test takers rather than individual human beings.

It is new and unproven so I think we all have to take a wait and see. Common Core uses the right buzz words like "critical thinking" but many people have complained about, as an example, the way math is taught where not only do you need to give the what but also the why of the answer which many teachers say is harmful to the early years when the math facts are being learned, complicating the most simple math problem. The Common Core belief is that the conceptual understanding must come before practical skills can be mastered. It also delays by up to two years when certain math is taught.

This is great info and makes a lot of sense, thank you! Am I right to guess that a lot of this starts to come out in the older grades? My daughter is in 1st grade and I looked at the standards in Texas vs. Common Core for K/1st/2nd and they seem pretty similar. But I could see how things start to diverge once you get past the basics.

Isn't "complicating the most simple math problem" still the fault of the curriculum, and not necessarily the standards that emphasize conceptual understanding over practical skills? My daughter came from a Montessori preschool, and they were alllllllllll about conceptual understanding of math, but in a very hands-on and age-appropriate manner -- so that doesn't necessarily strike me as being a bad thing.

Does CC introduce more standardized testing? Is that possible? Haha! I know the standards are higher and therefore the failure rates often are as well, which could lead to more emphasis on teaching to the test (to encourage higher pass rates) -- is that what you're referring to? Or are there actually more tests mandated?