Louisiana parents, teachers, charters sue to get the Common Core back on track

[alp227]

Source: Wash. Post

A group of parents, teachers and a foundation that runs charter schools filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) lacks the authority to withdraw his state from the Common Core national academic standards.

“We think the governor has overstepped his bounds and doesn’t have any right to do this,” said Stephen H. Kupperman, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs. “We don’t want to hold the children of the state hostage to somebody’s political ambitions.”

Jindal, a possible 2016 presidential contender, was once a strong backer of the Common Core State Standards, which spell out the skills and knowledge every U.S. student should possess in math and reading from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Jindal was an early supporter of the standards, lauding them as a way to “raise expectations for every child” in a pro-Common Core ad made by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/louisiana-parents-teachers-charters-sue-to-get-the-common-core-back-on-track/2014/07/22/5a488c58-11db-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed_story.html

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New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana legislators file lawsuit to block Common Core; Louisiana Common Core proponents file suit, saying Gov. Bobby Jindal's actions are illegal

Baton Rouge Advocate: Pro-Common Core lawsuit filed in BR

Monroe News-Star: Lawsuit seeks to undo governor's orders on testing

Lafayette Advertiser: Lafayette supporters see Glenn Beck target Common Core

[Android3.14]

1. But...but...I thought all parents and teachers hated Common Core.

At least that is what people have told me here.

[Igel]

3. Mixed bag.

Mostly because people don't know what Common Core is.

It's standards. You use standards to figure out what the curriculum is going to be to teach those standards.

You use the curriculum to figure out what the standardized tests are going to be.

You use the curriculum to figure out what needs to be taught week by week in class, and hope to use released test questions to make sure that you and the tests are on the same page.

Notice that there's a couple of steps between Common Core and the tests and what's taught in class.

CC = goals
curriculum = outline to achieve goals, set mileposts
class plans = what you do to achieve mileposts
benchmarks, other class tests--did you achieve mileposts? On way to goals?
test = did you achieve the goals?

Some people just think Common Core implements itself. They're wrong.

Others think that it's just "more rigor", and rigor is good for their baby Einsteins. They're wrong, but have a point--it's easy to lower standards.

Others think that without the tests teachers slack off. They're mostly wrong, but some teachers tire of fighting with students and parents and really just go for babysitting.

[joshcryer]

11. Common Core is also meant to teach concepts.

Here's a classic Common Core sucks example:



Testing can be a part of it but Common Core is trying to develop standards that are able to meed the individual needs of students. The future paradigm is going to be group activity learning and selective student attention. As it stands now it's a lecture model and it fails a lot of students who struggle.

[Android3.14]

17. Exactly!

It is unfortunate that people would rather curse the darkness than light a candle.

[rpannier]

2. Wow! Jindal agrees with me

And we're both on the opposite side of the charter crooks

Oddly, I'm okay with that

[Android3.14]

4. And Glenn Beck too

I'd be questioning what I think I know about a topic if I discovered some of the most despicable people on the planet were part of my denunciation squad.
Try a source with a little less bias.

[JackRiddler]

6. Glenn Beck says it was wrong to invade Iraq.

Hitler said an economy should serve the people, and not capital. (This had nothing to do with what the Nazis ever actually did, of course. But he said it.)

I'm sure lots of perfectly disgusting people are against horrible things.

Etc. etc. Merely giving examples to demonstrate that no matter how despicable a person and their actions and their overall views may be, they might be right about this or that.

Jindal of course is pandering to the right, and as opportunistic in his Common Core rejection as he was in his prior support.

[Android3.14]

7. Of course, but then

Last edited Thu Jul 24, 2014, 07:19 AM - Edit history (1)

When people we admire are supporting something, such as Obama's support of Common Core, of which we are suspicious, along with these other supporters, while those we despise are fighting that same thing, the alert progressive will reexamine his or her information sources.

[JackRiddler]

12. I'll go with Zephyr Teachout, Diane Ravitch, et al.

[Android3.14]

13. That's the thing I don't understand

Ravitch was as wrong as wrong could be when it came to NCLB, school choice and other education reforms when she was a Bush lackey, yet now folks are giving her opinions the weight of gospel because she claims to have seen the light. She was a nutjob when she was working for Bush, and I have seen nothing to indicate that she has changed. The only thing that seems to be accurate is that her track record on education tells me that she is an unreliable source.

As far as Zephyr, beyond being an activist for Occupy Wall Street, being on board as the Dean Campaign went down in flames, and running her own flagging campaign against Cuomo, I don't see any expertise in education or experience in government policy.

Again, when you find yourself standing with a host of idiots such as Jindal, Beck and other Bush era nutjobs (including Ravitch) in opposition to an issue on which leaders and groups which you tend to respect support, you should ask yourself if this is your crowd.

Why are you unhappy with Common Core?

[JackRiddler]

14. "Wrong as wrong could be..."

So the one who admits it is worse than the ones who still live by it, like Cuomo, Duncan, et al.? Please. Talking points.

[Android3.14]

15. Nope. I need to make myself clear

If W suddenly said, "I was wrong about invading Iraq and NCLB," would you trust him to form a response to another terrorist attack or develop education policy moving forward?

Of course not. The same is true of Ravitch.

What I am saying is that anyone interested in this topic should beware the right wing zombies and find information from less biased sources.

[JackRiddler]

16. Cuomo, Emanuel, Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee.

Broad, the Walton Foundation, Gates.

Arne Duncan.

I'll take Diane Ravitch over those. More importantly, I'll take my own ability to see that corporate school "reform," privatization, Common Core and its predecessors NCLB and RttP are disasters completely unconcerned with the welfare of children.

All you have is personalization and talking points about sources. Nothing to do with the nightmare being visited on children right now.

[Android3.14]

18. But no actual points?

Come on, step up. What do you think you dislike about Common Core, specifically? Let's just pick one point and see where it leads. Either you can justify your concern, or I can prove it unjustified.

No skin lost.

[adigal]

5. The Common Core is a joke for good schools

It is way below what is expected. Scarsdale, NY, opted out and the NYS Dept of Education told them they would fire their Superintendent and take over their Board of Education of they did so. They are participating in the sham.

[Android3.14]

8. This is an incorrect statement, I think

According to this source, 3.4 percent opted out.
I was unable to find any source that said they tried to opt out as a district and the NYSDoE threatened to fire the superintendent and take over the BoE if they did.

[adigal]

9. I'm in school to become an administrator, and my teacher is a superintendent

He was just talking about this. That percent opted out AFTER NYS threatened them.

[Android3.14]

10. Link, please

Please excuse my doubt, but there is an enormous amount of misinformation regarding Common Core, and a link from a moderately unbiased source would be helpful to back up your claim. While it would be impossible for me to prove that the superintendent did not receive the threat, a threat such as this would most likely have made the news, given the attention on this issue. If it did happen, there should be an article available.

As for your professor, having taught education courses at the college level myself, I know first hand that professors sometimes unintentionally pass on incorrect information.