General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The Common Core could well be Obama's worst policy. [View all]greatlaurel
(2,004 posts)Interesting information in an interview with Diane Ravitch at Salon:
http://www.salon.com/2014/03/12/public_schools_under_siege_diane_ravitch_warns_salon_some_cities_soon_will_have_none/
She really has the data on the corporate influences that are trying to rob us of public schools.
Link to CDC's document The Effects of Childhood Stress on Health Across the Lifespan The type of stress being generated at our schools is the negative type of stress and is not good for children. That statement up thread about children need to be stressed ranks right up there with one of the dumbest statements ever. Jeesh.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/pdf/Childhood_Stress.pdf
Here is a link to an article in slate about Microsoft abandoning the stack ranking employee performance evaluation system that is being imposed on school systems throughout the country, http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/08/23/stack_ranking_steve_ballmer_s_employee_evaluation_system_and_microsoft_s.html Stack ranking is an absolute disaster where ever it gets imposed by some idiotic managerial type.
Here is a link to an article quoting Bill Gates stating how about this idiotic evaluation system would improve education.
http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=178687
This link to Think Progress has an even handed discussion about Common Core and how the Obama administration is involved in pushing it.
http://thinkprogress.org/education/2014/02/20/3010891/obama-common-core-teachers/#
Here is a quote from the Think Progress article discussing how the Obama administration has pushed the Common Core:
"In 2010, the Obama administration linked the implementation of Common Core to Race to the Top, a competitive grant program aimed at helping states and schools innovate and improve their teaching processes. It encouraged states to adopt the standards and assessment structure by giving compliant states extra points 40 points out of 500 on their applications."