General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This Teacher's Alarming Resignation Letter Shows How Much Schools Have Changed Since You Were A Kid [View all]knitter4democracy
(14,350 posts)They're wrong. They were written by the testing corporations and those who stand to profit, not by educators, and the elementary standards fly in the face of all the brain research of the last ten years. Those who wrote them have laughed about how they didn't need any experts helping them write the standards (and they didn't have any experts helping). The standards themselves are copyrighted, and much of the information on them is spotty at best.
Most states had good standards in place before these came along. In many areas, Michigan's were higher and better written. To get RTTT money, we had to throw out our better standards and the tests we've written (as well as the ACT that all of our juniors take), and get on the Common Core board to the tune of millions and millions of dollars. Make no mistake--this isn't about better education but instead about better funding of private corporations.