FOM Friday Update: Truths and Lies of CCSS

As you’ve come to depend on, it’s Friday, which means we put Common Core to the Fib-o-Meter Test!

Today’s update features one of my very first posts called “Not On My Watch”. (see: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2014/09/01/not-on-my-watch/) As I’ve done all this week, I’m updating pertinent information in an effort to help us fortify our anti-CCSS arsenals. It’s going to be a bumpy year, I think, so what better time to start sharpening our swords. Here’s an excerpt from the original,
“Of the 10 following statements, there are 6 truths and 4 lies about Common Core Standards. See if you can correctly identify each.

• 1) Common Core controls what is taught, for the most part.
• 2) Common Core is part of a federal mandate.
• 3) Common Core, to remain in place and continue on in each state will need to be funded by taxpayers.
• 4) Testing and assessment costs will need to increase under Common Core.
• 5) Data mined information stays within the state the information is gathered in.
• 6) Common Core is copyrighted and cannot be altered.
• 7) My child will be better prepared with Common Core in their education or job training.
• 8) Funding for schools is held captive by Common Core Standards.
• 9) “Internationally benchmarked” studies can be found on the Common Core Standards website.
• 10) All opponents of Common Core are from the same political party.”

(Before we move to any updates, I challenge you to give this to a supporter of the CCSS or better yet, a school board member, elected official, or all of them. Would they know?)

For the Fib-o-Meter’s ratings, numbers 1-4, “Total Truth”; for #5, “Total Fallacy”; #6;8, “Total Truth”; #7, 9, and 10, “Total Fallacy”.

Updates you can use:

If you’ve not visited the Common Core Standards website it awhile, it’s a good thing to see what they’ve updated on the website. For example, they, too have “Myth vs. Fact” category (I think Fib-o-Meter‘s much more realistic, however) that’s had a bit of a makeover since I last used some of the information to create the above True or False ‘quiz’. Take for instance, this statement, “Federal funds have never and will never be used to support the development or governance of the Common Core or any future revisions of the standards.” It is statements like these that the “Fib-o-Meter” was created for!! “Total Fallacy” for this one, Common Core website! I guess you’d like us to forget those RttT funds that saddled the states with CCSS in the first place, or the Perkins Act makeover which includes Common Core aligned adult education, the Career Pathways not only aligned to CCSS, but to the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health/Human Services masterful Workforce Quality Data Initiative!

Here’s another one made for the “Fib-o_Meter”, “The standards are not curricula and do not mandate the use of any particular curriculum.” Again, “Total Fallacy”!! Maybe the copyright owners (CCSSO and NGA) think we don’t notice all those “Common Core” stamps on the homework assignments. Maybe they think we don’t know about all the tremendous amounts of Common Core Curriculum that have not only been produced, marketed, sold, and aligned, BUT available almost everywhere you turn..even the Dollar Stores! I’m sure you know a teacher in a school with CCSS, ask them how much of their own material they get to use. The ones who’ve spoken to me have shared that there’s NO TIME to deviate from the CCSS aligned, assigned material!
If you’d like to see what else has been updated at the website, http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/myths-vs-facts/ (the FAQs are down and to the right)

More hype, thanks CCSS lovers!

New since I first wrote about all this is the Council for Great City Schools (another CCSS lover) Blog post titled,
“Parents Support the Core Despite the Drama” (see: http://www.commoncoreworks.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=83&ModuleInstanceID=364&ViewID=047E6BE3-6D87-4130-8424-D8E4E9ED6C2A&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=1592&PageID=239) The main concept of the post is that parents need to hear from those in schools as to WHY CCSS is GOOD for their children. The organization even conducted a poll to back up the love from parents towards the Core. No where in the article does it state how MANY parents were polled, only percentages. Well, how credible can the findings be? Seriously, think about it! If I only poll a small number, let’s use 4 people, and I ask them the same question, my results, when percentages are used hides HOW many. Seventy-five percent results will always impress until you factor in that means 3 out of 4 parents agreed. But I don’t want us to get lost in the numbers around their poll. The base fact is Council for Great City Schools wants parents to embrace how great CCSS is. U-G-H!

Closing:

In my original post I stated something to the effect that we are our own best children’s advocate. I’ll trust you to read the rest of the original to see how I challenged you in this fight AGAINST CCSS. I can’t leave you today without giving you a visual Fib-o-Meter ‘quiz’. See this below that I found in social media that’s worthy of not only a “Total Fallacy”, but “Total Failure” as well.