I found this article at the Common Core pushing Public Schools First NC site linking to my site. In the article, they quote me on Common Core:

2. and 3.  “The standards are dumbing down the kids”/ “The standards are too hard for the kids”


According to Glenn Beck’s website, “Many teachers, educators, and parents believe Common Core is dumbing down America’s children.” At the same time, some find the standards too hard.  In a piece for WUNC, Reema Khrais featured parent Andrea Dillon  who “says Common Core is not developmentally appropriate for her son. ‘Just for an example, they’re doing persuasive writing pieces in first-grade where he has to have an opening sentence, three supporting sentences and a closing argument for a text he’s read, and he has to do that on his own – he’s seven,’ she said.”

So which is it?  Too simple or too difficult?

All due respect, it’s both.
The author is gonna hurt herself trying to make parents, teachers and students who have proven that it’s both, look dumb. It didn’t escape my attention that in a nutshell, Ms. Whitley just tried to call me a liar. Do let us know how that strategy works out for you?

Teaching kids the finer points of the English language in K-3, instead of getting them reading proficiently first, is age and developmentally inappropriate.

The later grades shift to more “informational texts”. This shift is not supported by current research or opinion and does little to nothing to promote ‘critical thinking’ as the standards claim.

As an English teacher, Ms. Whitley should know all of that.  Then again, why should Whitley be concerned with the facts about what happens to Elementary kids under Common Core when she teaches High school?  Hers are doing so well:

Making grammar practice for the kids, I used the word “wretched”. “Don’t you mean #ratchet?” they asked. “Pretty sure u misspelled ratchet.”

— Alicia Whitley (@AliciaWhitley) September 12, 2014

The article continued:

In the case of the first grade, the writing standards stipulate that students have “guidance and support from adults” while learning to write, not on their own.  But specific standard arguments aside, this is not a Common Core problem.   The fact that we have any standards at all necessarily means that some kids will find the standards “too easy” and some will find them “too hard.”  That’s what happens when one creates a standard.  It’s my job as a teacher to push the students who have surpassed the standards forward, and to work hard to bring the kids below standard up to par.

“In the case of the first grade, the writing standards stipulate that students have “guidance and support from adults” while learning to write, not on their own.”

Stop right there.

These kids are being asked to do this on their own in class; not with parental support.

I witnessed it with my own eyes in the classroom. I watched a 6 year old kid melt down trying to do it.  The poor kid looked a lot like this young girl fighting with her math homework.

The assessment of this skill on the report card said, that in order to get the full points, they have to do it on their own.

Sorry, but this IS a Common Core problem.

Hilariously, the statement some kids will find it too hard and some to easy contradicts the earlier premise by this author of asking whether Common Core is too hard or too simple.

More from the article, emphasis added:

The point is that no “standard” is going to be just right for all of the kids all of the time.  This is why we differentiate; we tailor assignments to meet students at their level.  Getting rid of the Common Core State Standards would do nothing to solve this problem, mainly because North Carolina adopted the CCSS to replace our own – which were deemed too simple, “dumbed down”, and not adequate enough to prepare our students to compete nationally or globally.   Speaking in support of the standards, the NC Chamber, a nonpartisan voice for advocating businesses, calls them “high, globally competitive standards that North Carolina students will need to compete for the jobs of tomorrow.”  Choruses of NC leaders have also voiced their support, something that didn’t happen with the old standards.

No standard will be just right all of the time for all of the kids. Agreed.

However, Common Core expects that all kids will do it the Common Core way and are judged accordingly. Common Core does not differentiate for different skill levels – there is one level. This is a one-size fits all scenario.

I’ve written extensively on the Chamber in NC and Chambers across the country. Their Common Core pushing is well documented.  Using the NC Chamber and nonpartisan in the same sentence really made me laugh. It’s about as nonpartisan as Yevonne Brannon’s Public Schools First NC, which is often been a vehicle for the NCAE and their litany of politicking in our schools.

Reminder:
Public Schools First NC is tied to the false Teacher ad the Hagan campaign put out.

About Public Schools First NC

Their website is registered to Yevonne Brannon.

Yevonne Brannon is also listed on PSFNC’s creation documentation.

PSFNC is a non-profit and is part of ‘WakeUp Wake County‘. Brannon was Chair of WakeUp Wake County and is still on their board. View the PSFNC donation form; they state this at the bottom.

WakeUp Wake County is also affiliated with ‘Great Schools In Wake Coalition. Check out their awards given out to Brannon and awards given out by BluePrintNC and NC Justice Center.

2012 PSFNC IRS 990 form.

Scroll down mid-way in this article I did on the “Walk-Ins” being staged around Wake County. PSFNC was not just a participant and supporter. PSFNC organized many of these walk-ins in conjunction with NC Justice Center. NC Justice Center is the parent of BluePrintNC.

Read more: A Primer on the Left in NC