Tag Archives: Common Core LRC

#StuffAtkinsonSays: How Do We Determine What Academic Standards To Use?

Posted on November 9, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

2013: NC Superintendent June Atkinson tells the NC Legislative research committee that standards are determined by ‘important groups’ like higher education officials and businesses.

Parents are not mentioned.

KEEP READING – SEE THE CLIP Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION, EXCLUSIVE, June Atkinson, Video | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

WRAL Finally Publishes Piece On ‘Botched’ Common Core

Posted on May 15, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

WRAL finally has an article that talks about parent frustrations with Common Core.

An Iowa woman jokingly calls it “Satan’s handiwork.” A California mom says she’s broken down in tears. A Pennsylvania parent says it “makes my blood boil.”
What could be so horrible? Grade-school math.

As schools around the U.S. implement national Common Core learning standards, parents trying to help their kids with math homework say that adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing has become as complicated as calculus.

They’re stumped by unfamiliar terms like “rectangular array” and “area model.” They wrestle with division that requires the use of squares, slashes and dots. They rage over impenetrable word problems.

Stacey Jacobson-Francis, 41, of Berkeley, California, said her daughter’s homework requires her to know four different ways to add.

“That is way too much to ask of a first grader,” she said. “She can’t remember them all, and I don’t know them all, so we just do the best that we can.” – WRAL 5/15/14
I noticed this article is in the “Lifestyles” section, not the education section. It’s also written by an AP reporter, not WRAL staff. One or two more snippets to drive it home that Common Core is fundamentally flawed and overly convoluted:

“If we are sitting there for 20 minutes trying to do a simple problem, how is an 8, 9, 10-year-old supposed to figure it out?” she said. “It’s incredibly frustrating for the student and the parent.” – WRAL 5/15/14 Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, Media Bias | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

NC Replacing Common Core Means Leading, Not Following

Posted on May 3, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

“The biggest fallacy of the Common Core standards is that they have been sold to the nation without any evidence that they will accomplish what their boosters claim.” – Diane Ravitch

The next biggest fallacy is that somehow states pulling out won’t be able to replace the Common Core with something better. There will always be something better — that is, unless you’re a state locked into a copyrighted set of standards controlled by outside entities. To be clear, Common Core Standards are a race to the middle. This is what Common Core supporters are bracing for next: states who pull out and put together superior standards which include continual and best practices integration.

The question that should be turned back on the Common Core supporters is: How can we NOT do better?

Quickly,a look at two of the latest Common Core talking points regarding replacement and then a closing argument. Continue reading →

Posted in Common Core, EDUCATION, NC State Standards, NCGA | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Sen. Tillman Calls Out N&O’s Common Core ‘Liberal Fluff’

Posted on April 29, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

I applaud the efforts by the NC General Assembly’s Common Core Legislative Research Committee. They are righting a wrong in stopping the experiment that is Common Core in North Carolina.
On that same note, I applaud Senator Tillman for calling out our local media’s bias on Common Core. From his latest news letter: Continue reading →

Posted in Common Core, Media Bias, NCGA | Tagged , | Comments Off on Sen. Tillman Calls Out N&O’s Common Core ‘Liberal Fluff’

NC Chamber Wants Their Common Core Workers

Posted on April 27, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Color me not shocked:

Of course, b/c kids = human capital to them MT @LindsayWagnerNC:NC Chamber rejects NCGA proposal to ditch CommonCore http://t.co/l4JpDPYvg3

— LL1885 – A.P. Dillon (@LadyLiberty1885) April 27, 2014

Totally predictable. I sat in the meeting where Gary Salamido, Vice President of Government Affairs for the NC Chamber, got up in front of the NCGA’s Common Core LRC and managed to skip talking about or saying the word children. Instead his terminology was ‘talent supply’, ‘skilled worker’ or generically a couple mentioning of ‘students’. His speech was all about creating a nice compliant workforce. It was about jobs standards, not the education of our children. To Salamido and the NC Chamber, this is about ‘jobs’ in the future… which even they cannot predict the future of or availability of. Even their press release rejecting the NCGA’s steps to remove Common Core is devoid of the words kids, child or children. Continue reading →

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NC State Rep. Cotham’s Politicizing Of Common Core

Posted on April 25, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

Yesterday at the final meeting of the NC General Assembly’s Common Core LRC, a report and draft bill were introduced that removes Common Core from the state statutes and details a commission to be set up to replace the Common Core over the next one to two years.

President Elect of the CCSSO, June Atkinson, who is also NC’s State Superintendent, was absent from this meeting but lent her opinion in a press release. Her absence wasn’t a big issue since Rep. Brandon and Rep. Cotham took up what arguably could be considered a similar line of attack. The word “politicizing” was the big theme. My thoughts on their performances: Continue reading →

Posted in Common Core, EDUCATION, NCGA | Tagged , | 2 Comments