Common Core Standards PROS/CONS

"From Mark Naison - The simplest argument against the Common Core Standards- they cost school districts large amounts of money to implement; and put those funds in the hands of test companies and consultants. Whatever its original intentions, it has morphed into a huge fund transfer from the public to the private sphere

Read more: forum.badassteacher.org/thread/95/common-core-standards-pros-cons#ixzz2dhWzUJJW"

This can probably only be handled by litigation. We can protest, wear shirts, refuse to take tests, but nothing's gonna happen. Sorry for being the canary in the cave.

Sorry. That didn't work for gun control, and it probably won't work here. Sorry to be such a pessimist, but this is a VERY LARGE issue that can't be la-dee-dah'ed.

You don't think that giving a kid until they're 22 is sufficient time to earn a diploma?

Not when phonics instruction has ended way back in second-third grade and the remedial focus then shifts to vocabulary and comp (for the rest of their school career). Dyslexic students may need continued phonics/phonemic awareness instruction all the way into high school and it doesn't exist in my district. So whether they stay until they're 22, they still can't read well because we haven't provided the appropriate instruction or support. 

Why not put phonemic awareness training into their IEP. That's specialized instruction.

In my district, our dyslexic kids are all in gen ed classes and have to follow the curriculum in those classes. Our district doesn't provide any phonics/PA materials for older kids. Most of our sped teachers spend their time "accommodating" the curriculum for the students and instructing the given materials in smaller groups in the classroom. I agree, we should be able to provide it, but apparently my district feels that "one size fits all" is the way to go. I think it's a money thing...we don't have the money to provide enough teachers for small group instruction (and our district mandates that 2/3 of the reading time must be delivered whole group) nor do we have the money to buy additional curriculum. IDEA funds which used to purchase such things are now being spent almost totally on salaries for specialists which the state used to pay for (behaviorists, speech/language pathologists, staffing specialists, PK diagnostic team, etc.). We've only had a very small # of parents challenge this...when they bring a lawyer, then my district somehow finds a way to meet that one child's needs.