I am a parent who has learned a great deal about the state Department of Education's embrace of the Common Core Standards after realizing how much instruction time my child was spending on test preparation and the testing itself.
My concerns have grown exponentially since I began researching the standards, and now include:
Security of private student data stored with an outside contractor;
Replacing science and social studies with math and English language arts test preparation;
Unclear state education policies resulting in inconsistency among districts applying the policies;
Tests that do not accurately measure the subject knowledge;
Flawed test questions;
Plugging corporate brands in test questions;
The potential to use these flawed tests unfairly in teacher evaluations;
Taxpayer money going to inBloom and Pearson Education Inc., rather than staying in our schools;
Tests that provide no feedback on student's specific weaknesses (a Freedom of Information Law request will provide only a redacted version of the test);
Additional field tests administered solely for Pearson to develop future test questions;
Academic "rigor" forced upon even our youngest students contrary to many experts in education theory;
Lack of open and proactive communication to parents regarding these issues; and
Absence of state education acknowledgement of parental concerns, although the stream of pro-Common Core propaganda has been flowing.
I encourage Times Union readers to educate themselves on these issues. This past session, Assemblyman Al Graf proposed A07994 to discontinue implementation of the Common Core. Contact your Assembly representative to support this bill in the next session.
Deborah Clark
Clifton Park