New York City’s first batch of Common Core test results are out. And the results are not impressive.
Wow. Percent of NYC students scoring proficient/adv dropped 30 pts in math & 21 pts in English under Common Core. http://t.co/ERl83SVuNe
— Christina Henderson (@chenderson) August 7, 2013
https://twitter.com/lonelycon/status/365164306179952640
The lousy results haven’t dampened New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s enthusiasm:
The new Common Core curriculum will empower students to achieve at higher levels in the years ahead: http://t.co/zNwQuCEfkR
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) August 7, 2013
If you’re wondering why the scores were so bad, check out one of the questions for third-graders from the New York State Common Core Sample Questions (page 8):
There were 54 apples set aside as a snack for 3 classes of students. The teachers divided up the apples and placed equal amounts on 9 separate trays. If each of the 3 classes received the same number of trays, how many apples did each class get?
A) 2
B) 6
C) 18
D) 27
We’re all for rigor, but we are talking here about a test for third-graders, most of whom probably have not even mastered their times tables.
Here are some comments posted by Facebook users in response to the question above:
“Horribly confusing. Even I want to say 6 were on each tray, instead of 18 per class.”
“That’s a really confusing way to get to 54 divided by 3.”
“Ridiculous!!! Trickery or testing? Borders on sadistic”
“What was wrong with old fashioned arithmetic? Basic, straightforward, and easy to learn. Why did that go away?”
“that is hilarious because when taught I had 9th graders who couldn’t divided 10 by 2.”
“I am a teacher and I think the 2nd sentence and the 1st part of the 3rd sentence is unnecessary. Who cares about trays!! Quit confusing children”
“Absolutely ridiculous!!!!”
“TMI.”
“the whole point is to get them frustrated, cry and just give up, they then feel like a failure, hate school, start acting angry at home, depressed, and you watch your child change before your eyes.”
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We wish we could tell you Common Core math gets better as children get older. Unfortunately, as Twitchy reported, Houghton-Mifflin’s Common Core-aligned Algebra 1 textbook is a mess, too.
And then there’s this, in case you missed it:
New book shows radical teachers how to mix traditional mathematics with 'social justice' http://t.co/DoYb5uOFFq @michellemalkin @glennbeck
— EAGnews.org (@EAGnews) July 29, 2013
And this:
Do the math — Common Core = a massive, risky experiment on your kids via @FoxNews – http://t.co/cXKttbpLGH #stopcommoncore
— American Principles (@approject) July 31, 2013
Welcome to the new age.
Related:
Michelle Malkin: My child’s Common Core-aligned Algebra book is crap
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