tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776587.post6189636542191612987..comments2023-11-03T04:00:24.785-04:00Comments on Kentucky School News and Commentary: A Tower of Jell-oRichard Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14586435007687942849noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776587.post-51017411775093532952014-04-14T12:23:35.956-04:002014-04-14T12:23:35.956-04:00Sorry, fear might have been to strong but certainl...Sorry, fear might have been to strong but certainly coercion isn't an understatement when state coffers are running dry and feds are waving competitive bucks under state leaders' noses - but I did get a sense of urgency that we had to be first in line for accepting the CC et other stuff or (fearfully) risk losing out to other states in RTTT.<br /><br />I still contend that state sovereignty (dare we even say superintendent and district independence) is the greatest challenge to all of these efforts to standardize curriculum, assessment, etc. USA is never going to compete with Finland, Singapore, etc that have centralized educational control for the entire nation under national control. As much as some folks want some sort of national standardization, I just don't see it happening in the absence of constitutional mandate and with states as diverse as California, Louisana, North Dakota and Massachusetts.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776587.post-67912625859376482262014-04-14T08:45:52.103-04:002014-04-14T08:45:52.103-04:00April 9, 2014 at 8:43 PM: I don't see where st...April 9, 2014 at 8:43 PM: I don't see where state sovereignty has anything to do with it. The Kentucky legislature decided that it wanted to join other states and go this route. The legislature could have chosen otherwise - but didn't.<br /><br />The feds didn't use fear so far as I'm aware. What they did use was the power of the purse. If you want federal dollars, here's what you have to do to get them - CCSS, Charters, data systems, use test scores for teacher evaluation, high stakes assessments and elaborate accountability systems....CCSS is the best (and arguably only good) idea of the bunch.<br /><br />It's not the same old thing either. The same old thing would be for high school diplomas to not necessarily means that a student was ready for advanced work. Expensive zero credit developmental classes in college are the same old thing.<br /><br />April 9, 2014 at 10:55 PM: Not exactly. The effort to build common standards has not been wasted - in most places the work continues unabated - but it has become a political ping pong ball. <br /><br />What I'm telling you is that this Republican idea was adopted by Rs and Ds pretty uniformly. After all, setting curriculum standards that target college and career readiness and are substantially uniform from state to state is a good idea. Both sides sold Common Core. But a couple of years after the feds got on board (and made it a part of RTTT) the conservative Rs and a good number of Ds decided that the issue could be used as a wedge. Since then it appears that Duncan has been directed to never say the words "common core" again. So now we get weasel words instead of leadership. Curriculum standards were a good idea then, and they are a good idea now. But they suffer under the weight of politics. <br /><br />I can't say that RTTT wasted tax dollars, but it was not particularly sound education policy in my mind. CCSS was the best part of RTTT but it got politicized and tainted in the process. <br /><br />I suppose the feds came to realize that they had ultimately hurt something they meant to support.Richard Dayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14586435007687942849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776587.post-8212102531950589592014-04-09T22:55:19.557-04:002014-04-09T22:55:19.557-04:00Are you telling me that the federal government spe...Are you telling me that the federal government spent a bunch of money to try to direct us toward what they thought was best for us and now it turns out it might have been wasted? That really suprises me that our leaders would try to force their agendas on us only to backpedal, not to mention that they would misuse our taxes? Wow!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776587.post-90463782657274865422014-04-09T20:43:37.180-04:002014-04-09T20:43:37.180-04:00This darn state sovereignty is just ruining the fe...This darn state sovereignty is just ruining the feds game plan of common curriculum and assessments. <br /><br />Same old thing, expert beats the drum of fear in order to lure/intimidate education community to a new, cure all approach to higher student performance. Before long term results of previous system can be determined they are scaped and professionals expected to retool and spend tons of money on the latest gymic. Really has U.S. history, literature, chemistry or Algebra really changed that much other than we put it all on an expensive lap top with some cool apps?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com