<p>texaspg, you are very fortunate. My sister is thrilled to be living there and is hoping they continue to hold out against Common Core.</p>
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<p>I understand you are quoting someone else…I’m just wondering if you yourself have actually looked into the subject you are quoting, common core math standards at the high school level, or are you just taking someone else’s word for it?</p>
<p>High school biology does not require organic chemistry. I think it’s great is this is an appropriate level for your child but he/she would not be the norm in a public school.</p>
<p>I am not white - or suburban - and not sure what that has to do with anything but just putting it out there.</p>
<p>The US is currently ranked #17 in the assessment of the education systems out of 50 countries. That is not OK and it is good that the US is adopting some international standards as a means to improve.</p>
<p>By definition - keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result is insanity.</p>
<p>Why do people always seem to think the choices are the status quo or something even worse? It’s very curious.</p>
<p>@Kennedy2010, we have a large educational industry that’s dependent on the “crisis” in education. </p>
<p>So what if we’re “17” on a list put out by Pearson? It’s expected that a country of with over 300 million people would not rank as high as small European countries, Singapore, Japan, etc. The US has more illegal aliens (an estimated 11.7 million) than the combine populations of Finland (#1, on the list with 5.44 million) and Singapore (#5 with 5.4 million). </p>
<p>[Index</a> Ranking | Index | Pearson | The Learning Curve](<a href=“The world’s learning company | Pearson”>The world’s learning company | Pearson)</p>
<p>Our problem is that we have as many poor schools as good and we can’t seem to fix the poor schools. The good schools are doing just fine (even if Arne Duncan implies otherwise with this snide comment aimed at suburban moms).</p>
<p>Standardized testing was an effort to identify and then pressure/incentivize poor schools/districts to improve performance. Now it’s being used to justify a new curriculum. If you thought the kids where “studying” to the test before,…</p>
<p>The only choice is not between status quo or something worse. The problem is the perception that change is usually something worse. People fear change and resist it mightily until they begin to accept the fact that it is happening regardless - and there is something in it for them if they bother to look.</p>
<p>So what if we are 17th on the list? That is a defeatist attitude. Do you realize that being 17th translates into some real issues for the US?</p>
<p>There are 32 million adults - 14% of the US population - who can’t read. 21% of US adults read below the 5th grade level. These are US citizens - not illegal aliens. That is not OK!</p>
<p>A friend of mine went to a local school presentation yesterday where she learned that policymakers use standardized test results from 3rd grade to determine how many penal institutions to build in the future. Now I have since learned that this was debunked. Regardless, the reality is that the school to prison pipeline is real.</p>
<p>Just a side note: </p>
<p>In Germany (where I go to school), I am doing linear algebra and multivariable calc in grade 12. That’s the standard, not accelerated.
Algebra is grade 7, geometry grade 8, Algebra 2 grade 9, pre calculus in grade 10, calculus in grade 11. There is something like higher level math as well; they are doing linear algebra and multivariable calc just more intensely. Oh, and statistics is split between grades 8 and 11.
It’s pretty doable, to be honest. Some students struggle, but they are free to take extra classes and free tutoring offered by the school. </p>
<p>So delaying algebra until grade 9 seems pretty ridiculous. What are the students going to do before that?</p>
<p>Sophie, do you attend a public school that all students attend? Don’t students go to special schools after grade 10 or so with only some students studying to enter a university?</p>
<p>re post #165, the percent of immigrant population appears to be larger in Finland (close to 10% have first language other than Finnish) than US more like 5%. I’ve never understood why a bigger country should have worse outcomes than a smaller one. Should Massachusetts do worse on educational tests than Mississippi because its population is bigger? </p>
<p>SophieIsabel, you are doing linear algebra in grade 12, but there are plenty of German kids who were put in different tracks and are out there apprenticing for jobs and doing math at a lower level. (I don’t necessarily think this is such a bad thing BTW.)</p>
<p>So, regarding the school to prison pipeline mentioned upthread; it would be interesting to look at what else is going on in these kids lives because whatever you teach it’s pretty meaningless if the students refuse to learn. This does not make them dumb but it’s silly to think that there are not large numbers of students in US schools who have no interest in achieving anything for a bunch of reasons that a new curriculum cannot fix.</p>
<p>mathmom - much of that 10% are Swedish speakers.</p>
<p>SophieIsabel, if you attend a Gymnasium, you are accelerated from the German norm; only 30% of German students are placed into the academic high school track, a.k.a. Gymnasium.</p>
<p>[Germany:</a> Schools that divide - CSMonitor.com](<a href=“- CSMonitor.com”>- CSMonitor.com)</p>
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<p>How many of the kids with low or no reading skills have slipped through the cracks with undiagnosed LDs? At some point a teacher should know the student cannot read. Is this a product of social promotion?</p>
<p>NavalTradition, yes 5% according to Wikipedia. However I also believe that Finnish is a Uralic language while Swedish is Germanic, so I don’t know how easy it is to go from one to another. I also see that. Swedish is a second language of Norway. I’m no expert on Scandanavia, my point is that really just that many European countries now have substantial populations of immigrants. We are no longer unique that way.</p>
<p>Actually, lots of immigrant kids in US are doing great on standardized tests. Look at the Asian immigrants from families, where English in ESL.</p>
<p>^I agree, that’s why I don’t think we should be complacent about being #17 in the world. I don’t think we have any good excuses for it. I do think there are lots of reasons for it.</p>
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<p>While I agree that many students come to school with a lot of baggage, I don’t agree that these students refuse to learn. The number one thing that motivates students is their relationship with their teacher. If they feel their teacher cares about them and their education they will rise to the challenge.</p>
<p>That may be true. But some kids want an A just because A’s are available. And no curriculum or policy or whatever can make every teacher care about every kid so now what?</p>
<p>^totally Agree! Just sayin that the majority will respond to teachers that care. I’m not Implying that most teachers don’t…just that this is necessary to improve student performance.</p>
<p>SophieIsabel, you do realize Germany is #15 on the list! Your country clearly has serious issues…you’re just ahead of Belgium and the US!..Ireland at #11 is going to dominate you in the near future! </p>
<p>Really people…freaking out over being #17 in a list is silly. Why does Pearson put out this helpful list? To make you freak out…it’s good for business (and what business does Pearson have? standardized testing of course!)</p>
<p>Should Sweden, a country at #21, go into a panic? How about poor France at #25? Poor Arnaud can’t read?..bah. </p>
<p>Look at these rankings and use your critical thinking skills. In the US, we test every kid, that’s not the case in many of these other countries. </p>
<p>[Stanford:</a> International Education Rankings are Biased - Schools - Palo Alto, CA Patch](<a href=“http://paloalto.patch.com/groups/schools/p/stanford-international-education-rankings-are-biased]Stanford:”>Stanford: International Education Rankings are Biased | Palo Alto, CA Patch)</p>
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<p>If you have an hour or two to kill, feel free to read the report. However, I would recommend just reading the conclusion, its a very long report…very long :)</p>
<p>[What</a> do international tests really show about U.S. student performance? | Economic Policy Institute](<a href=“http://www.epi.org/publication/us-student-performance-testing/]What”>What do international tests really show about U.S. student performance? | Economic Policy Institute)</p>