I normally just share our coalition partners’ blog posts via social media because I aim for unique content here, but this testimony shared by Oak Norton at Utahns Against Common Core is a must share.
He received this email from an 8th grade teacher in the Jordan School District in West Jordan, UT after attending a public forum with the Utah State Board of Education.
I recently attended a common core day of cheer leading for the sixth grade teachers in my district. Money was used to pay for subs so that we could all hear for a day why the common core was so wonderful. We were told that students would no longer be graded on completion of assignments or an average of assignment and test scores over a grading period. Instead grading will be based on mastery of a subject. How do we determine mastery? The district has provided bench mark tests in language arts. We were told that these are not mandatory BUT that if we did not use them they would become mandatory. I find it scary that students will now be graded only on tests written by the core. The final assessment was a research paper on modern revolutions. Interesting how now in the sixth grade learning can be skewed to a political point of view that may or may not be historically accurate. I find the curriculum scary and the measurement of learning terrifying. I know though that any questions I asked contrary to the core were met with anger and frustration. It was NOT allowed and dismissed to ask a question that was not common core friendly. I along with other teachers are afraid to speak out publicly against the core for fear of losing our jobs. I work in the Jordan school district.
I’d love to see more stories like this. If you are a teacher who would like to share your disapproval or story about the Common Core implementation please send me an email at info@truthinamericaneducation.com or leave a voicemail message at (202) 630-1785. If you’d please share your first name (won’t use) and school district I would love to hear from you.
Photo Credit: Olivia Watson via Flickr (CC-By-NC-ND 2.0)