The Common Core Survey

[MinivanMom]

Emotion and personal anecdotes about the Common Core seem to be bleeding onto unrelated threads, so here it is. Tell us what changes are happening in your local school district as a result of the Common Core. These could be positive or negative changes. They could be changes that are explicitly required by the Common Core . . . or . . . they could be changes that aren't explicitly required, but are being blamed on Common Core (for example, districts using Common Core as an excuse to drop cursive instruction). If your district is making a change and claiming the Common Core is the reason, then go ahead and list it.

 

Feel free to tell us where you live or to give us an idea of your general region of the US. It would also be interesting to know the demographics of your local school district (large vs. small, urban vs. rural, highly-educated vs. working class, etc.). Thanks.

[Crimson Wife]

I haven't heard much in regards to our local district, but my kids are enrolled in a virtual charter, and because of CC, I am now permitted to have my DD continue on with Singapore Discovering Mathematics 8 rather than having to pick one of the California Algebra 1 textbooks for her next year. Singapore DM 8 is much more rigorous than the various state-approved textbooks they had available at the lending library. So just because some schools are using CC as an excuse to dumb down their math, doesn't mean CC is to blame.

[momto2Cs]

Since we school as a private school under a private school affidavit, it doesn't mean anything to my homeschooling efforts at this point. We're in California, btw.

 

For the local schools, all I can tell is that they will have to do more cross-curricular reading and writing, which I personally think is great! Looks like they get maore higher math options as well.

[Arcadia]

It would be business as usual for my local school district. They will be teaching to a different test structure but still teaching to the test. The only difference is that California no longer requires Algebra for 8th grade but does not stop any school from offering Algebra at 8th grade or earlier. The district is using Envision Math and there is already a common core edition.

 

My local school district has 15, 289 K-12 students and is mainly urban. I do not know the demographic of the whole district, only demographic of each school in the district.

[Library Momma]

I live in a state with standards above those of Common Core. We do not have school districts but rather each town or city is their own district (the exception being extremely small towns that combine for High School). Most suburban towns fall under middle class to Upper Middle Class (and some are extremely wealthy). For the most part these towns have always done very well on the state test so Common Core related materials should be no different. I wouldn't say that they teach to the test -As a matter of fact if you ask a teacher about standardized testing they will probably tell you that if the students are doing fine in class then they will do well on the test. In fact they do. For towns in my area depending on the test, usually around 90% of the students meet the proficient mark. For most suburban towns in the state it ranges from 70 to 98% I don't see any evidence that the work will be "dumbed down" and I know that the differentiation offered students of varying abilities will continue.

 

The other side of the coin are the urban schools - They for the most part are on the opposite end of the spectrum. Usually with around 30-50% of students meeting meeting the proficient mark. How common core will affect these schools I don't know. There are a number of magnet schools that do slightly better (around 60% proficiency). I would think having students in these areas take tests revolving around easier materials will just make the schools look like they are doing better than they really are. But perhaps putting in a national perspective is better because our state has two extremes with not many communities falling in the middle.

 

I also agree that it is important to remember that CC only reflects certain subjects and the other subjects should not be affected. I don't see a danger of that happening (at least not at this point).

[Alessandra]

I don't see Common Core as the driver of big changes, so much as I see the schools impacted by the following: testing, teacher evaluations, budgets, mandated programs, and state aid. We are in NJ.

 

Statewide, one big change will be moving to the new PARCC assessment tool in 2014-2015. Tests (computer-based) will be given four times per year (in LA and math). The idea is to measure student at the beginning of the year, set individual goals, and measure whether those goals have been reached. The will be tied in to teacher assessments. Overall, it is driven both by CC and teacher evals.

 

Another big change, statewide, will be new ways of doing teacher evaluations, beginning (I think) in 2013-2014. The guidelines are still in the process of being formulated.

 

For our district, there will be changes in LA, but that is more due to test scores than CC, I believe. Currently, our elementary students learn very little formal grammar, and a lot of the writing is the 'creative' sort ('My Special Moment' and that kind of thing). The district will move to more structured language instruction and more non-fiction reading and writing -- very much in alignment with CC and very similar to what a lot of hsers already do!

 

The budgets/ mandated programs/state aid is just too complicated and uncertain to go into here.

 

Other ongoing changes involve increased use of technology, strong anti-bullying programs, and greater inclusion of disabled students in athletics. In poorly performing districts, there are issues regarding school choice and charters.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Oh man, I hope the cc leads to them dropping the current math being used in our local district - Houghton Mifflin California Math, which I hate with a violent passion. That is all.

 

ETA: ok, that's not really all, of course!! In California, there has been lots of bragging about how high the standards were already, but it's a crock - CA has had mile-wide inch deep standards for such a long time, and seem to think that "introducing" a topic in earlier and earlier grades means that somehow your standards are advanced. Meanwhile, kids still seem to crash & burn in 4th-5th grade, no matter how "early" fractions are introduced. My reading of the Common Core math standards is that they are an improvement - requiring more depth, and more conceptual understanding - and more focused than the previous standards. So I'm happy with that. And I can't wait till they adopt a new math curriculum!

[nukeswife]

I have no idea. I live in SE VA. I have no dealing with the PS at all, so nothing they do affects my homeschool. Although they are allowed to offer part time students, my district chooses to make it an all or nothing proposition, so we opted for Nothing.

[Arcadia]

Oh man, I hope the cc leads to them dropping the current math being used in our local district - Houghton Mifflin California Math, which I hate with a violent passion. That is all.

 

 

The common core version of Houghton Mifflin California Math is on the approved list. http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr12/yr12rel104.asp

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

The common core version of Houghton Mifflin California Math is on the approved list. http://www.cde.ca.go.../yr12rel104.asp

 

 

 

I wonder if it's any better than the current version? Or when our districts will even be able to afford to "upgrade" . . .

[Arcadia]

I wonder if it's any better than the current version? Or when our districts will even be able to afford to "upgrade" . . .

 

 

I think it depends on how the supplier agreement with the district is worded. If the agreement is to supply the latest approved versions of the student workbooks and loan the teacher guides, than the cost of upgrade is not as high. I remembered the school principal of the neighborhood school mentioning math curriculum cost over $100 per pupil for K-5.

[RootAnn]

I live in one of the few states that has not adopted Common Core. But, as a friend of mine commented recently, if the books out there are mostly changing to reflect CC, it will ultimately affect our PS schools and possibly some of the things I might choose to use in my homeschool.

 

I noted that Alabama & Indiana are trying to repeal their adoption? Anyone in either of those two states want to comment?

[laundrycrisis]

The name of the standard changes. Money is spent. It is spent on an informational campaign so the system can get as much political mileage out of the whole thing as possible. It is also spent on new things that are published - papers for administrators and teachers, textbooks for students, new tests, and new reports to spin the results of the new tests. (I've read about these parts in our district's newsletter.)

 

To me, this is all just business as usual with the education industry.

[molon labe]

I have no idea. I live in SE VA. I have no dealing with the PS at all, so nothing they do affects my homeschool. Although they are allowed to offer part time students, my district chooses to make it an all or nothing proposition, so we opted for Nothing.

 

Just FYI-VA is one of the states that has not formally adopted Common Core, though I understand that they are "aligning" the SOLs to CC. The following is from the VDOE website:

 

The Board of Education included content in the 2010 English SOL Curriculum Framework and adopted a supplement to the 2009 Mathematics SOL Curriculum Framework to fully align Virginia’s standards with the Common Core.

The board’s response to the Common Core – revising rather than abandoning the nationally recognized SOL program – ensures that students in the commonwealth’s public schools will be on equal footing or better with students in states that have adopted the voluntary Common Core standards word for word without the disruption that would result if Virginia were to abandon the SOL

 

I hope to be homeschooling my two kiddos next year in which case none of this will matter to me.

[MinivanMom]

In our local school district:

 

-They have eliminated math acceleration at the elementary level. The reasoning is that the Common Core standards are so much higher that gifted students will no longer need acceleration. Originally they were going to force accelerated students to retake their current year of math (a 4th grader taking 5th grade math this year would have to retake 5th grade math in 5th grade), but there was a huge public outcry and a ton of negative media coverage. As a result, children who were already accelerated will be allowed to continue on their present path, but no more children will be allowed to accelerate.

 

-They have eliminated cursive instruction. Previously our district required that cursive be taught in 3rd and practiced in 4th and 5th. Since cursive is not required by Common Core, there will be no more cursive instruction. Our state legislature is now trying to pass a law making cursive instruction mandatory in public schools in order to counteract the Common Core. I can't begin to address all the crazy in that last sentence.

 

-They are replacing Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II with Integrated Math I, Integrated Math II, and Integrated Math III. My understanding is that this is a statewide change (rather than just our district). Basically, all 8th graders will be required to take Integrated Math I (unless they are in remedial math), so there will be no more math tracking or acceleration. The change is happening this fall and there is a lot of confusion over what it will mean. Our district has public meetings coming up to explain the change to parents.

 

-There will be new End-of-Year tests starting this spring that are supposed to align with Common Core. Our state writes its own tests rather than using standardized testing. There has been a lot of media coverage about what this will do to the pass rates and rankings of local schools. This spring is supposed to be the test run and next year the test scores will count.

 

These are just the big changes that have received a lot of attention in the local media. They are also rolling out new Common Core math for the elementary level this fall, but teachers haven't been trained on it yet. I assume there will also be changes to reading and language arts, but there has been almost no discussion or media coverage of that beyond the cursive issue. No one seems to know what all these changes will entail at this point, not even the teachers.

 

I live on the east coast in one of the largest school districts in the US. Our district is urban, highly educated, and relatively affluent.

[prairiewindmomma]

Apparently there is a new DIBELS assessment that is better aligned with common core standards called DIBELS Next which our district is switching over to. The teacher assessing my son last month said that so many of the students she was assessing were failing under DIBELS Next that the district is trying to remain under the old DIBELS system for as long as possible.

[Roadrunner]

Nobody knows. Teachers aren't sure what is going to happen next year. This is what we know; enVision math stays (I do think enVision emphasizes conceptual understanding, but I don't really think it has much depth), cursive is supposedly going away. Teachers can't tell me anything about language arts instruction. This relates to elementary school. We are in CA in a wealthy district with highly educated population.

[Roadrunner]

Sorry duplicate

[amsunshine]

We homeschool through a charter, and honestly, I don't think much is changing here for us at all. We use Discovering Mathematics for math -- which came out with a Common Core edition. However, our charter would have let us use the previous edition, regardless of whether the Common Core standards existed or not. I think the biggest impact here will be changes in standardized testing -- including SATs.

[Shawna in North CA]

I'm pretty ignorant of these changes, but a couple days ago we had a visit with a family friend who is a high school administrator. One change, among many, that he cited was a change in emphasis away from reading literature, poetry, great books, etc., and towards reading for information.

 

Then, in the same breath he said that history and humanities curriculum will focus more on answering "the big questions". For example, "Is democracy the best form of government?" "Is war unavoidable?"

 

Now, these two changes really seem mutually exclusive. If you want students thinking about "big questions", but you are not exposing them to "big ideas" I'm not sure how that is going to work. The idea of eliminating literature, in favor of modern, academic writing, is troubling to me. That presents students with a very limited, exclusively modern, world view and discourages free-thinkers.

 

Anyone else know anything about this?

[Arcadia]

I'm pretty ignorant of these changes, but a couple days ago we had a visit with a family friend who is a high school administrator. One change, among many, that he cited was a change in emphasis away from reading literature, poetry, great books, etc., and towards reading for information.

 

 

It is an add on, not a take away. You can look at the recommended reading list here which goes up to 11th grade here (http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_B.pdf). The sample performance tasks for each grade level is in the same PDF.

 

ETA:

 

PDF linked is same as PP's linked reading list.

[Corraleno]

I'm pretty ignorant of these changes, but a couple days ago we had a visit with a family friend who is a high school administrator. One change, among many, that he cited was a change in emphasis away from reading literature, poetry, great books, etc., and towards reading for information.

 

Then, in the same breath he said that history and humanities curriculum will focus more on answering "the big questions". For example, "Is democracy the best form of government?" "Is war unavoidable?"

 

Now, these two changes really seem mutually exclusive. If you want students thinking about "big questions", but you are not exposing them to "big ideas" I'm not sure how that is going to work. The idea of eliminating literature, in favor of modern, academic writing, is troubling to me. That presents students with a very limited, exclusively modern, world view and discourages free-thinkers.

 

Anyone else know anything about this?

 

 

Here are some of the suggested "Informational Readings" for high school English:

The Declaration of Independence

Common Sense

The Bill of Rights

Thoreau, On Walden Pond

Emerson, "Society and Solitude"

GK Chesteron, "The Fallacy of Success"

HL Mencken, The American Language

 

A sample of the "Informational Readings" recommended for Social Studies:

de Toqueville, Democracy in America

Boorstin, An American Primer

Amar, America's Constitution: A Biography

McCullough, 1776

Bell, Mirror of the World: A New History of Art

 

There are some pretty "big ideas" in there. I hardly think those readings are designed to give students a narrow modern worldview or prevent free thinking.

 

Jackie

[Shawna in North CA]

Jackie, those are absolutely big ideas! Glad to see that.

 

So I'm not really sure what our friend is talking about.

[SarahW]

"Informative reading" could mean historical documents from the past and modern journalistic non-fiction. Here is an article from the Times about it; http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/22/what-should-children-read/

 

As for my experience with CC: I mentioned this already on some random CC-related thread, but I'll throw it here. My experience is that schools will want to make sure as many kids as possible in each grade are guaranteed to score high on the standardized test. This means that they will group classes by ability to make sure that as least a good amount learn enough to make perfect scores. For my kid, this means he is in kindergarten doing 2nd grade-level work at the local public charter. He didn't need to pass a special test to get into this class, just already know his basic phonics and colors and shapes. Since he is "in" kindergarten he will be tested as a kindergartner. This isn't really a bad thing, as I actually wouldn't want him to be in the 2nd grade class for social reasons (he's a bit small for his age and rather sensitive).

 

I live in "regular" suburban Florida, and yes, they administer standardized tests to kindergartners here. I personally find that bizarre....

[VeritasMama]

I'm pretty ignorant of these changes, but a couple days ago we had a visit with a family friend who is a high school administrator. One change, among many, that he cited was a change in emphasis away from reading literature, poetry, great books, etc., and towards reading for information.

 

Then, in the same breath he said that history and humanities curriculum will focus more on answering "the big questions". For example, "Is democracy the best form of government?" "Is war unavoidable?"

 

Now, these two changes really seem mutually exclusive. If you want students thinking about "big questions", but you are not exposing them to "big ideas" I'm not sure how that is going to work. The idea of eliminating literature, in favor of modern, academic writing, is troubling to me. That presents students with a very limited, exclusively modern, world view and discourages free-thinkers.

 

Anyone else know anything about this?

 

 

This is one of the complaints I have heard from high school teachers in my area, that they will require more informational /or technical reading in all courses, which leaves less time for the "great books." I too am at a loss for how you can expect students to discuss great ideas without first exposing them to what other great minds had to say.

 

I think we need more technical and vocational classes in our high schools, there should be more high schoolers that learn an actual trade in high school. I don't think it should be integrated into humanities courses. It seems to me that if you can read Shakespeare, you should be able to manage a lab report once you get into college.

 

Either way, this to me is another step away from the "classical model" of education, so it is just another layer of lipstick on an overly painted pig.

 

My son's school will no longer be offering accelerated math courses, all students in a certain grade will have to take the same course. My son is accelerated in math, so it is very disappointing to me.

[SarahW]

 

This is one of the complaints I have heard from high school teachers in my area, that they will require more informational /or technical reading in all courses, which leaves less time for the "great books." I too am at a loss for how you can expect students to discuss great ideas without first exposing them to what other great minds had to say.

 

I think we need more technical and vocational classes in our high schools, there should be more high schoolers that learn an actual trade in high school. I don't think it should be integrated into humanities courses. It seems to me that if you can read Shakespeare, you should be able to manage a lab report once you get into college.

 

Either way, this to me is another step away from the "classical model" of education, so it is just another layer of lipstick on an overly painted pig.

 

 

 

I don't understand what you're saying.

 

Did you read the NYT article I linked to?

 

"Narrative nonfiction" is just another name for what everyone around here calls "living books." I mean, really, how many times do people here say, "here's a great living math book! Or ask, "how do I teach science using more living books?"

 

A good part of any good book-based curriculum is already nonfiction (supposing, of course, that one does not fall into the trap of relying heavily on historical fiction, which, *ahem*, does not count as living books).

 

Narrative nonfiction is the new mode of Intellectual Inquiry. I quite enjoy reading books like Omnivore's Dilemma and I wish I had received some training in that genre myself. And no, not even all my college comp classes on how to write a research paper give me the specific set of skills to write a book like that. So I wouldn't expect reading Shakespeare to teach me that either.

[Corraleno]

This is one of the complaints I have heard from high school teachers in my area, that they will require more informational /or technical reading in all courses, which leaves less time for the "great books." I too am at a loss for how you can expect students to discuss great ideas without first exposing them to what other great minds had to say.

 

A lot of the "great books" are nonfiction — not every "great mind" wrote novels or poetry. Jefferson, Paine, Thoreau, Emerson, de Toqueville... do they not count as "great minds" who wrote "great books"? :confused1:

 

Not to mention the fact that very few of the books that are taught in English classes around here would qualify as "great books" to begin with. :glare:

 

Jackie

[Corraleno]

Note that the "informational texts" to be used in English classes are specifically defined as "literary nonfiction." And, rather than being some misguided bureaucrat's attempt to purge great books from schools, the standard is being introduced to address a specific (research-based) need:

 

Content-area reading needs strengthening. Students struggle when reading texts in content areas, especially in science, where only 24% of students are able to work with science materials at a level that would make them college and career ready. To help all students achieve sufficient literacy skills in history/social studies and in science and technical subjects, as well as in English language arts, states must ensure that teachers in these subject areas use their unique content knowledge to foster students’ ability to read, write, and communicate in the various disciplines.

 

Specifically, English language arts teachers in middle and upper grades should incorporate a particular type of informational text—literary nonfiction—into the traditional curriculum of stories, dramas, and poems.

 

http://www.act.org/c...f/FirstLook.pdf

 

Jackie

[VeritasMama]

 

I don't understand what you're saying.

 

Did you read the NYT article I linked to?

 

"Narrative nonfiction" is just another name for what everyone around here calls "living books." I mean, really, how many times do people here say, "here's a great living math book! Or ask, "how do I teach science using more living books?"

 

A good part of any good book-based curriculum is already nonfiction (supposing, of course, that one does not fall into the trap of relying heavily on historical fiction, which, *ahem*, does not count as living books).

 

Narrative nonfiction is the new mode of Intellectual Inquiry. I quite enjoy reading books like Omnivore's Dilemma and I wish I had received some training in that genre myself. And no, not even all my college comp classes on how to write a research paper give me the specific set of skills to write a book like that. So I wouldn't expect reading Shakespeare to teach me that either.

 

Did you read my post? I am not talking about "living books." I am a classical/CM educator, I can tell the difference between narrative non-fiction and "living math books" and "living science books" and technical writing or academic writing. If you happen to look at a "great books curriculum", you will notice that many of the so called "great books" are non-fiction themselves. It is not just literature, it includes historical documents, essays, speeches, etc.

 

I did not read the article, I am giving the anecdotal accounts I've heard from teachers in my area. The type of technical reading they are talking about introducing in this district is not narrative non-fiction, it has nothing to do with "living books." It has to do with technical writing, as in reading academic journals, studies and reports, scientific studies, etc. It is specifically designed to develop comprehension skills for this type of material, in order to get students ready for the "workforce" where they will have to read this type of material. I have no problem with this either, I did plenty of this type of reading in college, so long as it does not mean that the exposure to the so called "great books" will be diminished.

 

My point is that if you are reading the great books, you should have no problem reading a quarterly report once you get into the workforce. Your reading comprehension skills should translate to technical writing as well.

 

I have no problem with well written non-fiction, that is not what the teachers I have been talking to are complaining about. I'm sure every school district will be implementing things differently, so I can really only speak to my specific area.

[snowbeltmom]

I have no idea what changes my district is implementing, but in order for the teachers to have time to work on meeting the CC requirements, the students in my district now start school 30 minutes later (they are still dismissed at the same time as prior years) so the teachers have time in their day to work on the administrative issues.

 

I am happy to be homeschooling.

[Arcadia]

I have no idea what changes my district is implementing, but in order for the teachers to have time to work on meeting the CC requirements, the students in my district now start school 30 minutes later (they are still dismissed at the same time as prior years) so the teachers have time in their day to work on the administrative issues.

 

Aren't there teacher in-service days as well as the week before school re-open and the week after school close for that? I would be annoyed as 45% of my property tax goes to the school district.

[Arcadia]

Just realised for California, the standardised tests are going to be partially Computer Adaptive Tests. Wondering what is going to happen if kids purposely get the first few questions wrong or some kids that need to "warm up" for testing.

 

Preliminary Test Blueprints link (Nov 28, 2012)

[Roadrunner]

 

 

It is an add on, not a take away. You can look at the recommended reading list here which goes up to 11th grade here (http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_B.pdf). The sample performance tasks for each grade level is in the same PDF.

 

ETA:

 

PDF linked is same as PP's linked reading list.

 

Love the list!!! If this is what lit classes will look like, it's great. Gives me so much hope.

 

[SarahW]

 

Did you read my post? I am not talking about "living books." I am a classical/CM educator, I can tell the difference between narrative non-fiction and "living math books" and "living science books" and technical writing or academic writing. If you happen to look at a "great books curriculum", you will notice that many of the so called "great books" are non-fiction themselves. It is not just literature, it includes historical documents, essays, speeches, etc.

 

I did not read the article, I am giving the anecdotal accounts I've heard from teachers in my area. The type of technical reading they are talking about introducing in this district is not narrative non-fiction, it has nothing to do with "living books." It has to do with technical writing, as in reading academic journals, studies and reports, scientific studies, etc. It is specifically designed to develop comprehension skills for this type of material, in order to get students ready for the "workforce" where they will have to read this type of material. I have no problem with this either, I did plenty of this type of reading in college, so long as it does not mean that the exposure to the so called "great books" will be diminished.

 

My point is that if you are reading the great books, you should have no problem reading a quarterly report once you get into the workforce. Your reading comprehension skills should translate to technical writing as well.

 

I have no problem with well written non-fiction, that is not what the teachers I have been talking to are complaining about. I'm sure every school district will be implementing things differently, so I can really only speak to my specific area.

 

 

I have no idea what educators in your area or doing, or even if what they are doing is because of CC specifically.

 

My point is that if you read the article from the NYT you would know what, exactly, the creator of CC means by introducing more nonfiction into the school curriculum.

[boscopup]

I noted that Alabama & Indiana are trying to repeal their adoption? Anyone in either of those two states want to comment?

 

I thought about this thread this morning while driving out of town and having plenty of time to listen to the radio. :D The local talk show host was discussing CCS and had on a school board member and some other folks. The school board member talked about one school in Madison (suburb of Huntsville - fairly affluent area with pockets of low-income) where the 6th grade class has about 120 students. At the beginning of the year, 52 (IIRC) students were below grade level in math. They had adopted the CCS for math, and after just one semester, only 10 students are below grade level in math. The woman mentioned that the teachers were happy because they had more freedom to be creative in their classrooms. I thought that was really interesting. To have that big a jump just from changing the way they teach math! I don't know what they were using before or what they're using now, but that is a significant jump. She said there were a few transplants in that group, but most of the kids had been in that school for years, had siblings who had been in that school, etc. So it was very clearly the method of teaching that made that change.

 

She also talked about what happens if we repeal CCS. They do new textbooks on a 3 year cycle. If they drop CCS, they have to come up with new standards. That takes about 3 years, and the previous 3 year cycle comes up this year. :tongue_smilie: (though personally, I wonder why they can't use textbooks for most subjects longer than 3 years... I understand things like science change, but math and grammar and reading and such haven't changed in a long time)

 

So far, the teachers, superintendents, etc. seem to be pro-CCS. While usually, if the AEA (teacher's union here) is pro-something, I end up being against it :lol:, this time I actually think the CCS is a better idea. Or at least follow the CCS while not committing to it (if that's possible?). I'm not sure why they can't use CCS as their standards, but just not sign any documents locking themselves in. But I don't know anything about how this stuff works, and really, I don't care. I'm a homeschooler. These standards don't affect me. The only requirement I have to meet is to be registered with a cover school and report to that cover school any days absent. Some cover schools even have graduation requirements that are LESS than that of the state of Alabama (which boggles my mind - those kids can't even get into the community college with those lesser requirements!).

 

I don't really know much about what is changing in my local schools (I'm further out from Huntsville, in a rural area). My local elementary school is now using Go Math, but again, I don't know what they were using before. I also don't know how well it's going there. That school was previously a failing school, but I think they've turned it around a bit the last couple years. Of course, they're closing at the end of this year, so I guess that won't matter. :tongue_smilie:

[Momling]

Because of the common core standards, our local district had to change from TERC Investigations math to something more rigorous. TERC was a major reason for our homeschooling, so I'm really happy for the common core!