candikane Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I keep reading about Colleges requiring in future for their prospective students to be Common Core aligned, what do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Well, you might want to post on the High School board for pre-college thoughts ... Are you specifically concerned about the college ap problem? In our case, aligning with CC is impossible (though the charter school would love it) because of my curricular choices, however, our plan should exceed Common Core standards in the end. ETA: it also depends on the colleges you will be looking at. I expect that the higher-tier the college, the less Common Core will matter, not least because the feeder prep schools won't be changing to accommodate the CC. Just my thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Nope. :gnorsi: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 No. I highly doubt any college cares about this. The private high school we are considering does not follow the Common Core. 99% of the students go on to college, including several top-tier ones. As an aside, one of the authors of the Common Core has even admitted that the CC is not actually college prep in that the math standards do not go high enough (only part-way through algebra 2 and trig). The SAT will be "aligned" to the Common Core starting in 2016. However, from the details released just yesterday, I honestly don't see that an official "Common Core" high school curriculum is necessary to do well on that test. We'll see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My3girls Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 This has had me thinking lately, too. I don't think private schools will bend to the Common Core. In the end, I think CC will create a bigger chasm between the haves and have nots than already exists. As a homeschooler, I fully anticipate that my children will exceed the common core so should not have an issue getting into the school of their choice. watch www.commoncoremovie.com It addresses some of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustEm Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 nope, not following it at all! I'm doing what I feel my children will need to succeed. It will likely be more than the minimums the CC requires. But my oldest is 5 so by the time he's ready for college there will be some other new standard everyone will be worrying about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syllieann Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 We are using cc aligned math. For language arts, I read through the standards and decided I don't need to worry about it because it is so far below what we are doing. Since the content standards are basically nonexistent, well, um...I guess we will exceed that pretty easily as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Not sure how to answer this accurately. I guess this depends on how you look at it. DS just switched over to using Math In Focus. His first text, for the first half of the material (and ordered used on Amazon), was not labeled Common Core, and was published in 2009. The second half of the year's textbook, also ordered used on Amazon, WAS labeled Common Core on the front of the textbook. I hadn't thought to even check this when ordering from two different sources. Worried that they would not match properly and the brand new workbooks I had ordered, that turned out to be labeled Common Core (none of this readily apparent at the time of ordering), would not match the non-common core textbook for the first half of the school year, I then ordered another student textbook (for a penny) that was not labeled Common Core for the second half of the school year and compared the Non common core version with the Common Core version. They are identical. So, yes, we are using Common Core. And no we are not using Common Core. We did not actively choose to be using Common Core. I am just buying the cheapest version of each textbook and if it has the CC label, so be it. The texts seem completely identical. All that was added was a "Common Core" logo on the most recently published version. This is probably not true for all curriculum but it was for ours.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 No, we aren't. On principle, I stay as far away as possible from anything explicitly aligned, even if it means leaving a program I had used, but that decided to change to align to common core. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 All sorts of programs claim to be aligned with Common Core. Arguably the most rigorous math program for elementary school, Beast Academy, is aligned with CC. SM isn't. I think materials of varying quality will be labelled CC and one needs to really evaluate them on individual basis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 As someone upthread mentioned, the old Math in Focus is identical to the aligned math in focus. We use un-aligned texts with aligned workbooks. They match perfectly. I believe they did add an adendum type thing to the end of the aligned texts with a few topics. Those topics aren't in the aligned workbooks. So our math is common core aligned, sort of. I guess mostly it already met the criteria. It's a great program, and I'm sticking with it. I don't try to align anything to common core. Beyond that, I believe it is a dying thing anyway. Our state is already out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candikane Posted April 18, 2014 Author Share Posted April 18, 2014 You guys have put my mind at ease, thank you :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 All sorts of programs claim to be aligned with Common Core. Arguably the most rigorous math program for elementary school, Beast Academy, is aligned with CC. SM isn't. Singapore's secondary math program (Discovering Mathematics) is CC aligned. We used the old version of 1A and the new CC version of 7B and the rigor is the same in both. The only thing that happened is that the S&S got tweaked to add some probability & statistics and to move some algebra topics down from 9th grade to 8th grade. Singapore Primary Math CA Standards ed. is ahead of CC and that was one reason the new version (which is not yet available to the public) got rejected by the CA State Board of Ed. (because students "wouldn't spend the majority of their time on grade-level standards"). I'm still planning on finishing out PM with my younger kids. In terms of English, I probably will be incorporating more non-fiction into oldest DD's reading list. Things like famous historical speeches, essays, and excerpts from historically important scientific texts. That should keep our charter happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I am neither following nor not following it. I am not concerned about it either way. I use what I use. But, as someone suggested, it might have more meaning to me if I were teaching a high school student. I am paying more attention to the changes in the SATs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I'm ignoring it. There is no one validating whether things that claim to be CC aligned really are, anyway--let alone whether they're good. I'll use whatever looks good to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Nope. I don't see why colleges would care about CC. I'm giving my kids a college prep education. With that education, they should be able to pass the SAT and ACT just as before. I wasn't following my state's standards prior to CC either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Nope, I'm definitely not doing it. I use a few things that are incidentally aligned, but most of the resources we use have nothing to do with CC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 For people that care one way or another, here is a good comprehensive list of which are aligned and which are not. (Don Potter and I are independent, we are aligned to Webster, LOL!). That did not make the notes, BTW, I claimed to be aligned to Webster's 1800s and eary 1900's standards. http://www.hsroadmap.org/common-core-project/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 My husband works in education, so we heard about CC quite awhile ago. After looking into it, it would be VERY hard NOT to follow the CC. The ideas presented are the most basic of concepts. If fact there are even apps which tell you exactly what aligns if you provide keywords like "addition." It requires almost nothing of me to CC a course for my son. I just CC the tests and assignments which go in his portfolio. Total time for each is less than five minutes. At that point, why not jump through the hoop? In the end, CC is not taking anything away from our homeschooling. It is taking quite a bit away from public schools because everything is shifting over to testing and meeting the needs of the lowest kid in the class at the expense of every other child. We do not have that in our homeschool. We can have art, science, music, and fun along with the CC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lang Syne Boardie Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I am not. Why would I use their system if I don't want the results they're looking for?I opted out of educational fads and shifting winds of school doctrine when I decided to teach my own children at home. Traditional and classical methods have always produced capable, informed, and moral people in the west, so I hitched our wagon to that star.If my children can't pass the test or join the conversation or get the job simply because they didn't learn to frame their answers and arguments the Common Core way (which I don't even anticipate; I think hs'ers will still be top scorers on tests), they will still have the favor of God and man if they can frame their answers and arguments according to reason and truth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I am not. Why would I use their system if I don't want the results they're looking for? I opted out of educational fads and shifting winds of school doctrine when I decided to teach my own children at home. Traditional and classical methods have always produced capable, informed, and moral people in the west, so I hitched our wagon to that star. If my children can't pass the test or join the conversation or get the job simply because they didn't learn to frame their answers and arguments the Common Core way (which I don't even anticipate; I think hs'ers will still be top scorers on tests), they will still have the favor of God and man if they can frame their answers and arguments according to reason and truth. I am asking this completely honestly, and do not mean any disrespect or to be rude. I really just do not understand this line of thought. What do you mean by framing their answers and arguments in the Common Core way? I have yet to see anything which asks students to frame their answers. Questions are asked about conceptual understanding, but not that I have seen which desire an answer to be shifted or framed in a specific fashion. As far as I have seen the exact wording of the answers is designed to promote reasoning since it is conceptual understanding. I could have totally missed something, since I hear/see this mentioned quite frequently. Nor do I completely trust the Fed from not slanting quite a lot in a specific direction. Secondly, I do not understand how the Common Core deviates in any way from the Traditonal or Classical methodology? In no way have I witnessed the Common Core aligning to any methodology. Schools are. They are totally shifting, IMO in a very negative way, but that is not the fault of Common Core. That is a district wide decision about implementation and has nothing to do with the standards. I can uphold the Common Core without doing a single thing that a public school does. I know of Common Core homeschools that are Waldorf, school-at-home, classical, unschooling, traditional, and project based. They are all teaching differently, but because they are producing capable, knowledgeable students the Common Core was rather easy to implement. The kids don't even know it. Parents just add a byline in their lesson plans or portfolios at the bottom. It doesn't change anything. Again, I have heard this complaint quite a bit, and I just do not understand it. I want to make sure I am not missing something completely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lang Syne Boardie Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I am asking this completely honestly, and do not mean any disrespect or to be rude. I really just do not understand this line of thought. What do you mean by framing their answers and arguments in the Common Core way? I have yet to see anything which asks students to frame their answers. Questions are asked about conceptual understanding, but not that I have seen which desire an answer to be shifted or framed in a specific fashion. As far as I have seen the exact wording of the answers is designed to promote reasoning since it is conceptual understanding. I could have totally missed something, since I hear/see this mentioned quite frequently. Nor do I completely trust the Fed from not slanting quite a lot in a specific direction. Secondly, I do not understand how the Common Core deviates in any way from the Traditonal or Classical methodology? In no way have I witnessed the Common Core aligning to any methodology. Schools are. They are totally shifting, IMO in a very negative way, but that is not the fault of Common Core. That is a district wide decision about implementation and has nothing to do with the standards. I can uphold the Common Core without doing a single thing that a public school does. I know of Common Core homeschools that are Waldorf, school-at-home, classical, unschooling, traditional, and project based. They are all teaching differently, but because they are producing capable, knowledgeable students the Common Core was rather easy to implement. The kids don't even know it. Parents just add a byline in their lesson plans or portfolios at the bottom. It doesn't change anything. Again, I have heard this complaint quite a bit, and I just do not understand it. I want to make sure I am not missing something completely. I'm sorry, I don't have time to find all the links and discussions so I'll have to just give you the perception I'm operating under: I don't believe the problem lies in the implementation. I think bad standards lead to bad implementation. I am not willing to teach to some of the standards in math and English, and from what I've seen of the proposed social studies standards I will have some objections there, I'm sure. Again, I apologize that I don't really have time to haul out all the research that I have done that has led me to my conclusions about the non-classical approach embodied in Common Core...if you haven't seen it I'm not here to convince you. I'm sorry for failing to make my point more clearly: I think that Common Core is nothing more than today's ed fad "flash in the pan," and to me, traditional and classical home education can weather any fads and puts our kids on far more solid ground in the long run. Concerning the bolded in your post: A frequent topic in Common Core discussions is the supposed fact that homeschoolers are bound to it because the tests will be based upon Common Core standards. What I was saying is that people may be concerned about the ability of kids to endure tests based on different methodology and expectations than they're used to, but I'm not concerned about that, personally. I think tried-and-true classical education will prepare students to figure out what they're being asked or what the test "wants" and work around differences. Time will tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berta Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 NO. If something says it is aligned to Common Core I won't buy it. If I wanted my daughter to be common, I'd send her to PS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 My husband works in education, so we heard about CC quite awhile ago. After looking into it, it would be VERY hard NOT to follow the CC. The ideas presented are the most basic of concepts. If fact there are even apps which tell you exactly what aligns if you provide keywords like "addition." It requires almost nothing of me to CC a course for my son. I just CC the tests and assignments which go in his portfolio. Total time for each is less than five minutes. At that point, why not jump through the hoop? In the end, CC is not taking anything away from our homeschooling. It is taking quite a bit away from public schools because everything is shifting over to testing and meeting the needs of the lowest kid in the class at the expense of every other child. We do not have that in our homeschool. We can have art, science, music, and fun along with the CC. If it were that easy for me to align to common core, I would. However it isn't. For instance, this year A's writing programs (WWE and Classical Writing) do not include: reports or multi-paragraph writing. His reading does not align nicely to common core at all. However, I am unwilling to add to his workload (I ordered Evan-Moor CC prep materials to look them over) because the child is carrying a heavy workload: WWE, CW, FLL, MCT Island level, spelling, handwriting, AO content for reading, History Odyssey, REAL Science Odyssey chemistry + AO science reading, Spanish and Latin, classical piano, drawing, artist and composer study, poetry memorization and poetry reading. (we do not do all of this every week) Also his math does not align. He is in third grade and we are rotating AoPS introductory level materials: Intro Algebra, Intro Number Theory, Intro Counting & Probability. I would have to add Geometry to have any hope of aligning but, again, I am not willing to do that right now. just saying that it isn't that easy for me to align -- though I do spend the 5 minutes to try before we submit our paperwork and do our best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Targhee Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 I keep reading about Colleges requiring in future for their prospective students to be Common Core aligned, what do you think? Interesting choice of words - "prospective students to be Common Core aligned." I am not suggesting this was your intent, but this sound like the student is a consumer product that has to meet federal regulations before being released to market. I am not following common core intentionally. I think our school work likely exceeds many points of the core, but there are some asinine points that I don't care about meeting anyway. I honestly think CC is going to crash an burn within 5 years like most educational reforms, and there will be some other standard d'jour. Also, many colleges and universities are looking for students who stand out, rather than fit the mold. If the college is deeply dependent on uniformity for their selection process then it will not be the college for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 If it were that easy for me to align to common core, I would. However it isn't. Also his math does not align. He is in third grade and we are rotating AoPS introductory level materials: Intro Algebra, Intro Number Theory, Intro Counting & Probability. I would have to add Geometry to have any hope of aligning but, again, I am not willing to do that right now. just saying that it isn't that easy for me to align -- though I do spend the 5 minutes to try before we submit our paperwork and do our best. We have not had this experience with AoPS. My son (4th Grade) is currently working with PreAlgebra and Intro to Problem Solving. Since they are high school books, they align with the high school common core. Algebra aligns with the high school Algebra standards and the high school Functions standards Number Theory aligns with the high school Number and Quantity standards Counting and Probability aligns a bit with Number and Quantity but also with Statistics and Probability standards. Your student sounds like they fall into the provision of "The Standards do not define the nature of advanced work for students who meet the Standards prior to the end of high school." Under this provision students are merely required to "In mathematics, the standards lay a solid foundation in: Whole numbers Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division Fractions Decimals Taken together, these elements support a student's ability to learn and apply more demanding math concepts and procedures." This free app provides a search function which will give you all the standards for keyword so they can be listed quickly and efficiently without having to pour through list after list, website after website. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/common-core-standards/id439424555?mt=8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 In terms of English, I probably will be incorporating more non-fiction into oldest DD's reading list. Things like famous historical speeches, essays, and excerpts from historically important scientific texts. That should keep our charter happy. I will do the same eventually, only I won't take it out of English. I will add it to science and history and keep English literature heavy. Does your charter allow AOPS? We are schooling independently this year, but thinking about joining a charter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 I spent an afternoon reading the common core standards and taking a few notes. I quickly realized that we already do the things listed there. The standards aren't very strenuous in themselves. Have you read them? They're not that big of a deal. So, yes my kids will be aligned with common core because the standards are pretty basic and easy to meet. We naturally meet those standards in what we are already doing. P.S. I just realized--for some of the standards, we will not always be meeting them in the same year that CC would have them met. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. When I answered your question I was thinking ahead to the end of 12th grade. At the end of 12th grade, we will most certainly have met all the standards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Not that I'm at all speaking to the fact you posted this link, but frankly I'd rather spend the time reading my kids a good book than reading that pile of boring. LOL I am amazed that she e-mailed 2,000 people/companies to get that kind of boring! I can barely reply to my immediate family and a few friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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