EDUCATION - Rebellion Against Common Core Tests

COMMENT:  The real problem with Common Core testing is HOW they are applied.  The results are linked to school funding, a VERY BIG mistake.  They should be used only so individual schools can compare how their school is doing state and nation wide.  School funding should have noting to do with it.

The other thing wrong is schools teaching to the test.  That makes the results of the test misleading if not false.  The test should be evaluating the NORMAL day to day education of students.

"Why some students are refusing to take the Common Core test" PBS NewsHour 3/11/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Rebellion is brewing against the Common Core educational standards. Testing for the new standards began in March, and some students have refused to take part.  Special correspondent for education John Merrow reports from New Jersey, where he talks to Common Core critics and supporters.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Testing for the Common Core learning standards in U.S. public schools began earlier this month.  And just as a rebellion is brewing against the Common Core, there are now protests building against the national tests associated with them.

Reports of students refusing to take the tests are coming in daily, and if those numbers keep building, it could endanger the goals of the standards themselves.

Our special correspondent for education, John Merrow, has the story from New Jersey.

STUDENT:  We’re live.  We’re live.

JOHN MERROW (NewsHour):  Something big is happening in New Jersey, and it’s being broadcast on YouTube.

STUDENT:  If you’re, like, following us on Twitter or Instagram, make sure you use the hashtag #OccupyNPS.

JOHN MERROW:  In Newark, high school students occupied the superintendent’s office for three days, one of their issues, the Common Core test.

STUDENT:  This is a pretty big deal.  We’re taking back our district.

TANAISA BROWN, Newark Students Union:  Politicians actually get very nervous when they see how many people are against one thing.  They have money power.  They have political power, but we have people power.