Expert answer:Critical Analysis Worksheet, philosophy homework h
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Critical Analysis Worksheet
Critical Analysis Worksheet
Read “Common Core” and “The Lost Opportunity of the Common Core Standards.”
Perform a critical analysis of each reading using critical thinking techniques from this week’s readings.
Respond to the following based on your critical thinking analysis of the “Common Core” and “The Lost
Opportunity of the Common Core State Standards” readings.
1) Define the term conclusion.
2) What is the conclusion of each article?
3) Define the term premises.
4) What premises support the conclusions in each article?
5) How convincing is the conclusion of each article? Explain your answer.
6) Define the term biases.
7) What biases did you observe in each article? Why do you think they are biases?
8) What might be the sources of the biases in each article?
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Critical Analysis Worksheet
References
Sell, M. (2013). Common core. McClatchy – Tribune Business News [Washington].
Retrieved Fromhttp://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com
/docview/1437642584?accountid=35812
Wellner, K.G. (2014). The lost opportunity of the common core state standards. Phi Delta Kappan, 95(7),
39-41.Retrieved From http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/rousseau/the-battle-against-common-corestandards
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Table of contents
1. Common Core…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
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Common Core
Author: Sell, Mary
ProQuest document link
Abstract: Common Core was developed by the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State
School Officers. Control, choices in debate State school board member Mary Scott Hunter was not on the board
when the standards were adopted, but she has been a vocal proponent of Common Core.
Links: Linking Service
Full text: Sept. 29–MONTGOMERY — It is called Common Core. Yet despite the name, there is little common
ground between those on opposite sides of the debate about Alabama’s new education standards.
The national benchmarks, designed to ensure Alabama students are learning the same concepts in the same
grades as students anywhere else in the country, were adopted by the state’s elected Board of Education in
2010.
Since that time, and with increasing frequency, board members and state Superintendent Tommy Bice have
had to defend the standards from those who say anything to do with Common Core amounts to a federal
takeover of schools and is not good for students.
Implementation of the math standards started last year. English begins this year.
Alabama Board of Education member Charles Elliott, R-Decatur, said he has heard nothing but good things
from educators in his district about Common Core.
“Everyone’s said they were an improvement, and even in the some of the best schools, they were going to have
to do a better job of teaching students,” said Elliott, who does not plan to seek re-election in 2014. “I’ve spoken
with a majority of the superintendents in the 6th District, and they’ve said we can’t go back. They say if we were
forced to generate our own standards, we would seek out these Common Core standards.”
But opponents, including many tea party organizations, continue to demand change. Some lawmakers are
listening. Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, promises to introduce a bill next year to repeal Common Core.
“It’s an unproven curriculum,” Beason said. “They can’t point to anywhere in the world that it’s been successful.
You wouldn’t buy an electronic device no one had tried. Why would you buy an education system that no one’s
tested?”
He disagrees with educators who say there still is local control of curriculum.
“If we’re still in such control, why don’t they just get out of it?” Beason said. “Why don’t they just take the parts
they like and get out of it?”
Elliott said a lot of misinformation about Common Core continues to be circulated, and he’ll continue to listen to
educators.
“With all due respect to the tea party, they are really good Americans, but am I going to listen to teachers and
principals or am I going to listen to the tea party?” he said.
Here’s a look at Common Core in Alabama.
Common Core history
The state Board of Education, including then-Gov. Bob Riley, approved the adoption of Common Core State
Standards along with selected Alabama standards in November 2010. They were not referred to as Common
Core, though. Instead, they were approved under the name “Alabama College and Career Ready Initiative.”
In its literature, the U.S. Department of Education tries to make clear the standards always have been a stateled effort. It states the federal government did not play a role in the development of the standards, and it is not
playing a role in implementation. It also is careful not to call the standards a curriculum. Curriculum still is up to
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local districts.
Common Core was developed by the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School
Officers. Some federal grant money has been tied to it, but Alabama hasn’t received federal money related to
the standards.
Yet, federal influence in local schools is high on opponents’ list of things they dislike about Common Core.
“I am opposed to federal control of our education system,” Gov. Robert Bentley said last week. “I’m opposed to
Common Core because of the potential for federal intrusion. We want the absolute highest standards for
Alabama, and I believe we can do this. I believe Alabama should set our own high standards, without intrusion
from the federal government.”
Bentley was governor-elect when the board voted on Common Core, and he asked it to wait until he could have
a say. Board members chose to proceed before the new governor took office.
Control, choices in debate
State school board member Mary Scott Hunter was not on the board when the standards were adopted, but she
has been a vocal proponent of Common Core.
“The Alabama standards define what students should know at each grade level, and they are more rigorous and
focused than our previous standards,” said Hunter, a Huntsville Republican. “The federal government does not
govern or control the Alabama standards. Under the Alabama standards, curriculum, textbooks and required
reading are determined at the local school district level, as they always have been.”
Opponents want standards that are 100 percent made in Alabama.
“Instead of subjecting students to this giant experiment, let’s write our own standards that are superior to
Common Core,” said Elois Zeanah, president of the Alabama Federation of Republican Women. “You’re going
to hear from people who want to force Common Core on schools and students say these are Alabama
standards, not Common Core. That is disingenuous. Alabama did not write Common Core. It is copyrighted by
outside organizations.”
The standards weren’t birthed here, but they were modified here, Bice said.
“If we go back to facts, stay with facts, which I’ve done all along, we had a group of Alabama teachers and
Alabama administrators look at the Common Core and look at our current standards,” Bice said.
He said the group assembled the best standards from each and brought them to the state school board.
One of the things Elliott said he hears often about Common Core is that it takes away schools’ choice in what
they put in front of their students and the message it tries to impart.
“I’ve had people tell me that schools are going to use “Three Little Pigs” to teach socialism,” Elliott said. “I said,
‘You’re killing me.’ ”
Local school systems are still deciding how students will be taught and from what materials. There are no
mandated textbooks or reading lists, but there is a list of national “exemplars.”
What has changed?
Jeremy Zelkowski is a high school math teacher turned professor at the University of Alabama. Recently, he
and two other professors have been reviewing the new standards with high school teachers in several west
Alabama school systems.
“The difference is there is a higher level of expectation,” Zelkowski said. “That’s really what Common Core
does: It raises expectations. The old course of study only expected student understanding at a basic skills level.
The new course of study expects students to be at a proficient skills level and have a deeper understanding of
the curriculum.”
Students can’t get by with just retaining information long enough to regurgitate it on an exam, proponents said.
“In the previous way, they could know enough to pass the test and move on, but not take any real knowledge
with them,” Zelkowski said.
That could, in part, explain why 36 percent of Alabama public high school graduates in 2012 needed remedial
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math and/or English courses when they got to college.
“They’ve learned little at the high school level,” he said.
Zelkowski agrees education in the U.S. and Alabama has improved in the past 20 years without Common Core,
but “just not at a rate that would make us internationally competitive.”
Beason said that’s not the fault of the state’s previous benchmarks.
“Our problem is not that we didn’t have standards. The problem is that we didn’t have a focus on meeting our
standards,” Beason said.
Reaction elsewhere
Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have adopted Common Core standards. But many are having the
same fight that is playing out in Alabama. Some recent examples reported by the Associated Press include:
–Last week, Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Legislature responded to pressure from tea party conservatives
who have called for a “full and immediate investigation” into the standards. Gov. Scott Walker said he supports
holding hearings and identifying more rigorous standards than those in Common Core.
–Similarly, in Florida, Republican Gov. Rick Scott said he wants the standards studied further, and his state will
not participate in national testing related to Common Core.
–In Louisiana last week, a Republican lawmaker urged the governor to pull the state out of Common Core
participation or he’d have a bill next year to do so.
–Earlier this month, lawmakers in Tennessee held a hearing to listen to concerns about the standards and
hinted to legislation changing that state’s use of them in 2014.
–In Michigan on Thursday, the state House voted to move forward with the standards, which are backed by the
Republican governor and the business community.
Common Core’s cost
The state Department of Education doesn’t have a total price tag for putting the Alabama Career and College
Ready Initiative in every classroom in the state.
A 2012 chart shows the development of the standards cost less than previous years’ standards: $128,000
compared to $228,000 for the English standards.
The Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based think tank, said in 2012 that Common Core would cost all 45 states about
$15.8 billion during seven years. A large chunk of that came from technology improvements and professional
development.
But Sen. Dick Brewbaker, chairman of the Senate education policy committee who opposed Common Core in
the 2013 legislation session, said he hasn’t seen any cost estimates he trusts enough to repeat.
It’s hard to determine whether money used for technology or textbooks related to Common Core would be used
for new technology or textbooks under a different course of study.
Info gathering, sharing
Next month, the state board will vote on a student data privacy policy that states, among other things, “no
personally identifiable individual student data is shared in either state or federally required reporting.”
Privacy issues have been a major point of contention in Common Core. Earlier this year, at least seven states
were sharing student data — including names, dates of birth and sometimes Social Security numbers — with
third parties.
That’s not happening, and won’t happen, in Alabama, Bice said. He added nothing about student data collection
has changed since 2010.
Zelkowski said data gathering, especially on students’ performances, has been going on for decades.
“We’ve been doing that since the ’70s,” he said. “That exists. I’ve analyzed that information. You don’t see
names; you see 12-digit numbers.”
Testing options
Two different groups are developing standardized tests to go along with Common Core. The Washington Post
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has reported $360 million in federal money is being spent on the tests.
While some states have signed on for the testing, Alabama did not. It won’t be doing additional testing related to
the standards, officials said. The state, however, will use new Common Core-aligned tests from ACT Inc. to
assess students.
Poppycock or good business?
Leaders at Redstone Arsenal have asked the state to keep the standards, saying they ensure military families
they won’t have to deal with varying standards and expectations if they move to Alabama. They add the
standards will help them attract the best possible workforce.
Business advocates, including the Business Council of Alabama, have said the standards make the state more
attractive to prospective employers.
Beason and other opponents quickly dismiss that argument.
“That’s poppycock and they know it,” Beason said. “People who want to do business in your state care that you
have an educated workforce, and we’ve done very well at recruiting business the last 20 years.”
Mary Sell covers state government for The Decatur Daily. She can be reached at msell@decaturdaily.com.
Credit: The Decatur Daily, Ala.
Subject: School boards; Education; Core curriculum; Governors;
Location: Alabama
Publication title: McClatchy – Tribune Business News
Publication year: 2013
Publication date: Sep 29, 2013
Publisher: Tribune Content Agency LLC
Place of publication: Washington
Country of publication: United States
Publication subject: Business And Economics
Source type: Wire Feeds
Language of publication: English
Document type: News
ProQuest document ID: 1437642584
Document URL: http://search.proquest.com/docview/1437642584?accountid=35812
Copyright: _(c)2013 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.) Visit The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.) at
www.decaturdaily.com Distributed by MCT Information Services
Last updated: 2013-09-30
Database: ProQuest Central
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