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Under the BusTwo thirds of our Alaskan K-12 students are now
thrown under the bus by the
State school system which is attempting to incorporate the
Alaska State Standards (AKCC Alaska Common Core).
Clear data shows that: One third of our current 9th graders will
not finish high school in four years.
A few will become fifth year graduates. The rest will drop out
for good. A few of those dropouts will later attain a GED. Most
will be stigmatized for the rest of their lives. Extremely few if
any of these students will later attempt a 2 year, 4 year or
certificate program.
One third of our 9th graders will finish high school and move on
to nonacademic ventures. A few of these students will change their
minds later and attempt a 2 year, 4 year or certificate
program.
One third of our current 9th graders will immediately attempt a
two year, four year or certificate program. AKCC are, by their own
declaration, designed for this minority group of students, the
college/career/tech bound. 23% of those heading towards a four year
program will finish. No data exists for the others.
From 6th grade onward, most AKCC have little or no real life
application for the
large majority of students who are going on to become retail
employees, construction workers, fishermen, radio talk-show hosts,
small business owners, food service workers, airline support
personnel, oil field workers etc.
AKCC are aligned to the world view of upper level educators and
social engineers.
Throughout this booklet, I will: Plead the case for 2/3 of the
K-12 students whose needs are barely
addressed by the current broken paradigm. I affectionately call
those students the Dis-Served.
Demonstrate why the remaining 1/3, for whom the system is
designed, are also short-changed. I call them the Pseudo-Served, as
the standards claim to serve them, but actually do not.
Expose the multiple errors embedded in the AKCC. Reveal the
dysfunction of the testing system. Expose what children are really
learning in school. Suggest a simple solution that is far easier
than the complexity created by
the AKCC.
A short bio. My passion for this topic has matured during
thirty-five years in Alaskan education, watching students struggle
to find purpose and meaning in
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lessons that have little or no relevance to their lives. I have
taught in extremely small villages, developed curriculum for
decades, have traveled to many schools across the state, and have
formally trained many teachers in making lessons locally/culturally
relevant. I have authored many books, including Village Science,
Village Math, Accelerating Change etc. I have produced videos to
encourage students to get involved in higher level math and
science.
I received a B.Ed. in Cross Cultural Education from UAF in 1979,
and have served in many statewide educational capacities including
the Chairman of the House Education Committee from 2010-2012. In
that position, I watched how the AKCC were forced upon the people
of Alaska. My bill, HB 330 (2012), that called for an intelligent
conversation before their adoption was killed by Juneaus hidden
forces. All this entitles me to an opinion, but a very perceptive
opinion that has never bought into the Broken Paradigm. It is my
fervent hope that the truth will become self evident, and spread
itself across the state.
Two Big Flaws. For millennia, adults have prepared young people
for participation in society. Only recently has that responsibility
been seized from parents and given to educational planners, most of
whom have never made a living in the practical world of
firefighting, building, truck driving, shop tending, tire changing,
janitorial, tourism, store management, medical services etc.
College graduates design the pathway for the majority of
students who have no intention of following in their footsteps. The
pathway of the majority 2/3 of students should be designed by those
already successful on that path.
As a result, two simple flaws in the AKCC stand out. 1) A
preponderance of standards teach knowledge and skills perceived
by
parents and students as irrelevant. 2) The few relevant
standards neglect to demonstrate how to apply them to
real life situations.
Example.8th grade Standard. 8.NS.A.3. Identify or write the
prime factorization of a number
using exponents. Does everyone need prime factorization using
exponents in lifes toolbox? Does anyone? Hardly.
My 8th grade grandson came home for Christmas vacation with
eight pages of math. One of the problems was, Five times your age
plus four is your grandmothers age. How old is your grandmother?
Count the candles on her cake, look at Grandmas ID, or ask Mom. Who
would ever use that math problem to figure their grandmothers age?
You have to know her age in the first place to concoct the problem.
Problems like that as optional entertainment and challenge are
perhaps reasonable. Given as mandatory homework over a supposed
vacation, they are offensive.
Christmas problems involving miles per gallon (for shopping
trips,) dollars per pound (for the meal,) percent discount on Black
Friday, cost of Grandmas plane
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ticket (plus tax) to visit, time-and-a-half holiday pay, and
credit card interest are all meaningful during the holiday
season.
The reason students resist school, drop out, and why even the
successful ones have difficulty, is that a major portion of the
curriculum appears worthless to them. Figuratively speaking,
teachers are tasked with selling sunscreen in Barrow in
January.
I had a conversation about the AKCC with a State Senator. He
likes the AKCC. I asked him why imaginary numbers are among the
High School standards. He looked at me rather shocked and said, as
he walked away, Engineers make really good money.
I have been on this planet sixty-nine years. I have met only two
people in my whole life who use imaginary numbers, both electrical
engineers, who represent 0.1% of the U.S. population.
i squared = -3 is an imaginary number. Complex numbers are
combinations of imaginary and real numbers. Being able to
manipulate complex numbers is one of the standards that EVERY
student in Alaska must encounter under AKCC. How about an imaginary
playmate? That would at least alleviate loneliness.
It is important to note that school aides, teachers, principles
and superintendents are generally not responsible for this
conflict. They are victims along with students and parents. They
are tasked with carrying out that which cannot be well performed:
teaching standards few students are motivated to learn.
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Chapter 2 Clear Case Against the Alaska
Common Core Standards (AKCC) Brief introduction/history. It is
important to note why previous Alaska State
Standards were changed and why adoption of the AKCC was
considered. The Nations shift from norm based education to
standards based education
was fairly complete by the late 90s. Norm based refers to how a
student performs relative to other students in the class or school,
the norm on the Bell Curve. This was a poor way to evaluate student
accomplishment because being surrounded by nerds or lazy people
does not make a student accomplished or a failure.
Standards based refers to how a student performs relative to a
set of standards, not relative to other students in the class.
Either the student masters the task or does not. Standards based
education requires students to demonstrate what they know,
understand, and are able to do. There is nothing inherently wrong
with standards based education, but the standards must be perceived
as meaningful by students to gain their full participation.
Old Alaska Standards. For decades, Alaska standards were created
and modified by committees of professional educators. Math teachers
developed math standards, science teachers developed science,
language teachers developed language. Teachers chosen for those
committees saw themselves as defenders of the domain. I know. I was
on and helped organize many district-wide and statewide curriculum
committees,. The results were often ridiculous compilations that
vacillated from macro to micro in specificity, from useful to
useless in application. Most often, it was quid-pro-quo, Ill let
your pet notion into the standards if you let mine in as well. At
one point, one of the adopted Alaska Science Standards was that
every child should be able to explain the Theory of Relativity. and
who would teach it?
The obvious cure would have been to have end-users in career
destinations vet the standards, but that never happened. Common
Core authors recognized the problems with the previous standards in
all states, and attempted to teach fewer standards, with a greater
emphasis on the process of learning.
The cry for better standards was justified. The result has been
horrific.The following ten reasons beg every sensible Alaskan to
reject the Alaska Common Core Standards (AKCC):
Top Ten1) As stated above, the AKCC are designed for the 1/3
going to college/career/
tech.They do not prepare the majority 2/3 who are entering a
more pragmatic lifestyle. 1/3 of students ride the bus. 2/3 are run
over by the bus.
2) Neither math or language AKCC distinguishes between essential
(necessary) standards and aspirational standards (those to which
teachers hope students would aspire.) This produces confusion on
everyones part.
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3) The Math and Language standards are very different in format
and vernacular. One size fits all dominates both of them. Students
heading for construction get the same fare as students heading for
Harvard.
4) The math standards, by design, are written in a language
totally unreadable by common, everyday people. This preempts
parental involvement.
5) Concept vs computation. Confusion exists regarding the need
to understand a concept vs. the need to do the higher level math
computations involved in that concept.
6) The adoption of AKCC was based on several intentionally false
assertions by DEED. (Department of Education & Early
Development.) Without that deception, AKCC would likely not have
been adopted.
7) The best research in the Nation, published by the Brown
Center for Education at the Brookings Institute in the Feb. 2012
report said the Common Core Standards will make little or no
improvement in student achievement.
8) The AKCC are developmentally inaccurate and inappropriate.
The foundational assumption of the Common Core and AKCC standards
is flawed in a most critical manner, based on the false premise
that moving standards down in grades will challenge and motivate
students. Greater stress, not greater performance is the
result.
9) Control over education has been taken out of the hands of
local people, seized by Nation-shapers and data gatherers far from
local input. Juneau mandated the takeover.
10) AKCC were adopted with no mention of the cost of
implementation. While any Legislative bill involving cost to the
state must have a fiscal note, AKCC were adopted with no revealed
costs. Best estimates are between $100-200 million. That is a lot
of money for a program that the best research in the Nation says
will make no improvement.
A More Detailed Explanation of the Top Ten#1 Under the bus. As
stated above, AKCC do not prepare 2/3 of Alaskan
students for life after graduation. They actually create
dropouts (force-outs) because they do not engage students who need
to see the purpose and application of what they are learning. Those
students intuitively know the educational process exists for
someone other than themselves.
#2 Aspirational standards are standards teachers wish every
child would wish to know. They will not be attained by all
students, not even a majority of students. The AKCC language
standards are wildly aspirational, written perhaps for honors
students in a large high school who are going on to prestigious
colleges. There is scant little for the Dis-Served who are heading
towards a pragmatic lifestyle.
Essential standards are those standards that are very important
for every student to attain. By definition, they are essential.
The AKCC standards are very unclear as to their own nature.
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Are they:1) Lofty goals teachers hope a few gifted students will
attain (aspirational?) 2) Mandatory standards for every child, such
that, if they do not master the standard, they should not pass the
grade or graduate from high school (essential?) 3) A spectrum along
which all students place somewhere? If they are on a
spectrum, accurate assessment becomes a challenge.
The following example for all students makes the point: A-REI.7.
Solve a simple system consisting of a linear equation and a
quadratic equation
in two variables algebraically and graphically. For example,
find the points of intersection between the line y = 3x and the
circle x2 + y2 = 3
That is an aspirational standard! Every child will not
accomplish that standard If the Alaska State School Board or Alaska
State Legislature attempted that problem, most would not be able to
solve it. Yet this is an AKCC essential standard for every
child.
As a math teacher, I know how to solve simultaneous equations
and find the points of intersection of a line and a circle, but am
absolutely stymied trying to think of one real life example for the
above, even for the upper 1/3 going to a two or four year degree
program.
If 2/3 of our students do not succeed on this and similar
standards does that mean they are ill prepared for life?
Hardly.
AKCC were adopted, then DEED, behind closed doors, made private
decisions and has now identified the standards most often tested.
This secretive in-house rulership over the process omitted public
input.
In reality, the AKCC math and language standards are the
comprehensive compilation of absolutely everything a college bound
whiz kid should know when entering MIT, Cal Tech, or Princeton.
They are exhaustively thorough.
The crumbs that fall off the table of the college bound are not
appropriate for the 2/3 majority of our students, the Dis-Served.
Those students will become the heart, the essence of our
communities and economic system. They must be adequately prepared
for adulthood by learning meaningful life skills. Suggestions are
on pp. 27-29.
3) Consistency. The math and language standards are very
different from each other in vernacular, organization, and format.
They appear to have been created on different planets. At the same
time, the standards are inconsistent in specificity. This math
standard is quite specific
4.MD.A.4 Solve real world problems involving elapsed time
between time zones(including Alaska Standard time.) (L)
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This standard appears to be an afterthought inserted to persuade
readers that the standards have been Alaskanized. Some standards
are very broad, like this one:
Grade 3, Research to Build & Present writing. Write
routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection
and revision) and shorter time frames (a single setting, or day or
two) for a range of tasks, purposes and audiences. Some standards
tell teachers how to teach. In the following, the teacher must
use tiling to teach computation of area. Note that this standard
is for third grade!
3MD.9 c. Use area models (rectangular arrays) to represent the
distributive property inmathematical reasoning. Use tiling to show
in a concrete case that the area of a rectangle with whole-number
side lengths a and b + c is the sum of a b and a .
4) Unreadable Language. Very few people have read the math
standards. An even smaller percentage of those who have read them
can tell you what they mean. The individual words can be
pronounced, but are baffling in context.
4.OA.A.2 (Fourth grade) Multiply or divide to solve word
problems involving multiplicative comparison (e.g. by using
drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to
represent the problem or missing numbers in an array.) Distinguish
multiplicative from additive comparison.
The Alaska State School Board performed the lemming lunge
following forty-four other states over the cliff on this one.
Imagine how the Dis-Served might apply the following 8th grade
math standard. 8.G.3. Describe the effect of dilations,
translations, rotations, and reflections on two-
dimensional figures using coordinates.Most math teachers can
read and understand this, but can most parents? Can
students see the purpose? That a student might be able to do the
above activity is possible, but to have the student actually
describe the effect is another whole level of thought far beyond
most 8th graders.
The Webster definition of gobbledygook is appropriate. The
Alaska State Math Standards are gobbledygook. The fact that the
standards are written in a language that is not intelligible to
intelligent parents is, in itself, sufficient grounds for
rejection.
Before adopting the AKCC, the Department of Education held
public hearings on the standards. I asked the Commissioner how they
could be put up for public
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comment when the public couldnt read or understand them. He told
me that after adoption they would be translated into language
parents could understand. What good comes from public comment on a
document that is not intelligible by intelligent people? Adding to
the insult is the fact that Alaska has not translated them into
understandable English in the three years since adoption.
Why put standards in gobbledygook in the first place if they
have to be
translated back into English to be implemented? It is not for
precision. I think the math standards are intentionally written in
gobbledygook. Opponents are silenced by intimidation.
Once readers look up all the words and squirm to understand
them, they are faced with the ultimate question, What for? Ponder
this 7th grade standard.
Math 7.SP.B.3 Informally assess the degree of visual overlap of
two numerical data distributions with similar variabilities,
measuring the difference between the centers by expressing it as a
multiple of a measure of variability; For example, the mean height
of players on the basketball team is 10 cm greater than the mean
height of players on the soccer team, about twice the variability
(mean absolute deviation) on either team; on a dot plot, the
separation between the two distributions of heights is
noticeable.
The following high school standard is simply written: HSF-BF.A.2
Write arithmetic and geometric sequences both recursively and with
an
explicit formula, use them to model situations, and translate
between the two forms.
It might be added that, years ago, the Catholic Church had the
wisdom and concern to take the Mass out of Latin and put it in the
language of the people so they could understand. The AKCC math
standards were taken out of the language of the people and put into
gobbledygook so parents will be too intimidated to challenge
them.
5) Concept vs Computations. The following point might seem a bit
heady to some readers, but is quite important, because Defenders of
AKCC will bury opponents with confusion if this distinction is not
made.
Among the AKCC, are concepts that might be important (essential)
for all students to understand but not necessarily important for
all students to compute (therefore they are aspirational.)
The following two are among countless examples: It is extremely
important for students to understand the difference between:
1) a linear and 2) a quadratic equation.
A linear equation says one can of beans cost one dollar, two
cans of beans two
dollars, three cans three dollars etc. A quadratic equation
follows a steep curve. As one of the variables increases by
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even steps, the other variable follows a curve which, at some
point, soars wildly upward. It is squared.
This is very important, because everything that moves above the
quantum level responds according to a quadratic formula i.e.
Netwons third law, F=MA which is expressed in ft/seconds
squared.
The concept is vital, yet, none of the Dis-Served need to solve
the quadratic formula as required by the standards. There is a huge
difference between understanding the principle behind quadratic
equations and solving the quadratic formula.
All students should understand, look for and appreciate patterns
like the Fibonacci sequence. Yet, I cannot find one adult within my
sphere of influence who has once used a recursive math equation
described in this standard: F-IF.3. Recognize that sequences are
functions, sometimes defined recursively, whose
domain is a subset of the integers. For example, the Fibonacci
sequence is defined recursively by f(0) = f(1) = 1, f(n+1) = f(n) +
f(n-1) for n 1.
The Fibonacci sequence can be found in the leaf sprouts of a
pineapple, the flowering of an artichoke, leaf patterns and the
arrangement of seeds in a pine cone. For all students, knowing that
pattern exists might be an important concept. It may possibly be
important for the Pseudo-Served to perform the computations as
college prep, but the actual computation of recursive formulas is
certainly irrelevant to the Dis-served.
Defenders of the AKCC math standards do not make the important
distinction between concept vs computation. The repeated challenge
to such people should be, Do students merely need to understand the
concept, or do they truly need to be able to do the computations?
If this distinction is not made, AKCC Defenders will continue to
convince the world that wildly aspirational standards are truly
essential. Patterns are important, and the Fibonacci sequence is
everywhere in nature, therefore the students need to compute
recursive formulas. They take a pet notion, seek a far fetched
application, and justify making it a mandatory computational
standard.
6) False information. Deception A. The Alaska Department of
Education and Early Development (DEED) said the Common Core
Standards had been Alaskanized. I have gone through both the math
and language standards, page by page, standard by standard, word by
word, comparing the two, and there is very little Alaskan about
them, with the exception of the strange one that mentions Alaskan
time zones. Two other standards were added that have little Alaska
flavor. Several more had a few words added or deleted. The AKCC and
the Common Core are identical twins. Other states have played the
same trick on their constituents, making minor modifications to
create the illusion that they have local standards. This
deception
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was perpetrated so the AKCC will not be associated with the
Nationwide awakening against the Common Core.
B. The Commissioner of Education said the math standards would
be translated into a language parents could understand after their
adoption. It has been three years.
To understand them, parents have to go to the North Carolina
site:
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/standards/common-core-tools/
DEED has not made an effort to inform parents of this resource,
preferring to keep the standards in gobbledygook.
C. The Standards claim to prepare all students and to have real
life applications. That sounds good. But, the proof is in black and
white.
A-APR.4. Prove polynomial identities and use them to describe
numerical relationships. For example, the polynomial identity (x2 +
y2)2 = (x2 y2)2 + (2xy)2 can be used to generate Pythagorean
triples.
I know what that says, but I do not know how it applies to
anyones reality.Another standard describes how to compute compound
interest on a mortgage.
That sounds good, but everyone who works in a bank looks the
data up on a chart. No bank would ever trust its general employees
to compute the figures then quote the number to a loan recipient.
Not one in a thousand students will ever use it, and that would be
after obtaining a Masters in Business Accounting. The concept is
important. The computation is not. D. Industry involvement. AKCC
claim to have included industry leaders in their
development. Does the following sound like it was adequately
vetted by industry? G-CO.9. Using methods of proof including
direct, indirect, and counter examples to prove theorems about
lines and angles. Theorems include: vertical angles are congruent;
when a transversal crosses parallel lines, alternate interior
angles are congruent and corresponding angles are congruent; points
on a perpendicular bisector of a line segment are exactly those
equidistant from the segments endpoints.
7) The Best Research AK DEED constantly insists that educational
programs must be based on valid
research. In the February 2012 report, the Brown Center for
Education at the Brookings Institute, one of the most respected
research and think-tanks in America, clearly stated that the Common
Core standards will make very little impact, if at all, on student
achievement.
Each member of the Alaska School Board saw the Brookings
Institute report on the Common Core before voting to adopt them.
They saw, in yellow hi-lite, where the best research in the Nation,
using the NAEP test in which Alaska participates, says the Common
Core standards will not improve education.
The following quote is from that research report.
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What effect will the Common Core have on national achievement?
The analysis presented here suggests very little impact.
Just as the glow of consensus surrounding NCLB* faded after a
few years, cracks are now appearing in the wall of support for the
Common Core.
Do not let the ferocity of the oncoming debate fool you. The
empirical evidence suggests that the Common Core will have little
effect on American students achievement.
The nation will have to look elsewhere for ways to improve its
schools. Brookings Report 2012 page 14&16.
*NCLB (No Child Left Behind.)
8) Developmentally inappropriateThe basic assumption of the
AKCC
Standards is flawed. Everyone is aware that, if you believe in a
child, the child will perform better.
You do not need a degree in education to know that. The main
assumption of the AKCC standards is that students were not
performing well in school, so they must be challenged more. In
response, many standards were moved downward several grades.
Simultaneous equations have been moved down to the eighth grade
from high school. Kindergarten standards include capitalization and
punctuation:
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English
capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
That is kindergarden? What happened to sandbox, sharing and
naps?
The AKCC are developmentally inappropriate by a wide margin. If
students were disinterested in simultaneous equations in their HS
sophomore
year, will moving that standard to eighth grade improve
performance? . Analyze and solve linear equations and pairs of
simultaneous linear equations.
8.EE.7. Solve linear equations in one variable.a. Give examples
of linear equations in one variable with one solution, infinitely
many solutions, or no solutions. Show which of these possibilities
is the case by successively transforming the given equation into
simpler forms, until an equivalent equation of the form x = a, a =
a, or a = b results (where a and b are different numbers).b. Solve
linear equations with rational coefficients, including equations
whose
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solutions require expanding expressions using the distributive
property and combining like terms.
Can some 8th graders do this? Yes. Can all 8th graders do it?
Absolutely not. Learning should not be daunting and degrading.
If students werent succeeding in writing proper sentences in the
fourth grade, will making punctuation, capitalization, and sentence
structure a kindergarden standard improve their writing skills?
Here is a 4th grade language standard under Craft and Structure.
1. Compare and contrast the point of view from which different
stories are narrated,
including how the use of first or third person can change the
way a reader might see characters or events described.
2. Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a
visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each
version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the
text.
Now, maybe a few 4th graders can do that, but not all.
There is a vast difference between believing in a child and
putting more stress on the student/teacher relationship.
Several 8th grade writing standards have all students
identifying the theme of a given piece of writing. although many
8th graders are not developmentally ready to perform that level of
abstract thought. Plots vs themes. They will be able in a few
years, but cannot do it in the 8th grade no matter how well they
are taught.
If a spring track team is practicing, and the students are
pole-vaulting 13-14, and the bar is at 18, do will raising the bar
to 22 make them jump higher? No. They will get discouraged more
quickly and go home.
The following standard is for EVERY 8th grader.
8th 1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard
English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
a.Explain the function of verbals (gerunds, participles,
infinitives) in general and their function in particular sentences
in order to apply the conventions of English.
b. Form and use verbs in the active and passive voice.c. Form
and use verbs in the indicative, imperative, interrogative,
conditional, and
subjunctive mood.d. Recognize and correct inappropriate shifts
in verb voice and mood.*
Is it realistic to expect EVERY 11-12th grader to master the
following standard?
1. Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.a.
Introduce precise claim(s), knowledgeable claim(s), establish the
significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from
alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that
logically sequences the claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and
evidence.
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b. Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly,
supplying the most relevant data and evidence for each while
pointing out the strengths and limitations of both claim(s) and
counterclaims in a discipline-appropriate form that anticipates the
audiences knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases.c.
Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link
the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the
relationships between claim(s) and reasons between reasons and
evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims.d. Establish and
maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the
norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are
writing.e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows
from and supports the argument presented.
As a teacher, I would be thrilled if some of my students
approached some of the above and mastered them by the sophomore
year of college. This is an aspirational standard directed at an
honors class of college bound students in a big high school, not an
essential standard for all students.
Moving standards down in grade level does not improve student
performance. It elevates stress. This is one of the main reasons
the Brookings Report says the Common Core is flawed and will not
succeed. The Brookings report is on the web. It is short. Read it.
The Alaska State School Board, Governor Parnell and his
Commissioner were all given copies of that Brookings research in
2011 before the AKCC adoption. Still they forced the standards on
the trusting public.
9) National Standard vs Local Control Fourteen years ago, every
Alaska School District had control of all aspects of
the education of its children. No Child Left Behind came along,
and each state was forced to adopt a single set of standards... of
their own choosing. Since over 30% of the State educational budget
is Federal money, Alaska had to comply. Alaska had one set of
standards.
Now, the adoption of the AKCC has brought Alaska back to the
1970s model of State Operated Schools... dictatorial punitive
education out of Juneau. Additionally, since the Department had the
wisdom to apply for an exemption to No Child Left Behind, the
waiver was granted with the condition that 30% of teacher
evaluations will be based on student performance on tests of the
AKCC. Teachers are compelled to teach them.
Who would aspire to be a teacher in the YK Delta when
evaluations are based on how well students describe verbals and do
pythagorean triples? No wonder there is a shortage of bush
teachers.
Mandatory standards for ALL children with no significant
alternatives, no real options have been moved far beyond parental
influence. Charter schools and home schoolers must also comply with
and be tested on the AKCC. Educational standards have been turned
into standardization, a Nationwide cookie-cutter.
Opponents of the Common Core and identical twin, AKCC,
accurately point to the data-gathering component embedded in the
system that pretends to track student progress for student benefit.
In reality, the system feeds National databases that threaten
personal freedoms. The violation of 4th Amendment
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rights by the Federal government in wiretapping and data
gathering on innocent citizens is unquestionable, and gives
credence to the concern that AKCC and Common Core will be used for
data gathering and predicting behavior of all students.
10 ) Funding. No one has yet made public the financial cost of
implementing AKCC. My best sources, with decades of experience in
statewide education, say that it will cost between $100-200 million
to implement the AKCC. That is a considerable sum of money for a
maneuver that the best research in the Nation says will make little
or no improvement in student achievement. When a Legislative bill
is introduced, it receives a fiscal note from DEED, i.e. estimated
cost of implementation. However, DEED has never revealed the fiscal
burden for AKCC adoption. As a matter of fact, DEED has
persistently avoided giving straight answers when asked by the
public and Legislators. Both would balk immediately if the facts
were known. Costs include multi-million dollar testing devices,
professional development for teachers and school districts, new
textual materials and curriculum development.
With severe budget restraints that now exist, how can such a
move be justified if the cost is great and the benefit nonexistent?
The need for revision will become apparent within a few years and
the process will have to be revisited at additional expense.
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Chapter 3 A Few More Pieces
I have cut and pasted many of the AKCC standards into this text.
They are boring, but argue against themselves once they are
exposed. I am trusting that the obvious will speak for itself once
it is made manifest. Having seen them, the reader can make personal
judgements and not have to rely upon my observations and
conclusions.
Quick review. Based on accurate Alaska Post Secondary Commission
data from 2012, of our current 9th graders:
One third will drop out of high school before graduation. One
third will graduate high school and move on to a pragmatic
lifestyle. Combined with the drop-outs, I call this group the
Dis-Served. One third will attempt a two year, four year, or
certificate program. The AKCC, by their own direct admission, are
designed for the college/career/tech students.
In reality, under the AKCC, the dropout rate will increase, as
the frustration level is much higher than before.
The system claims to prepare students for college and
career/tech.
Every child has a gift and is a gift. None are dispensable or
disposable. The
Dis-Served are as important as the college bound. Hiring an aide
to help the Dis-Served perform a curriculum designed for the
college bound is does not meet their needs, The purpose here is NOT
to negatively label children, but to demystify the system.
Of all our current Alaskan 9th graders, only 7% will actually
finish a four year degree program, yet it appears the whole AKCC
system is designed for them.
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The Dis-Served are not prepared by AKCC to be firefighters,
electricians, boat/airplane pilots, waitresses, bank tellers, store
managers, heavy equipment mechanic/operators, beauticians etc. They
become collateral damage in the system. Students who disconnect and
drop out of high school are demoralized and carry that stigma for
the rest of their lives.
What if they change their minds and decide to go to college?
This question always arises. A few students do change their minds
and want to attend college after following a non-college bound
pathway. There are three simple responses:
Are the students who change their minds so much more important
than all the others that the whole system must be designed for
college/career/tech? Are the crumbs that fall off the table of the
upper 1/3 considered food for the majority? What about the far
greater number of students who try college and decide not to
finish? That much, much larger number fall back among the
Dis-Served, unprepared for life by a curriculum that was designed
for the upper minority. Many students entering college bound
programs need remediation before entering college. Courses below
100 level are already available in all post secondary institutions
for students who were not adequately prepared in high school in
order to ramp up their math and language skills. Welcome to the
pathway. It already exists.
The following analogy helps to visualize what the educational
system attempts to do.
Analogy. You go to the grocery store with a recipe for lasagna.
You cruise the aisles until you find all the ingredients you need
for supper. You check out.
The next night you plan a bar-b-cue. Again you go up and down
the grocery store aisles taking from the shelves the ingredients
needed to feed your friends off the grill. Again you check out.
In theory, you can go to the grocery store with any recipe, and
gather the ingredients for whatever meal you might hope to
prepare.
In theory, as educators, we are stocking students mental shelves
with knowledge and skills, so that, no matter what the circumstance
(recipe,) students can later access their mental shelves, gather
the ingredients and prepare them in proper proportion to meet lifes
needs.
Even the college bound find the shelves filled with less than
useful items. F-BF.1. Write a function that describes a
relationship between two quantities.*a. Determine an explicit
expression, a recursive process, or steps for calculation from
a context.b. Combine standard function types using arithmetic
operations. For example, build a
function that models the temperature of a cooling body by adding
a constantfunction to a decaying exponential, and relate these
functions to the model.
Decaying exponential is more appropriate for a college physics
thesis, No?
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Under AKCC, students stock their mental shelves with twelve
years of unrelated academic fragments, then venture forth to apply
them. However, they soon discover that their shelves are cluttered
with wind chimes, potpourri, jewelry, exotic jellies and rare teas.
There is not much healthy food on hand to apply to lifes genuine
situations.
This tragedy is ongoing because of a falsely placed trust in AK
DEED. The educational planners seldom encounter or live in the
reality of those who build bridges, landscape, drive trucks,
operate small businesses, farm, run sawmills, mine, fish, serve in
a post office or otherwise contribute to the true economy of the
State and nation. Students are learning every abstract notion about
math, science, writing skills etc, but very little of how to build
a life with them.
Here is an example of a real life application from the
standards: (7.SP.4) For example, decide whether the words in a
chapter of a 7th grade science
book are generally longer than the words in a chapter of a
fourth grade science book.And who cares?
Different approaches1) Fragment based education. The current
system, which is fragment based, is broken into academic
disciplines, math, science, language etc. Those disciplines are
followed for twelve years in high school. College bound students
get a broad education for the firs two years, then start to
specialize in a major and a minor. Students gain knowledge and
skills and are tested on their retention primarily by multiple
choice tests. The assumption is that students can later assemble
those fragments that are retained to apply to lifes situations.
2) Theme based education. This approach, after the fundamentals
are learned in grades 3-4, presents students with chosen themes and
embeds the academic disciplines, math, science, language etc. into
the themes, which may be transportation, health, careers, hunting,
whatever the community thinks is best for its students. Students
learn the math of tourism, the science of tourism, the language
involved in tourism, the social studies and economy of tourism etc.
This most closely resembles how students will approach problems and
interests in later life. It is more holistic than fragment based
education, and makes learning links and associations students are
more likely to retain. Student assessment is more accurately done
on scoring rubrics that evaluate student projects.
3) Place based education. This approach uses the students
community, and culture to present new learning material. It often
follows the local calendar, always referencing local activities
then reaching out to other parts of the state, country or world,
exploring how people in other places approach and solve comparable
situations. Place based education may be fragment based, or theme
based. The research shows that students retain more if academic
concepts are related to their personal frame of reference.
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Thousands, millions of people pass through their grown up lives
feeling stupid because they did poorly in some aspect of school.
They think school smart is life smart and since they did not do
well in school, they feel degraded. They are bewildered, but the
process also denied them the intellectual skills necessary to
analyze what went wrong with the process and why they were not able
to succeed. However, the ability to acquire knowledge quickly and
identify its components on a multiple choice test do no indicate
the students ability to apply the knowledge to real life.
To those people who feel like they have failed I say, No. You
are not stupid. The System was/is stupid. It did not make sense
then, nor does it now. Do not belittle yourself. Consider the
source of your feelings of inadequacy, and realize that the ruler
was bent when they measured you. Consider yourself a survivor. Good
for you. You made it!
The Simple Fix One State law would fix 90% of educations
problems: Every state standard must have a demonstrable real life
application. That
would fix it. All the irrelevant content would have to be
relegated to elective status. To follow
the above analogy, if no one has purchased a dust covered item
on a grocery store shelf for many years, remove it and make room
for commonly consumed items.
Teachers spend a huge percentage of their time fashioning
carrots and sticks of all colors, textures, sizes and appearance
attempting to motivate students. The problem is not that our
students lack intelligence, or that teachers, as a whole, are
incompetent. The problem lies in the lack of student motivation
rooted in the inability to see the the application, of what is
being taught. With all the knowledge in the world that is
critically important, why are we mandating for every child:
F-IF.7.b piecewise-defined functions, including step functions
and absolute value functions?
Teachers wish for greater parental involvement. How can parents
get involved if they have they have not used it in twenty years?
How can they get involved if the standards are intentionally
written in obtuse language to exclude the common person?
I would personally rather have my grandchildren learn adding/
subtracting, multiplying/dividing,
percent/decimals/basic-fractions, ratio/proportion, reading graphs,
conversion of units, and how to apply them to life than have them
learn all the math concepts possible and have no clue how to use
them.
I want them to form and communicate their own ideas and come to
their own conclusions as they read and study topics of personal
interest.
I made my grandchildren listen to and identify many pieces of
classical music when I homeschooled them, but I would never mandate
that for all children. That is a family matter.
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Conclusion. AKCC take the previously flawed system to greater
levels of irrelevance than ever before.
The solution is simpler than the problem: let people rooted in
reality vet the standards. College graduates now design the pathway
for the majority of students who have no intention of following in
their footsteps. The pathway of the majority 2/3 of students should
be designed by those already successful on that path.
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Chapter 4 Testing The current testing system is misaligned and
intentionally difficult to describe.
The following should simplify the matter and expose the myopic
obsession with scores on multiple choice tests. Most magic tricks
are performed by diverting attention to the wrong place. The
current system is no different.
A business venture starts with a vision and goals. The business
then devises a plan to reach the goals. Then the business develops
a means to check on progress, to see to what degree the devised
plan is helping/hurting the business meet its goals.
1. Vison. What you want to accomplish, including the goals
embedded in the vision.2. Plan. How you will accomplish the above
goals. 3. Metric. How you will measure the effectiveness of the
plan.
The current broken educational system is upside down. 1) Metric.
It is driven by the metric, designed by a profit driven testing
industry. 2) Method. The method/plan is totally dedicated to the
metric. 3) Vision. A goal/vison statement is given occasional lip
service.
This is inverted, backwards, disoriented. The true mission of
the current system is to get students to perform well on tests. It
should be to create a pathway for students to successfully enter
any career path or lifestyle they choose.
Education is in constant upheaval. To increase profit, the
textbook and testing industries change their materials on a regular
basis. The broken paradigm has been in place so long, academic
success is now equated with performance on industry driven tests,
shamefully lacking in vision.
If the mission/goals of our educational system were to create a
pathway for students to be critical thinkers, financially
independent, lifetime learners and help young people make their
lives and communities a better place, would standards include the
Fibionacci sequence and polynomial identities? Hardly. Real life
problem solving, debating, trouble shooting, and investment
strategies would be forefront. Retaining the love of learning and
natural curiosity would be paramount.
Another way of looking at it. How much of what makes anyone a
good or successful person can be
measured on a multiple choice test? 5%? 10%? Not much more. Yet,
school success is measured by test scores.
Consider the Olympics. Some events such as downhill skiing, 100
meter foot race, swimming, etc can be measured by a stopwatch.
Others cannot. If the olympics were limited to events that could
only be timed or that rely upon scores
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within a given time, exciting events would be eliminated. Figure
skating, gymnastics and acrobatic snowboarding all require
subjective evaluations of those activities that cannot be measured
by stopwatches. Are science fair projects scored by a stopwatch,
tape-measure, ohm meter, titration etc? No. They are subjectively
evaluated by skilled evaluators and compared with each other on a
scoring rubric.
In life, some events can be measured objectively: Widgets/hour,
tons/truckload, truckloads/hour etc. Yet, carpenter foremen do not
measure work in boards/hr. and doctors do not measure their
accomplishments in operations/day. Buildings would fall and
patients would die. Yet, in school we teach that which can be
measured on a test, not that which is necessarily important. It is
like designing a house around a tape-measure rather than the needs
of future occupants.
A well known Anchorage educator said, Our kids deserve to know
how they compare with the kids in New York. Who cares how they
score in an arena of stark raving irrelevance? It is far more
important if they can make good life decisions based on good life
facts,. You cant measure that on a multiple-choice test.
No more than 20-30% of student assessment should be done on
comprehension/recall testing. The major portion of student
assessment should be done on subjective scoring rubrics as students
work on meaningful projects.
AMP. Under AKCC, a new state testing system has been developed
at considerable expense1 AMP, Alaska Measures of Progress. This
system claims to rely less on multiple choice questions and have
students analyze questions, perform multi-step problems, solve
problems, and apply what they know to new situations. While this
sounds good, they are based on the AKCC, and the outcome are
extremely questionable for three reasons.
1) AMP is based on the AKCC which, as this booklet has shown,
has very little meaning for the majority of students. Even if it is
highly accurate, it will also be highly irrelevant.
2) AMP is brought to you by the same people who brought you
AKCC. The trust level is suspect. While the AMP description uses
all he right words to make the test sound different from previous
multiple choice tests, until actual test samples are made public,
it is not possible to determine whether AMP does what it says and
tests what is says it is testing. Trust us is not an option.
3) Students will do very poorly on the tests in the first few
years. This will be blamed on the transition from an inferior
system to this better one. It will take years to expose the
shortcomings of AMP while AMP will be pointing to the shortcomings
of students.
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1 The author heard in 2012 it would be $7M. True data not
available.
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From the internet:Teacher's Resignation Letter Says His
Profession 'No Longer Exists'When Gerald "Jerry" Conti decided to
retire from his teaching career
after 27 years at Westhill High School in New York, he went out
with a bang. On March 29, Conti, 62, posted the text of his
resignation letter on Facebook, along with a photo of Porky Pig
saying "That's All Folks " The letter lays out why, after several
decades, Conti believed he had to call it quits. Conti points the
blame at legislators who "failed us by selling children out to
private industries such as Pearson Education," a testing
company.
He argued the New York State United Teachers union failed its
members by not mounting an effective campaign against standardized
testing, and said there's now a "pervasive atmosphere of distrust"
preventing teachers from developing their own tests and quizzes.
"After writing all of this, I realize that I am not leaving my
profession, in truth, it has left me. It no longer exists," Conti
wrote in the letter.
Soon after the letter made the rounds on Facebook, the Syracuse
Post- Standard picked it up. Conti told the Post-Standard his
frustration isn't directed at his local school district, but rather
at the "larger forces" of education reform. "This whole thing is
being driven by people who know nothing about education, Conti told
the Post-Standard. "It's sad."
The current testing obsession will go down in history as the
Dark Ages in the History of Education. We yearn for the
Renaissance, the awakening of creativity and expression, the
rekindling of fresh, practical thought, reverence for the relevant.
(emphasis by author)
Evaluate the Educational Paradigm Not Students. The system
incessantly assesses students while itself refuses to be evaluated.
Students, parents and school boards are deceived into thinking that
testing students is somehow measuring the effectiveness of the
educational paradigm. They are two very different matters.
How might Alaska truly evaluate its educational system? I
recommend:
A post high school drop-out survey to see how the system missed
meeting the needs of 1/3 of our students.
A post-graduation survey of high school graduates, asking them
what percentage of what they learned was worth their effort and how
to improve the system.
A post graduation survey of college grads, to see how
appropriate their post-high school experience has been and how to
improve upon that. All of the above should include the question,
What percentage of what you were taught did/do you perceive as
useful now that you are attempting to apply your training to life?
An annual evaluation of DEED by all Alaskan school districts. DEED
should
follow a supportive, not the current punitive model.
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The above would simply be customer satisfaction surveys. How
well does the system, the Paradigm, prepare students for their
future? How well does the system serve the constituents?
Is education to be a pathway young people choose to prepare
themselves for life, or is education something the government does
to all children?
My personal conversations on the subject reveal considerable,
deep, enduring, bewildered anger over several generations.
I am a parent. If a full 1/3 of my children are disruptive
rather than contributors to society, am I a successful parent? I am
a father, if I give all my resources to 1/3 of my children and
ignore the personal needs of 2/3 of my children am I a good father?
I am an educator. If a full 1/3 of my students do not complete my
program, am I a good educator? I am a teacher. If a full 2/3 of my
students felt the classroom experience was not worthwhile, what is
my excuse? Two-thirds collateral damage is a little better than US
drone strikes, but not excusable.
Conclusion. Evaluation of the Educational Paradigm should be
done by the end users, the customers, students and parents. People
evaluating government, not government assessing student compliance
with a Broken Paradigm.
Do not be distracted by the myopic obsession of measuring
students performance on multiple choice testing. Dig to the root.
Answer the question, Is the system preparing students for their
futures, creating true upward mobility and social stability by a
well prepared populace?
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Chapter 5 What Your Child Is Really Learning in School
Children are learning a harmful habits that are hidden in plain
sight.
A Story. This fictional story delivers a clear message. Every
day, a factory worker left the factory pushing a wheelbarrow full
of
sawdust. Every day Security at the gate sifted through the
sawdust looking for whatever the worker was stealing from the
company. Security was not able to find a thing.
This went on for several months. Finally Security said to him,
We will give you amnesty if you tell us what you are taking. We
know you are pilfering something, but we dont know what it is. We
promise not to prosecute if you tell us.
He said... Wheelbarrows. ... the obvious. They were sifting
through the sawdust looking for theft when the
vehicle was the object being stolen.
The wheelbarrow. So, what are students learning in school? The
answer is the wheelbarrow, the vehicle, the obvious from the above
illustration:
Compliance. Students are learning compliance with arbitrary and
capricious governmental
authority. That is the lesson taught every day when students
ask, What do I need this for? and are met with resounding silence.
So, a diploma could as easily and more accurately be called a
Compliance Certificate.
I am here to tell you that no one needs linear inequalities in a
half plane, computations in base 2, or logarithms. Yet, here is a
standard for every child:
F-LE.4. For exponential models, express as a logarithm the
solution to abct = d where a, c, and d are numbers and the base b
is 2, 10, or e; evaluate the logarithm using technology.
The common person has not used logarithms since the abandonment
of slide rules in the late 60s.
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Google real life applications of the Pythagorean theorem.
Immediately preposterous examples will appear that were created by
people who have never personally done the proposed activities. When
did a maintenance man use the Pythagorean theorem to determine the
length of his ladder to reach the top of a 8 painting while
spanning over a 5 grate? Absolutely never. He gets his ladder and
hopes the bottom does not kick out.
In the best-case educational scenario, all students become fully
aware of their personal strengths and abilities, the existing and
future career and lifestyle opportunities, and attempt to align the
two in their own personal way. Compliance training and conformity
should be that last thing on the agenda in times of radical
technological and sociological change.
In the late 90s, I traveled to Fairbanks to visit a professor at
the University who has a PhD. in Applied Mathematics. I asked for
an interview so he could show students real-life applications of
higher level math concepts. He was (is) a very pleasant and
extremely intelligent person. I started the recording camera and
asked him to give me a few real-life applications for the quadratic
formula. After ten minutes, I turned the camera off. He couldnt
think of one. Well, if he has a Doctorate in Applied Mathematics
and cant think of one, I rest my case. Yet the AKCC requires every
student to solve the quadratic formula. What for? It is called
rolling a peanut across the classroom floor with your nose.
What are students learning when they do a lesson for which there
is no real life application? Compliance.
Of course, later in life, students will have to do activities
they do not want to do, but that will be in a job or lifestyle of
their own choosing, not in a one-size-fits-all school system where
there are no exits or options. And, if they are doing the
unpleasant in a business designed to make a profit, the assignment
will make financial sense.
Examples of Compliance Training with AKCC (i.e. irrelevant
lessons) The following examples show the lack of relevance of the
AKCC, resulting in
their being a mechanism for reinforcing compliance with
government. Fourth grade. 4.OA.C.5 Generate a number, shape
pattern, table, t-chart, or input/
output function that follows a given rule. Identify apparent
features that were not in the rule itself. Be able to express the
pattern in algebraic terms. For example, given the rule add 3, and
the starting number 1, generate terms in the resulting sequence and
observe that the terms appear to alternate between odd and even
numbers. Explain why the numbers will continue to alternate this
way.
Why on earth would someone do this to a child? And who on earth
would do it to a fourth grader? Discovering patterns is crucially
important, but the fourth grader is supposed to generate the
number, shape pattern, table, t-chart, or input/output function
that follows a given rule? Then the fourth grader, every fourth
grader, identifies the features that were not in the rule and
expresses it all in algebraic terms?
The standards are replete with exercises that have no visible
purpose.
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Straight from the list of AKCC Standards: 4th grade. Determine
whether whole numbers between 1-100 are prime. 5th grade. Find the
volume of a right rectangular prism. 6th grade. Find the absolute
value of a number. 7th grade. Describe two dimensional figures that
result from slicing threedimensional figures like right rectangular
pyramids. 8th grade. Apply the properties of negative exponents to
generate equivalentnumerical expressions. The question for the
above is, What for? The Language standards are also riddled with
questionable activities. I have a friend who is highly educated. I
love and respect her dearly. She
recently said, I dont see anything wrong with teaching students
things that have no real life application. I am not sure there is a
cure for that. I tried to pin her down on what percentage of the
curriculum should not need to have a real life application.
No answer. My answer is 0%. There is so much out there that
needs learning, why learn
something that has no application? The love of learning. Great,
then why not love learning something meaningful?I personally
estimate AKCC at 80-80. 80% of what is taught after the 6th grade
is worthless to 80% of our students. If a standard does not teach
useful knowledge or skill, it should at least develop
an identifiable thought process that can be described to the
students. Example: Once students understands Brownian motion of
atoms and molecules and the relationship to heat, the students can
apply that thought process to Boyles and Charles Laws of pressure
and heat. That is important. A diesel engine could not fire without
those principles, and without diesel engines, trains do not move,
trucks do not haul, and generators are without electricity.
When I asked a high school teacher about a geometry problem that
had absolutely no real life application, she told me, Well, they
need to learn persistence. I thought, You can learn persistence
spading a garden, painting a picket fence, or pushing a wheelbarrow
uphill. There are many ways to learn persistence. Maybe persistence
for her is more closely linked to job security.
Right now, your children or grandchildren are learning
compliance at an alarming rate. Unfortunately, many parents and
grandparents were themselves trained in a comparable institutions,
so, while they personally have unpleasant memories, they lack the
internal personal mechanism to challenge and change the model. They
were not given access to the thought processes necessary think
their way out of the trap. They have been neutralized by the
Serenity Prayer and accept the things they think they cannot change
while the need for change is so desperate.
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Connection to village suicide. Traditionally, for Native people,
the pathway from childhood to adolescence then onward to maturation
was marked with clear objectives: hunting, butchering skills, boat
and cabin building, trapping and traveling, food gathering and
preservation etc. That process has been hi-jacked and replaced with
an abstract obstacle course littered with less than useful
standards like those enumerated above.
Students committing suicide are communicating, My life is not
worth living and I do not see a way out. School should be a
visible, beckoning pathway between where any and all children are
and wherever they might want to go. Education should be the means
to upward social mobility, social as well as financial stability.
Under the previous standards and worse with AKCC, school has become
an obstacle course cluttered with tasks and lessons that do not
relate to students perceived aspirations other than building
endurance and compliance.
In states like New Jersey, who are two years ahead of Alaska in
the adoption of the Common Core, counselors say there is a great
rise in previously normal students cutting themselves, scratching
until they bleed, and displaying anguish in ways never before
observed.
What children need to learn. Your children need to become great
readers, great solvers of lifes true
mathematical problems. Your children need to speak clearly and
intelligently for themselves, to be able to estimate and round off
numbers in their heads, and creatively use all resources available.
Children need to understand basic science principles and how to
apply them, master conflict resolution skills, learn how to live
healthy lives and be good to their bodies. Your children need to
think for themselves, make good decisions based on good values
permeated by respect for others, and experience the natural
euphoria that comes with creativity. They must learn financial
skills that will be useful when they become adults, including ways
of generating income apart from getting a job and making someone
else wealthy.
Suggestions. Consider this list not in any particular order of
importance: Vehicle ownership. DMV, DUIs and consequences.
Buying/selling a car/
truck. Using Kelly Blue book and consumer reports. Registration
and inspection.
Insurance: Car, health, house, life, boat etc. Everyone will
make decisions regarding insurance during their lifetime. Its all a
mathematical gamble requiring good analytical and math skills.
Housing: Advantages of buying, renting or building a house.
Consequences of compound interest and mortgages.
Personal finance. How money is made, spent and wasted.
Budgeting, Concept of disposable income. Identify scams. Investment
portfolios.
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IRAs, CDs, stock market, mutual funds, currency markets etc. How
to make money through investing.
Trend analysis. This skill is critical in times of accelerating
change. Future possibilities based on contemporary trends and how
to prepare for them.
Nonprofit organizations. What they are, what they do, and how
they are funded.
Entrepreneurship. How to start and maintain a small business.
Many Alaskans will either start, own, or work for a small
business.
How to develop and upload a website. Everyone has something to
say or sell. Upload an informative YouTube video on a topic of
personal passion.
Knowledge of two-stroke, four-stroke and diesel engines. Every,
I mean EVERY Alaskan encounters engines on a daily basis, and needs
a basic understanding of why and how they work to keep from
breaking down or getting fleeced by mechanics.
Taxes: city, borough, state, IRS. No one will escape them. Basic
computational skills. Adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing,
basic
fractions, percentages, decimals, measuring, ratio/proportion,
estimating. Everyday applications of these skills.
Basic science concepts and how to apply them to life: friction,
Newtons three laws, Boyle's & Charles Laws, latent heat
etc.
Vocational certificates: Electrical, mechanical, fire-fighting,
welding etc. what they are, and how to get them.
Self reliance. Gardening. Hunting, fishing, animal husbandry.
basic home carpentry, cooking for yourself.
Troubleshooting equipment. Troubleshooting is a fantastic
developmental thought process.
Music, art, photography, graphic design, inventing, all modes of
creative expression. Cultural appreciation.
Government jobs. What skills, qualifications, are required. The
court system. Writing bills of sale. Signing contracts, impact of a
court
record on future employability. Marriage & divorce laws.
Trusts. Wisdom in relationships. Marriage partners, peers,
relatives. Alaskan geography. Alaskan history. The U.S. and Alaskan
Constitutions & Bill of Rights. Hunter and boating skills and
safety. Materials: synthetics, metals, woods, adhesives, fasteners.
Every Alaskan
will either build or own equipment that requires maintenance.
There are scores of different fasteners for a multitude of
applications, from buttons to blind rivets.
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Lubricants. Almost everything that moves involves lubricants of
some kind. There are scores of lubricants to choose from and severe
consequences for choosing wrongly.
Batteries. The whole world seems to run on batteries. There are
different kinds and maintenance issues with each one.
Office and computer skills. Basic word processing, data bases,
& spread sheets.
Communication skills. How to present an idea to small and large
groups, whether in a courtroom, church, or business meeting. Public
speaking, powerpoint and video editing.
Basic digital electronics. The future might be uncertain, but
digital electronics WILL be there.
Identify the major Alaskan careers: tourism, fishing, mining,
oil & gas, health, mechanics, communications, transportation,
media etc. Know what they do, what skills are involved, the
advantages and disadvantages of working in all of them.
Social media. Its uses and pitfalls. Basic medicine.
Traditional/alternative medicine. Applying for loans, scholarships
and financial help. Knowledge of local Fish and Game regulations.
Understand, comply with
and change regs. Alaskas resources. Where to fish for hooligans,
silvers, whitefish. Where
the major caribou herds are, where mineral and agricultural
resources offer opportunity.
Subsistence and survival. Like it or not, villages will be in
existence for decades. Why not help people become successful where
they live rather than the relocation program called public
schools?
How to contact or become local Representative and Senator. How
to make government accountable.
Energy issues. Electrifying and heating homes and the viable
alternatives. How to stay healthy, including traditional and
alternative Alaskan health
solutions. Nutrition, lifestyles and wise choices. Hobbies and
interests. Gardening, flying, skiing, hiking, hunting, fishing,
four-wheeling, snow-machining, art, music, dance, theater,
carving, boatbuilding etc.
The solution is simple. Align realistic state standards to the
major Alaskan career paths and lifestyles. Let real life people in
those careers vet the standards. Delete the irrelevant. Insert the
relevant.
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Create a fast track for the 1/3 who aspire to a 2 year, 4 year,
or certificate program, but let all standards for all students be
essential standards rooted in reality, not a fantasy created in
MacAdemia by elitists.2
UPS delivery people do a great job of delivering packages. No
one would expect the UPS worker to develop or install the computer
software being delivered. Educators know how to deliver knowledge.
They do NOT know what knowledge is important. Educators might be
allowed to suggest standards, but cannot be included in the
development or vetting process or they will recreate the existing
Broken Paradigm without hesitation.
Mature people with boots on the ground in career destinations
and Alaskan lifestyles must identify the math, science, language
and social studies issues. Educators then turn those issues into
lessons and deliver them to students. People connected to Alaskas
career paths and lifestyles identify what is taught. Educators
determine how it is taught. Parents and students are free to
challenge any standard they think has no real
life application and have it changed, by due process, to an
elective. Then, and only then, will teachers be able to go to
students and say, We have
done our homework. The successful people at all career and
lifestyle destinations say you will need this knowledge and these
skills. Let us help you get there. Student engagement and success
are guaranteed to skyrocket.
Pseudo-Served. While those heading towards a 2 year, 4 year or
certificate program follow a clearly marked pathway of their own,
there is a long term need to revise that system as well.
Of the 7% of our current 9th graders who will graduate from a 4
year degree program, many will finish with $40-100K in student
loans and find no employment in their field of expertise. Clearly,
higher education must be aligned with some future reality. Comedian
George Carlin suggested a 20 minute university where students spend
20 minutes and learn everything useful offered by a four year
degree program. This humorous overstatement makes the point.
A simple survey of college graduates will reveal that many of
the AKCC standards for college bound students are merely mental
exercise, not useful tools, even within higher professions. Much of
a four year degree program is further compliance training. AKCC
might be preparing students for college, but college is not
preparing them for the life that awaits them. Reflect on friends
and peers. Reflect on the standards cited above. How many standards
are practical in any career path or lifestyle?
Whatever the case, college bound students will be better off on
a fast track of their own rather than dragging reluctant peers down
own their personal path.
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2 MacAdemia. Macadamia is a type of nut. Academia is where many
learned folks lack a firm reality connection. Many academic
concepts are birthed in MacAdemia where nutty ideas are grown and
harvested.
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Final ConclusionThe AKCC have been adopted by a very deceptive
process. They put the upper
1/3 of our Alaskan students in the bus, throw the Dis-Served 2/3
under the bus, then run over them. No child has more value than
another.
If the purpose of schooling is to prepare students for real life
problems and solutions, then visible connections must be made to
all career paths and lifestyles.
The school system should exist for students benefit. Our
students should not exist for the textbook and testing industries
benefit. The educational system must itself be assessed on how well
it prepares students for their futures.
The simple answer for essential standards for all students is to
insist that every standard have a demonstrable, real life
application. Students will engage and learn. A separate fast-track
will meet the needs of the minority college/career/tech bound
students.
College graduates now design the pathway for the majority of
students who have no intention of following in their footsteps. The
pathway of the majority 2/3 of students should be designed by those
already successful on that path. Create a new system by having
boots-on-the-ground folks in Alaskas major career paths and
lifestyles determine what needs to be taught. Then allow educators
to determine how it is taught. This system will be simpler than the
nightmare now trying to happen.
And, by the way, get rid of the AKCC. Those standards are a
ticking time bomb that will soon end up in the scrap heap of
educational fads. All who associated themselves with AKCC will end
up with a black eye down the road.
For all students: Make it meaningful and relevant, and they will
come.
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