Thursday, July 12, 2012
A federal survey of students in elementary and high schools around the U.S. suggests many students are not being challenged in school.
Students have always seemed to view school in one of two extremes. It's either "too hard" or completely "boring," but new analysis of the Nation’s Report Card, a federal survey of students in elementary and high schools across the U.S, suggests the latter isn't far from the truth and students are not being challenged in school. In a report released Wednesday by the Center for American Progress, a Washington D.C.-based think tank that advocates "progressive ideas," students across the country were found to consider many of their subjects "too easy." The Center reports that: While the Center notes that these data do not measure the quality of the work students are doing, it argues that added to overall low reading scores, "these results …
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Michigan's move toward a national curriculum will also bring a new set of tests to replace the MEAP and MME.
New cut scores are only the beginning of what promises to be a complete overhaul of the standardized tests students know as the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) and Michigan Merit Exam (MME). With districts throughout the state on deadline to implement the common core curriculum in the next two years, Chippewa Valley Schools Executive Director of Elementary Education Sue Grenier said schools can expect entirely new tests by 2014-15. These common core exams are set to replace the present-day MEAP and MME with tests better aligned to the college- and career-readiness standards taught through the common core curriculum. While the 2014-15 exams will cover English-language arts and mathematics, Grenier said some form of the …
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Common Core Standards will set the pace for student learning for years to come.
The Common Core Standards, which the State Board of Education unanimously adopted in June 2010, is a set of rigorous, college and career-ready curriculum standards for students that 46 states across the nation already adopted to bring consistency in education. "The standards will for the first time provide states with clear and consistent educational goals and represent a logical next step in our state's efforts to embrace high learning," said Mike Flanagan, state superintendent of public instruction in Michigan. According to the initiative, standards will require schools to develop or enhance their curriculum in mathematics, reading and writing, which Michigan districts are already doing. Beginning in 2014, the Michigan Merit Exam and …
Michigan and 45 states across the country brace themselves for rigorous curriculum requirements for K-12 classrooms.
In preparation for sweeping changes to school curriculum, Macomb Township's teachers are among those working to modify lesson plans so that they are in step with new academic standards approved statewide. For instance, most ninth-graders, who might normally take Algebra, will take a new course called Secondary Mathematics 1, or an honors version of that course, which will include concepts in algebra, geometry, statistics, and pre-calculus. Language arts, meanwhile, will also be heavily revised to include more complex reading, and more emphasis on persuasive writing. These changes and more are slowly being rolled out in school districts around Michigan to comply with the Common Core initiative adopted by the Michigan Department of Education…
Terri Brosky
10:19 pm on Thursday, July 12, 2012
At the end of the day, it comes down to the individual student and their home environment. Teachers can inspire students to be sure, but they can't force education into a home where it isn't a priority. Parents need to encourage their students in all aspects of academics and what students don't get in school, parents should find other resources to fill the gap - aka, the library. more ›