What I'm seeing from your long essay is that the common core curriculum is indeed great...
That summary is woefully incorrect.
I will grant that Common Core had well-meaning people, some good math, and interesting pedagogical theories behind it. But it was broken on every other level. "Great" is hardly the last adjective that I'd use for it.
I believe that its pedagogical theories don't work in practice for children. The process by which it was created guaranteed that its standards would not be achievable in practice. The process by which the textbooks were created guaranteed that they would mostly consist of rough spots which would need a lot of ironing out for their target audience. The process by which teachers were trained was supported by decades of practice in creating enthusiasm for bad ideas, and the teachers showed it. And the inevitable failures of real teachers to deliver would guarantee that they could be blamed for the eventual failure of the whole endeavor.
...but average teachers are too stupid / mathematically illiterate to teach it...
What did I just say about blaming teachers for a multi-level disaster that was doomed from the start? How convenient of you to provide a demonstration.
...so we would be better settling for mediocrity instead.
HAH!
I discussed Singapore math briefly at the end. According to https://factsmaps.com/pisa-2018-worldwide-ranking-average-sc... Singapore is currently #2 in the world for delivered results on elementary school math education. But the #1 country, China, adopted the same techniques. Individual schools in the USA that adopted that technique have also had great success.
If we care about actual evidence over rhetoric, we should choose what has proven to be excellent in practice. Which is NOT Common Core.
That summary is woefully incorrect.
I will grant that Common Core had well-meaning people, some good math, and interesting pedagogical theories behind it. But it was broken on every other level. "Great" is hardly the last adjective that I'd use for it.
I believe that its pedagogical theories don't work in practice for children. The process by which it was created guaranteed that its standards would not be achievable in practice. The process by which the textbooks were created guaranteed that they would mostly consist of rough spots which would need a lot of ironing out for their target audience. The process by which teachers were trained was supported by decades of practice in creating enthusiasm for bad ideas, and the teachers showed it. And the inevitable failures of real teachers to deliver would guarantee that they could be blamed for the eventual failure of the whole endeavor.
...but average teachers are too stupid / mathematically illiterate to teach it...
What did I just say about blaming teachers for a multi-level disaster that was doomed from the start? How convenient of you to provide a demonstration.
...so we would be better settling for mediocrity instead.
HAH!
I discussed Singapore math briefly at the end. According to https://factsmaps.com/pisa-2018-worldwide-ranking-average-sc... Singapore is currently #2 in the world for delivered results on elementary school math education. But the #1 country, China, adopted the same techniques. Individual schools in the USA that adopted that technique have also had great success.
If we care about actual evidence over rhetoric, we should choose what has proven to be excellent in practice. Which is NOT Common Core.