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VIDEO: 10-Year Old Girl Explains on Fox News Why Common Core ‘Stinks’
Pajamas Media ^ | 12/24/2014 | PAULA BOLYARD

Posted on 12/24/2014 8:31:36 AM PST by SeekAndFind

I love to read, I love to write, I love to do math. I don’t like the PARCC. Why? Because it stinks. I’m glad my mom and dad are letting me opt out because I don’t want to deal with this nonsense.

Elizabeth Blaine, who was barely tall enough to see over the podium, had the courage to speak those word at a recent New Jersey school board meeting. The PARCC she referred to is the “Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers,” which is one brand of testing that will be used to assess students under the Common Core standards.

When she appeared on Fox & Friends this week, the tiny girl, wearing a sweet blue dress with white tights and a sparkly headband, calmly explained to host Elisabeth Hasselbeck that when the audience gave her a standing ovation after her speech she felt “very honored that everyone was so happy for me and that they were impressed with me and they respected me.”

Hasselbeck asked why the Common Core issue was so important to the little girl. “Well, I don’t really like the PARCC because it has many problems and we have — it’s all on computers, so we have to be typing when most of us have never even typed before,” Blaine said. “And we’re not required to take a typing test, but — typing class, but then we have to type on the test.”

“You’re saying a majority of the kids don’t even know how to type when they do this test,” Hasselbeck said.

She wanted to show viewers another example of the work 10 year olds were being tested on and put up a slide containing a question that shocked Elizabeth Blaine when it appeared on her PARCC practice test:

Identify a theme in “Just Like Home” and a theme in “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” and write an essay that explains how the theme of the story is shown for the characters and how the theme of the poem is shown through the speaker. Include specific details from the story and the poem to support your efforts.

“I think most grownups reading that right now would feel dizzy,” Hasselbeck said. ”How do you feel?”

“I didn’t understand it at all, mostly because I didn’t understand the poem,” Elizabeth Blaine said. ”And mostly because we haven’t even done anything with themes. I don’t even know what a theme is.”

Hasselbeck asked Elizabeth’s mother, Sarah Blaine, why she is opting her daughter out of the PARCC testing. “Sarah, I’m looking at you as a mom … for a parent to want to opt out … why do you want to opt out of this for your child?”

“I feel the best way to speak back against these standardized tests is to vote with our feet by not letting our kids take these tests,” she said.

“Strong mom, strong daughter,” Hasselbeck said. “I have to say, you’re a wise student, Elizabeth. I want to thank you for joining us and for speaking out for truth for all those students who feel the way you do. Well done.”

Common Core-aligned testing, including PARCC testing for states choosing that method of assessment, is not yet fully operational in schools. According to PARCC/Pearson’s website, they are currently conducting “field testing” and “collecting data” before they can set performance levels for college and career readiness.

In the meantime, preliminary practice tests, like the one Elizabeth Blaine took, are available online.

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: commoncore; foxnews
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To: Jemian
By the time we finished the unit, my students could do this work.

Have you read the POEM that this 10 year old was asked to write an essay on ?

Furthermore, would you torture your students by asking them to read it ?

21 posted on 12/24/2014 11:04:10 AM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: UCANSEE2

Yes, and yes.

It doesn’t hurt to present opposing ideas. We discussed the theme in view of redemption by Jesus. Ten-year olds are making a switch from totally concrete thinking to abstract thinking.


22 posted on 12/24/2014 11:23:37 AM PST by Jemian (War Eagle!)
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To: Red Badger

Unfortunately the misuse of podium has become common. Lectern is proper. It annoys me to hear an airline gate agent use the word podium. In defense of the agent, although the desk that he or she is behind looks like a lectern, they are not preaching or making a speech, which are the common uses for a lectern.

We are losing our beautiful language as programs such as Common Core evolve towards the lowest common denominator.


23 posted on 12/24/2014 11:32:06 AM PST by BatGuano (You don't think I'd go into combat with loose change in my pocket, do ya?)
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To: Red Badger

Precisely!! I key on that one as well. So misused.


24 posted on 12/24/2014 11:49:10 AM PST by SgtHooper (Anyone who remembers the 60's, wasn't there!)
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To: miss marmelstein

Tell me why it is an important skill. I always made wild guesses. Sometimes I got A’s...other times I got C’s. I never knew what I did right when I got A’s and never knew what I did wrong when I got C’s.

I think if your flavor of BS matches the flavor of the person grading the essay then you get an A. If not then you get a C.

Also I fail to see how it does anything at all for career preparation [other than maybe teaching literature]. I have asked people in a wide variety of occupations and nearly all agree that analyzing literature doesn’t extend to real life.

http://screenreader.practice.parcc.testnav.com/tests/grade-4/session-1/section-1-7.php

Let’s see...there’s “that new classroom” in LDFM, but “her new school” in JLM.

“big ghosts in a cloud” and “dragons breathing flame” in LDFM - the wispy fringe of clouds and flame resemble the wispy fringe of the chalk drawing in JLM.

Are either of those close to being right?

Dang, all I ever had to do was tell an employer one of those, and I would have gotten a job just like that? Now you tell me.


25 posted on 12/24/2014 1:29:51 PM PST by scrabblehack
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To: scrabblehack

Don’t be silly. Being able to actually read and interpret text is one of the highest skills in life.


26 posted on 12/24/2014 3:02:05 PM PST by miss marmelstein (Richard III: Loyalty Binds Me)
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To: miss marmelstein

OK, I gather that neither of those things is a common theme.
What is?


27 posted on 12/24/2014 4:36:25 PM PST by scrabblehack
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To: Jemian

OK, what answers would your students come up with?


28 posted on 12/24/2014 5:15:14 PM PST by scrabblehack
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To: scrabblehack

I hate to dodge your question, but I am going to postpone answering it. I gave the test to my students late in November and I was in Papua at the time. I am now in Killeen, TX and won’t get back to them until January. Please forgive me but answering your question will take more effort than I want to do on Christmas Eve.


29 posted on 12/24/2014 5:55:10 PM PST by Jemian (War Eagle!)
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