While I agree that standards are a good thing, I cannot support these standards that were developed in secret, and without a single expert in the area of Early Childhood Development. As a result my own young children are being submitted to participate in a "rigorous" curriculum that is DEVELOPMENTALLY INAPPROPRIATE and being forced to sit for hours at a time and take computerized assessments. Kindergarten and Elementary schools should be fun places that spark creativity and love of learning… this has not been our experience. My kids attend MNPS and they are miserable!
- A mother in Nashville, TN
CCSS is not what fits Tennessee! It is experimental and unsound, especially in K-2. I am one of Tennessee's 2 National Teachers Hall of Fame inductees. I vote NO!
- a teacher in Murfreesboro, TN
I am a teacher. I am very familiar with Common Core and its deficiencies. It is the worst idea in education in history. It is nothing but a political football and a cash cow for testing and textbook companies.
- A teacher in Shelbyville, TN
As an educator and a parent of school-age children, I am opposed to so much corporate testing. My children deserve better: less testing, teachers who can spend time teaching valuable skills and concepts rather than teaching to the test, and an environment that values the love of learning over data. I certainly hope that my students and my own children survive this "educational" scam. It is so disheartening to see the looks of frustration and disappointment on my students' faces because they continue to subjected to more and more meaningless tests. I hope that by the time my own children are in high school, that this madness will be a thing of the past.
- A Mother & Teacher in Memphis, TN
I am opposed to Common Core and do not want my children exposed to it nor do I want them to participate in it.
- A mother in Bartlett, TN
I am a licensed teacher and administrator. Common Core is causing teachers to have to get away from teaching and making them have to teach to the test.
- a teacher & administrator in Murfreesboro, TN
Children do not learn from being tested, they learn from being taught. Teachers do not have the time to teach what children need to know because they have to teach to the test.
- A teacher in Fayetteville, TN
My children are NOT learning with these new "higher standards". Instead they are being untaught the simple steps they've built upon since starting school which enabled them to learn and grow throughout their educational career. In short, Common Core is only working against our kids, effectively dumbing them down.
- A Mom from Roan Mountain, TN
This is vital to me as a teacher. I am tired of using valuable class time to teach "to the test," and to teach how to take a test. My students want to learn real material--not how to take tests. They are burned out from the constant testing & assessing, as are we. Literally, there has not been a single day in February or during the month of March (except for spring break) when our students have not been testing or assessing for something. Methinks Pearson and perhaps some state government folks are making a fat bundle of money from this--at the mental and educational expense of our children. Stop this now!! Let our students really learn! Let us teach!
- A teacher in Memphis, TN
After reading the course and what it teaches in history it scares me that they are trying to teach this craziness to my kids. It's another government failure.
- A father in Mount Juliet, TN
Dollars should be used to make SMALLER class sizes, Pre-K for every child (it proven unlike common core), libraries fully stocked, Vocational Training (not all students are headed to corporate america) not putting it into the pockets of wealthy corporations who don't care about the students.
- A teacher in Knoxville, TN
I have 4 grandchildren in school and I disagree with the text books used for Common Core.
- a Grandmother in Lebanon, TN
I would like to protect my child's personal information as well as let our individual state and school district decide what's best for our curriculum. A "one size fits all" approach never works, especially when children are involved.
- A Mother in Germantown, TN
I am a mother of 3 and a public school employee. Common Core is a violation of the 10th Amendment and several federal laws. It is a curriculum of empty skill sets written by non educators and used to make money for corporations. My children deserve better. Their education is NOT FOR SALE!
- a mother in Hendersonville, TN
The Federal Government and for profit revisionist history companies are killing education in the USA. It should be up to the individual States as to the core standards that are applied. Also, I completely reject the data mining that is attached to Common Core. Furthermore, testing has become the only thing teachers have time for. They no longer teach for academic excellence, they teach for the test. This will continue to stifle creativity and dumb down our nation. Students are not robots, they are humans. Hence they need to be treated as humans with dignity and respect.
- Collierville, TN
First, Common Core was not state-led, it was only state implemented. It was done in secret, without research-based evidence of improved outcomes, and to be frank - I remember no out-cry that our kids were not learning! I believe this has been in the making for decades, comes from the United Nations to bring the US into the global economy, and in order to do this, a non-existent crisis was manufactured.
My children's teachers cannot speak out, so I will. They believe it is a watered-down set of standards with no research or teacher input, too much instruction time used for teachers to give formative tests on Mondays and summative tests on Fridays, and the H.S. EOC raw test scores (published by Pearson) "are hugely inflated and do not match the scores given on report cards" - done in an effort to pass students who otherwise failed the test to make it "appear" that Common Core is wonderful. I pray parents in TN wake up to the real Agenda!
- A Mother in Old Hickory, TN
I'm a teacher who sees the constant testing in our schools. We are testing so much students are not getting enough instruction time. The CC standards are not helping. A student can not teach themselves after only 5 minutes of teacher instruction time. These tests are also asking personal questions that are no one's business but the family's.
- A teacher in Memphis, TN
I teach; I see the children losing their love for learning. EVERYTHING they do is for the purpose of data. Learning has lost it's lure. When I actually get to do something with my children that is a little off kilter from common core, they LOVE it and in turn, they LEARN from it. We are raising a whole generation of test takers so they can all go to college. NOT ALL STUDENTS SHOULD GO TO COLLEGE!
- a teacher in Knoxville, TN
I disagree with the lack of quality instruction, spelling, grammar, science. I think it's ridiculous to label a teacher as "failing" because last years' bright kids scored a 98 percentile and this years equally bright kids score a 97 percent. I also wish the social ethics issues were left for parents to teach at home. My child has learned very little this year. I'm moving to private school as fast as I can. The data mining and cameras in the classroom and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funding of pushing this agenda is sickening. We need to take control of our educational system in TN!!
- A father in Gray, TN
The 1% created this financial crisis with their greed and mismanagement, flogging schoolchildren is not the way out of it.
- Sewannee, TN
I work for Head Start and I am seeing kids going to Kindergarten who are doing great developmentally according to the Head Start standard but still failing. I see parents who cannot help their kids because they have no idea how to do the work the way it has to be done. I see kids who can get the right answer in the way their parents showed them or kids who can just think for themselves but getting it wrong because it was not done the "right way." There are also kids who cannot get the right answer even thought they are doing it the way they are taught, but still getting more credit than those who actually get the right answer. I see teachers who don't want to be teachers anymore.
- Johnson City, TN
These are just a handful of comments Tennessee Parents & Teachers wrote as to why they are against Common Core. You can read them, and hundreds more just like them, by clicking HERE.
- A mother in Nashville, TN
CCSS is not what fits Tennessee! It is experimental and unsound, especially in K-2. I am one of Tennessee's 2 National Teachers Hall of Fame inductees. I vote NO!
- a teacher in Murfreesboro, TN
I am a teacher. I am very familiar with Common Core and its deficiencies. It is the worst idea in education in history. It is nothing but a political football and a cash cow for testing and textbook companies.
- A teacher in Shelbyville, TN
As an educator and a parent of school-age children, I am opposed to so much corporate testing. My children deserve better: less testing, teachers who can spend time teaching valuable skills and concepts rather than teaching to the test, and an environment that values the love of learning over data. I certainly hope that my students and my own children survive this "educational" scam. It is so disheartening to see the looks of frustration and disappointment on my students' faces because they continue to subjected to more and more meaningless tests. I hope that by the time my own children are in high school, that this madness will be a thing of the past.
- A Mother & Teacher in Memphis, TN
I am opposed to Common Core and do not want my children exposed to it nor do I want them to participate in it.
- A mother in Bartlett, TN
I am a licensed teacher and administrator. Common Core is causing teachers to have to get away from teaching and making them have to teach to the test.
- a teacher & administrator in Murfreesboro, TN
Children do not learn from being tested, they learn from being taught. Teachers do not have the time to teach what children need to know because they have to teach to the test.
- A teacher in Fayetteville, TN
My children are NOT learning with these new "higher standards". Instead they are being untaught the simple steps they've built upon since starting school which enabled them to learn and grow throughout their educational career. In short, Common Core is only working against our kids, effectively dumbing them down.
- A Mom from Roan Mountain, TN
This is vital to me as a teacher. I am tired of using valuable class time to teach "to the test," and to teach how to take a test. My students want to learn real material--not how to take tests. They are burned out from the constant testing & assessing, as are we. Literally, there has not been a single day in February or during the month of March (except for spring break) when our students have not been testing or assessing for something. Methinks Pearson and perhaps some state government folks are making a fat bundle of money from this--at the mental and educational expense of our children. Stop this now!! Let our students really learn! Let us teach!
- A teacher in Memphis, TN
After reading the course and what it teaches in history it scares me that they are trying to teach this craziness to my kids. It's another government failure.
- A father in Mount Juliet, TN
Dollars should be used to make SMALLER class sizes, Pre-K for every child (it proven unlike common core), libraries fully stocked, Vocational Training (not all students are headed to corporate america) not putting it into the pockets of wealthy corporations who don't care about the students.
- A teacher in Knoxville, TN
I have 4 grandchildren in school and I disagree with the text books used for Common Core.
- a Grandmother in Lebanon, TN
I would like to protect my child's personal information as well as let our individual state and school district decide what's best for our curriculum. A "one size fits all" approach never works, especially when children are involved.
- A Mother in Germantown, TN
I am a mother of 3 and a public school employee. Common Core is a violation of the 10th Amendment and several federal laws. It is a curriculum of empty skill sets written by non educators and used to make money for corporations. My children deserve better. Their education is NOT FOR SALE!
- a mother in Hendersonville, TN
The Federal Government and for profit revisionist history companies are killing education in the USA. It should be up to the individual States as to the core standards that are applied. Also, I completely reject the data mining that is attached to Common Core. Furthermore, testing has become the only thing teachers have time for. They no longer teach for academic excellence, they teach for the test. This will continue to stifle creativity and dumb down our nation. Students are not robots, they are humans. Hence they need to be treated as humans with dignity and respect.
- Collierville, TN
First, Common Core was not state-led, it was only state implemented. It was done in secret, without research-based evidence of improved outcomes, and to be frank - I remember no out-cry that our kids were not learning! I believe this has been in the making for decades, comes from the United Nations to bring the US into the global economy, and in order to do this, a non-existent crisis was manufactured.
My children's teachers cannot speak out, so I will. They believe it is a watered-down set of standards with no research or teacher input, too much instruction time used for teachers to give formative tests on Mondays and summative tests on Fridays, and the H.S. EOC raw test scores (published by Pearson) "are hugely inflated and do not match the scores given on report cards" - done in an effort to pass students who otherwise failed the test to make it "appear" that Common Core is wonderful. I pray parents in TN wake up to the real Agenda!
- A Mother in Old Hickory, TN
I'm a teacher who sees the constant testing in our schools. We are testing so much students are not getting enough instruction time. The CC standards are not helping. A student can not teach themselves after only 5 minutes of teacher instruction time. These tests are also asking personal questions that are no one's business but the family's.
- A teacher in Memphis, TN
I teach; I see the children losing their love for learning. EVERYTHING they do is for the purpose of data. Learning has lost it's lure. When I actually get to do something with my children that is a little off kilter from common core, they LOVE it and in turn, they LEARN from it. We are raising a whole generation of test takers so they can all go to college. NOT ALL STUDENTS SHOULD GO TO COLLEGE!
- a teacher in Knoxville, TN
I disagree with the lack of quality instruction, spelling, grammar, science. I think it's ridiculous to label a teacher as "failing" because last years' bright kids scored a 98 percentile and this years equally bright kids score a 97 percent. I also wish the social ethics issues were left for parents to teach at home. My child has learned very little this year. I'm moving to private school as fast as I can. The data mining and cameras in the classroom and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funding of pushing this agenda is sickening. We need to take control of our educational system in TN!!
- A father in Gray, TN
The 1% created this financial crisis with their greed and mismanagement, flogging schoolchildren is not the way out of it.
- Sewannee, TN
I work for Head Start and I am seeing kids going to Kindergarten who are doing great developmentally according to the Head Start standard but still failing. I see parents who cannot help their kids because they have no idea how to do the work the way it has to be done. I see kids who can get the right answer in the way their parents showed them or kids who can just think for themselves but getting it wrong because it was not done the "right way." There are also kids who cannot get the right answer even thought they are doing it the way they are taught, but still getting more credit than those who actually get the right answer. I see teachers who don't want to be teachers anymore.
- Johnson City, TN
These are just a handful of comments Tennessee Parents & Teachers wrote as to why they are against Common Core. You can read them, and hundreds more just like them, by clicking HERE.
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