Saturday, December 08, 2012

Painfully funny re core standards: Read “Recommended Levels of Insulation" to/with your kids. Clothe the emperor!

It might be time to pay attention to the growing role - and potential unintended consequences - of Common Core Standards. Meanwhile, if you like to read, see "The Common Core’s 70 percent nonfiction standards and the end of reading?" By Alexandra Petri , Updated: December 7, 2012 [Spoiler alert: watch for irony in the article, even in the excerpts below.]  Also see: Clothing the Emperor


"New Common Core standards (which impact 46 out of 50 states) will require that, by graduation in 2014, 70 percent of books studied be nonfiction. Some suggested texts include 'FedViews' by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the EPA’s 'Recommended Levels of Insulation,' and 'Invasive Plant Inventory' by California’s Invasive Plant Council.

...I like reading. I love reading. ...And it’s all because, as a child, my parents took the time to read me 'Recommended Levels of Insulation.'"



1 comment:

  1. I don't get Ms. Petri's criticism of the Common Core Standard's reading list. That example of the EPA's Recommended Levels of Insulation text? The reading is paired with some math activities. See page 138 at http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_B.pdf Wouldn't we want students to be able to extrapolate and manipulate information from technical documents? Also there is plenty of fiction on the list. It doesn't look like a purge of literature to me.

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