FRUSTRATION FROM PARENTS-CHILDREN OF THE COMMON CORE

Will the growing high stakes testing rebellion now move up the grade ladder to the high schools in New York State? In the past the answer seemed to be no simply because passing the Regents exams is a high school graduation requirement for most pupils so opting out was not a realistic option.

However, the world may have changed yesterday as children are being used as live experiments for the new high stakes Common Core Regents exams. The algebra test appears to have been an exam that in part was not based on what was taught in the class.

Read some of the reaction at the Diane Ravitch blog or here.

Here is a sample reaction from New York parent Marci Rappoport:

My daughter took the CC Algebra regents exam today. She said two ofher friends ran out of the test crying and another one(a very smart girl) wrote on the last question, "I have no idea how to answer this because we never learned it."  My daughter said some of the questions made no sense but she attempted every one because she didn't want to "look dumb" even though this test made her feel dumb.  What are we doing to our kids?"

A comment at the Ravitch blog noted that the New York State Education Department will probably weasel out of this by setting the cut score for a passing grade so low so the passing percentages will equal those of the old tests.  Will this be sufficient to stop the student/parent revolt?  Time will tell.