Dr. Sandra Stotsky, a long time critic of Common Core standards, has released an ELA framework for use in schools, districts, and states, for free. Dr. Stotsky is known for her participation in crafting the excellent 2001 ELA standards for Massachusetts and how those standards placed MA as one of the very best states in the country on standardized tests. I recommend you download a copy of these standards for safe keeping, and then let legislators know there is a free set of standards Utah could adopt that would make us the envy of the nation in a short time. Here’s a link, and the last paragraph from the document.
http://www.uaedreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2000/01/Stotsky-Optional_ELA_standards.pdf
The Bottom Line
The 2001 edition of the Massachusetts ELA standards were already among the best in the nation. The 2010 draft manages to further strengthen these standards without losing any of the essential content or clarity. These standards are a model of clear, rigorous K-12 ELA content and expectations.”
If Utah would just adopt this and then the math standards from MA or CA prior to Common Core, we would be set for the future.
I just read through Sandra Stosky’s ELA standards. They are by far superior to the CC standards. Ms. Stotsky’s standards are more realistic and logical and actually involve students thinking for themselves. Thank you for posting them and thanks to Ms. Stotsky for writing and releasing them for FREE. Go ahead and check them out for yourself.
I read the entire document and found it to be very practical, developmentally appropriate and open to fewer opportunities to propagandize or manipulate the minds of impressionable children. Could abuses still occur? Yes, of course, and that speaks to the continuous need to monitor the character of our children’s teachers.
Having said that, I would like to see more emphasis on logic and logical fallacies than was listed. Additionally it seems important to me for students to understand the fundamentals of rhetoric, propaganda and marketing/media devices as persuasive strategies. Awareness of these tactics would render our society much less vulnerable to the manipulations of agendized groups.
I will be a guest on a radio show w Dr. Stotsky on Tuesday, October 14 at 7:30 pm (tentative). Get on the cityonahill TV website for the call in numbers or podcast (if you miss it).
Thanks for linking to this!