Johnathan Chase, Learning From Lyrics
The Common Core English Language Arts standards emphasize text-based instruction and call for “shifts” that state;
“…The reading standards focus on students’ ability to read carefullyand grasp information, arguments, ideas, and details based on evidence in the text… Students should be able to answer a range of text-dependent questions, whose answers require inferences based on careful attention to the text…Further, it is vital for students to have extensive opportunities to build knowledge through texts so they can learn independently.”
The Common Core’s focus on independent mastery of text does not establish fair conditions or standards of learning that will provide equal opportunities for all students to be successful.
Learners who are delayed and disabled should have the same possibility to develop and demonstrate their diverse talents and abilities, rather than being continually tested, sorted, and rated according to their weaker reading skills.
Successful entrepreneur, Donny Zanger recently described his school experiences as a student with dyslexia.
“Growing up with dyslexia is no walk in the park, and it’s an open secret that schools are built to cater to one specific type of student. For the rest of the world–the creative thinkers, the talented artists, the energetic athletes–sitting at a desk for hours on end, memorizing lists and analyzing information in a test-taking format, doesn’t necessarily compute with our skill set…
But here’s the catch, the covert information that no one tells you as you suffer through years of feeling second class: succeeding in business requires completely different areas of proficiency than succeeding in school…
To those out there who think success in school is a measure of future accomplishment, I am here to say, it is NOT. Don’t look at your grades, your test scores, or your teachers’ opinions. Don’t focus on your learning disabilities or your inability to remember immaterial dates and numbers. Not everyone is cut out for success in school and that’s okay: it’s not a true measure of what you can achieve.
If you’ve got drive, creativity, motivation, passion and the ability to push up your sleeves and get to work, then come join the Entrepreneur’s Club. We’ll be happy to have you and we don’t need your SAT scores to let you in; we know you can succeed no matter what number the College Board gave you.
I certainly did.”
Unfortunately students who are delayed and disabled are often scheduled into additional remedial and intervention classes to focus on their below grade-level reading or math skills at the expense of arts and enrichment classes that will cultivate equally important academic, emotional, social, and vocational skills.
The Common Core Standards and test-based accountability policies dictate“what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade” and diverse learners who don’t acquire skills in a standardized and synchronized way are being subjected to an unfair narrowing of the curriculum.
Reading comprehension skills are very important, but they do not supersede or trump student agency and the “soft skills” that help people to overcome the real “tests” in life.
by MindMake via MindMake Blog
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