Two main articles in this newsletter are about the Common Core standards adopted by many states, including California:
- The Common Core State Standards
- Social Justice Concern for How Common Core Will Affect Marginalized Groups
The first gives detailed information about an effort, now endorsed by 45 states and the District of Columbia, to establish rigorous standards for public school education and improve educational content. The second points to the possibility that disadvantaged students may face an especially difficult challenge when confronting Common Core lessons and exams.
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Social Justice Concern for How Common Core Will Affect Marginalized Groups
The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church lists education as an essential service for the common good (see link Chapter Four, Section II, Subsection b, Item166).
The Preferential Option for the Poor and many of Pope Francis' recent messages have emphasized the Christian duty to demonstrate special concern for the poor and marginalized.
There are many aspects of the Common Core effort that appear to be quite commendable: an emphasis on rigor, on challenging students to use their thinking skills in useful ways, on better use of teachers' time and energy. There is a danger, however, that the benefits will fall more on students that already have many advantages and that less advantaged students will find school work and the exams more difficult than they are now. The disparity in the quality of education and the value of what is learned may become greater rather than smaller.
The California Legislature has taken some steps to give extra assistance to schools in disadvantaged areas, and it may need to do more with the advent of Common Core. Common Core will be a challenge to teachers as well as to students. Teachers will need to work together to master the new challenges, and the legislature will need to provide extra funds to allow teachers to have opportunities to compare their experiences and learn from each other.
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Be a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)
CASA volunteers have helped to meet the needs the emotional and physical safety needs of thousands of abused and neglected children. Volunteers advocate on behalf of the children's emotional, mental health, medical/dental, and family/sibling visitation needs, and work to increase the likelihood that the children are placed in homes and with families in which they will thrive. In a sometimes bewildering sea of child welfare workers, attorneys, therapists, and caregivers, the Court Appointed Special Advocate is a consistent and caring adult and advocate for the child. The one-on-one relationship that forms between the volunteer and dependent child is often the only stable relationship the child has while in foster care.
Other opportunities
Be an office advocate volunteer or a fundraising/special events coordination volunteer, link
Contact
Alameda County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) 1000 San Leandro Blvd., Suite 300 San Leandro, CA 94577
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Upcoming Events
Sunday, October 20, 2:30 P.M. Muslim/Christian Learning Circle initial fall meeting, see <link>, RSVP
San Damiano Retreat Center
710 Highland Drive, Danville
Wednesday, November 6, 5:30 - 7:30 P.M. East Bay Housing Organizations (EBHO) Annual Membership Meeting & Celebration, RSVP
to Anthony, [email protected] or 510-663-3830 ext. 313 Satellite Affordable Housing Associates' Satellite Central 540 21st St., Oakland (two blocks from 19th Street BART station)
Thursday, November 14, 7:00 P.M. Social Justice Committee meeting "Cry Room", St. Elizabeth Seton Church
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Brief Links
A Eric Schlosser on the Secret History of U.S. Nuclear Weapons (audio), link
The Two Faces of American Education, link
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The Common Core State Standards
Gov. Brown Ignores Federal Threats, Signs Bill Allowing Exams Based on Common Core Standards
Despite a threat that Federal funds would be withheld Governor Brown on October 2 signed a bill ending the standardized testing that California public school students have been taking since 1999. As reported in the Tri-Valley Times, "Assembly Bill 484 replaces the pencil-and-paper, multiple-choice STAR tests with new language and math tests taken on computers. The new assessments, called Measurement of Academic Progress and Performance, were designed with other states to follow a set of national curriculum standards known as Common Core." The full article is available at link.
Events Unfolding from Efforts to Improve U.S. Public Education
Each of the 50 states of the United States regulates education within its borders. This has led to great disparities in the quality of education. In 2007 the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers undertook the setting of uniform standards responsive to the needs of education in the 21st Century. Forty-five states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and the Department of Defense Education Activity have adopted the Common Core State Standards. The effort has led to the creation of three types of teaching aids, each visible on websites:
- The Common Core State Standards (CCSS), link
- Math standards, link
- English Language Arts standards, link
- Common Core curriculum tools in math, English Language Arts (ELA), and History (released October 1, 2013) to be followed by Art, see link
- Free Math Module PDFs, link
- Literature and non-fiction Catalogue, link
- Two sets of assessment tools
- Smarter Balanced Assessment, link, which will be used by California
- Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), link
The initial effort in 2007 involved the formation of a 501.c.3 non-profit corporation as described in link. Some of the same information is available on the Common Core website:
The Gates Foundation website outlines a grant of $580,844 in December of 2009 to Common Core for English Language Arts development, see link.
Catholic Church Officials' Responses to the Common Core
An article written for the National Catholic Reporter by Carol Zimmermann of the Catholic News Service (see link) stated:
According to the National Catholic Educational Association, 100 dioceses have been looking into implementing aspects of Common Core into their curriculum.
Last year, the Center for Catholic School Effectiveness at Loyola University Chicago's School of Education developed the Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative to help Catholic educators incorporate Catholic identity into the standards.
The NCEA has not endorsed Common Core but has provided workshops to help Catholic schools if they wish to implement them since they are now part of new textbooks, teacher training and testing, and will be part of the revamped SAT, the traditional college entrance exam.
Loyola University's Center for Catholic School Effectiveness partnered with the National Catholic Education Association to present three workshops at the NCEA conference in July. The Center said on its webpage, "During 'A Cure for the Common Core' workshops, K-12 teachers will have opportunities to learn more about writing essential questions, questioning strategies, teaching vocabulary, text complexity, reading informational text, while integrating and weaving Catholic identity throughout these approaches."
The Superintendents of Catholic Schools in California issued a statement saying, "..the rigor and clarity [the Common Core State Standards] provide will benefit our Catholic school students and will allow them a better opportunity to excel at a high academic level." The full statement is available at link .
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