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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Computer crash hit Tuesday paper, website Medford Schools Foundation supports programs the district can't Local gas prices lowest in years Fire marshal visit prompts cancellation of Sacred Heart haunted house Ads attack Dotterrer and Bates Crime, Courts and Emergency Services Fire marshal visit prompts cancellation of Sacred Heart haunted house Two injured in Hayes Hill crash OSP finds 68 pounds of marijuana in car during traffic stop Emergency services Providence in Medford on list of Ebola treatment hospitals Politics and Elections Local gas prices lowest in years Ads attack Dotterrer and Bates Oregonians not in party mood Sign wars rage again in Phoenix Democratic contender not conceding victory to Walden Education Medford Schools Foundation supports programs the district can't Fire marshal visit prompts cancellation of Sacred Heart haunted house Kids Unlimited Academy awarded $450,000 grant County helps fund RCC job training SOU student says free speech issue overblown Environment Local gas prices lowest in years Where do all those leaves go? 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Hundreds look for work at Harry & David hiring fair Umpqua Holdings more than doubles net earnings Harry & David will hold hiring fair Thursday Opinion Latest Granlund cartoon: Haunted White House 2014 Southeast center offers new approach to growth Eagle Point needs public transportation Letters to the Editor, Oct. 28 Granlund cartoon: Midterm elections Editorials Southeast center offers new approach to growth Our View: Cost is a poor excuse for local pot tax Don't bet on pot windfall for schools Our View: SOU's 'free speech zone' constitutionally questionable Our View: Kitzhaber is still the best choice Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor, Oct. 28 Letters to the Editor, Oct. 27 Letters to the Editor, Oct. 26 Letters to the Editor, Oct. 26 Letters to the Editor, Oct. 25 Guest Opinions Eagle Point needs public transportation Guest Opinion: Common Core testing sets math students up for failure Guest Opinion: Campaigning and voting 'the Oregon way' Guest Opinion: A glimpse into the reality of our elections Don't overlook importance of Jackson County commissioners race Lifestyle Latest stories Shayne Looper: Is religion a do-it-yourself project? 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Engagement Wedding: Potter-Hazel Wedding: Martin-Berg Columnist for a Day Rogue Healthy Aging Tempo Latest stories Patty Griffin plays the Historic Ashland Armory Puss 'N' Boots Costume Ball and Auction Southern Oregon Repertory Singers present harmonious voices, dissonant notes Beekeepers Ball is one sweet soiree Scottish music duo plays highland magic Theater Review: Funny 'Lion in Winter' roars to life at Camelot Theatre Camelot presents 'The Lion in Winter' 'Carnage' is short, smart, darkly funny Music Patty Griffin plays the Historic Ashland Armory Live Music in Local Clubs Southern Oregon Repertory Singers present harmonious voices, dissonant notes Beekeepers Ball is one sweet soiree Scottish music duo plays highland magic Community Events Puss 'N' Boots Costume Ball and Auction Theater's haunted house not for faint of heart Third Fridays in downtown Medford Works in progress Southern Oregon Pride Festival celebrates diversity Dining Back Porch Bar & Grill Yu's Yummy Yan's offers great take-out Agave offers tasty tacos Asian cuisine for all seasons at Misoya Bistro Tempo Videos Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Blogs TV Listings Movie Listings Oregon Outdoors Oregon Healthy Living Magazines & Special Sections NEWS NOW Providence ready to go as Oregon ebola treatment center ... Two injured in Hayes Hill crash ... OSP finds 68 pounds of marijuana in car during traffic stop ... Providence ready to go as Oregon ebola treatment center ... Two injured in Hayes Hill crash ... OSP finds 68 pounds of marijuana in car during traffic stop ... GUEST OPINION Guest Opinion: Common Core testing sets math students up for failure By Betty R. Kazmin MailTribune.com By Betty R. Kazmin Posted Oct. 26, 2014 @ 12:01 am By Betty R. Kazmin Posted Oct. 26, 2014 @ 12:01 am » Social News "Will Common-Core Testing Platforms Impede Math Tasks?" is an eye-catching front page headline in Education Week. (Sept 24 issue). You may be familiar with the Common Core, adopted by 45 states including Oregon, and being used to improve public education in math and language arts. They are uniform learning standards imposed on teachers and students in classes nationwide. They are also a boon for publishing companies creating the new and improved learning materials that school districts must purchase with their scarce resources. "Testing Platforms" refers to the standardized computer testing mandated by the Common Core starting in 2015. The Education Week article reports: "Unlike previous state assessments, those being developed by the two federally funded consortia will include complex, multipart word problems that students will answer on screen ...(some) ... questions will ask them to write answers in narrative form, using a keyboard." That caught this old math teacher's attention. Common Core will be testing math mastery of elementary and middle school students, with Oregon schools using the new Smarter Balanced tests. The concern is that students with strong math skills, who could demonstrate solutions with calculations and diagrams, will be forced to rely on verbal skills which may be less developed, and on keyboarding skills they have not yet learned. "It's not like, during the year in classrooms, these kids are solving these problems on the computer," said David Foster, the executive director of the Calif-based Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiative, which has worked with both consortia creating the 2015 assessments. "I think there are some potentially really good questions (on the tests), but when you give kids a great question but all they can use to solve this problem is the keyboard in front of them, you sort of put handcuffs on the kids," Foster told Education Week. My personal concerns come from 20 years spent teaching algebra and other math subjects to secondary school students in Los Angeles. I taught both regular and honors level courses, often teaching 180 students of diverse socio-economic backgrounds each semester. Most worked diligently to learn the material. My homework assignments and tests were designed to match the material being studied. Students were required to show the math work they used to solve problems, and were awarded partial credit for doing much of it correctly even if the final answer was wrong. None of this will be done under the new computerized testing methods. Whatever pencil and paper work students do will not be part of their result; only what they enter using a keyboard will count. Students will be frustrated by using unfamiliar testing means, especially knowing these are high stake tests. Teachers will also suffer the consequences if students have difficulties, even though teachers will not have the opportunity to prepare students for the computerized assessment method. Not only is Common Core a federally sponsored education program, but many states have agreed that teacher evaluations will be linked to students' results on the 2015 tests. That makes accurate results imperative if teachers and students are to be evaluated fairly. It raises serious questions that deserve answers. How will young schoolchildren cope with unfamiliar computerized testing platforms, how much federal funding is being spent to create these assessments, and how meaningful will be the results ? "Portland schools say no to state rules" is a relevant headline in the Mail Tribune (Oct. 16). That district will opt out of tests for third-grade reading, fifth-grade math and eighth-grade math, "in essence saying the district won't be judged based on student performance on the new Smarter Balanced Test," says the AP story. Several reasons are cited, reflecting worries of districts nationwide. They don't even include concerns about unfamiliar computerized testing methods. The executive director of the Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education at the University of Chicago, Martin Gartzman, put it succinctly in Education Week: "The primary tools kids use to solve problems and justify their answers every day in math class and required by the common core aren't available for kids to use during these tests. We're going to get tests that are just going to frustrate people and are really going to underrepresent what students know." Is it reasonable and fair to test America's schoolchildren in a manner guaranteed to yield inaccurate results ? Results that will be stored permanently in the massive databases that are the other component of the Common Core ? I'm thinking of hundreds of my former math students, kids who knew the material and did well on my pencil and paper exams, being frustrated by this new challenge. If they score poorly, that becomes a permanent record of failure for them, their teachers and their schools. What kind of Common Core is that? Betty R. Kazmin of Medford taught algebra for 20 years in Los Angeles public and private secondary schools, and served on the board of education in Willard, Ohio. By Betty R. Kazmin MailTribune.com By Betty R. 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