Common Core or common failure? Families pull kids out of class

By Dan Cassuto KATU News and KATU.com Staff

HILLSBORO, Ore. – Nine parents pulled their seventh- and eighth-graders out of math class and started teaching them at home, because they are upset with the new Common Core curriculum that public schools in Oregon are starting this year.

Seventh-grader Amy Craig has always been an “A” student in math until this year. She came home with a “D.”

The same thing happened to other students in her school. So their moms got together and decided to teach math themselves – an hour every morning.

Then the kids go off to school for the rest of the day.

This is the first school year when every public school in Oregon is using Common Core teaching standards. Forty-five other states use those, too.

“Our teachers would tell you math is more challenging this year than it was a year ago,” said Rian Petrick, principal of Evergreen Middle School in Hillsboro, who is not surprised kids are struggling.

Math hasn’t changed, but he said there are now fewer numbers and formulas and many more word problems and real-world examples. It includes more group work. That’s tough for some kids.

“Our teachers feel like it’s the best thing for kids, making them look much deeper into mathematics than they have in the past,” Petrick said.

Read more…