Posted by Wayne Martin, a resident of the Fairmeadow neighborhood, on Nov 30, 2012 at 12:18 pm

Will there be any continuity between the STAR test results (meaning the API) and these new tests, or will there be a discontinuity in the results so that the last fifteen years of test results become "detached" from the new tests results.

Posted by Parent, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on Nov 30, 2012 at 2:57 pm

If these tests are taking over from the STAR tests then are these tests actually testing the students, the teachers, or the schools?

Many students put no effort whatsoever in the STAR tests because they know that it makes no difference to them and who can blame them? Why should they try hard on a test when they make no difference to the classes they take or the colleges they get into. This applies at elementary levels just as much as at high school.

To make a test more meaningful it has to be something that the students see a benefit from. Otherwise, it is just a waste of time as far as they are concerned.

Posted by VoxPop, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Nov 30, 2012 at 5:25 pm

Here is a link to the Common Core website: Web Link

Common Core is a set of educational standards that may be adopted by each state. It does not involve tests, yet. Once a state adopts the curriculum, it may develop tests to find out if the students have mastered the material.

Posted by doug liser, a resident of another community, on Apr 22, 2013 at 11:25 pm

I'm in Marin and after our 4th grade experience with CC and our third parent meeting with the district, I can say that we need to find a way to return local control before our kid's academic career is damaged beyond repair. The parent group meetings turned from interested participants in the fall to the proverbial angry mom this evening. I'm writing this comment in Palo Alto because I know that our districts are similar and that as parents have high expectations of our children, especially in math. I'm beginning to see that the way out is through our state legislators and not our school districts that are unfortunately bound by law to implement national standards.

Please help by contacting your state rep in Sacramento and discussing CC and what we see happening to some of the highest achievement public school districts in the country.