Does the common core deserve credit for kindergarten readiness gains?

Sent to the Baltimore Sun, April 29, 2013

It is premature to attribute gains in kindergarten readiness to basing pre-K on the common core, introduced two years ago. (“City's revamped pre-K showing promise,” April 27). 

Contrary to the Sun’s statement, the rise in readiness scores was not “unprecedented.” Examination of the data, available from a Baltimore City Schools press release (March 27) shows that the 4% gain seen from 2011 to 2012 is part of a general trend of increased readiness test scores in since 2007 for all children entering kindergarten in Baltimore, whether enrolled in common core aligned pre-K or not. 

In fact, most of the gains in non-common-core aligned pre-K programs were larger than those seen in common-core pre-K programs

Stephen Krashen

 

City's revamped pre-K showing promise

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-04-27/news/bs-md-ci-pre-k-curriculum-20130427_1_common-core-kindergartners-students#ixzz2RsOnYHPC