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Hi Andy, sorry for the long delay in replying … this blog got away from me for a while. Your points (i)—(v) are basically right for me. As for the difference between speaking ex cathedra or as private opinion, I have tried as hard as possible on this blog to express my views of the standards as someone reading them along with everybody else. Of course, I have insights into the intentions of the authors, having been one of them, and I am happy to share those insights. But I think if the standards are going to work then we have to treat them as a document owned by the community.
On (ii), my guess is that different curricula will take different approaches. I see the partial products algorithm as a natural precursor to the standard algorithm, where you compress some of the partial products by noticing you can sum them as you go, for each digit in the multiplier.
While you may try to speak your “private opinion,” you cannot because of your privileged role as a CCSS writer. Maybe you should have done what Solon did after he gave his laws to the Athenians.
Probably my most serious disappointment with the Common Core is the failure to provide the means for some community, any community, to own it. As I recall, there were representations made three years ago about a process for revision, including technical corrections and updates. But to date, so far as I know, nothing has happened. So we are left with requirements such as to teach “the” standard algorithms when there is no agreement about what those are.
Andy
Hang on, which of the things that Solon did are you referring to? Inscribe the laws on large wooden slabs, or leave the country? According to Herodotus, Solon “left his native country for ten years and sailed away saying that he desired to visit various lands, in order that he might not be compelled to repeal any of the laws which he had proposed” [emphasis added]. I’ve always thought 10 years was about the right length of time for a revision cycle.
As for community ownership, I think that’s beginning to happen, in the messy way that such things do happen in this country. Our discussion on this blog is part of that process.
I totally get this. One would have to be some sort of omniscient prophet to anticipate exactly how the standards will play out in all respects: vertically, horizontally with science classes, etc., in a society with evolving technology beyond “Google Glass.” One of the reasons I have grown to trust your reflections is your tenacious humility. In a Country where democracy has been quickly fading, you have refused to become a dictator, and I really appreciate that.
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