Dear Mr. President,

Common Core mathematics is not the best choice for students. Even though it is supposed to be improving are math scores, it is doing the exact opposite. The new initiative is not easy for teachers to adjust to either. When I was in math class we were learning about a new topic and I just couldn’t figure out how to do the problem the way the teacher was showing us. Later I learned that I wasn’t alone several other kids were struggling trying to figure out this new standard. I asked my mom to help with problems later that night. She showed me the way she learned it and I was getting the right answer but, when I brought it in the next day I got it wrong for not showing my work the way the teacher taught us. So that night I did it the way the teacher showed us but I just couldn't get the right answer and I got it wrong again.

The passing rates have fallen since switching to common core. Although the common core initiative is supposed to help students understand the content better. It is throwing out all the previous tricks they have been learning their whole lives and it is affecting the students negatively. These new standards are supposed make learning the content easier because they are showing the students how the problems work but test score are showing that students are not taking well to the new way of learning. The following article Only one in three students pass NY Common Core exams states written by Karen DeWItt states that “New York State education officials said there is some improvement in the Common Core math and English tests third through eighth graders took this year. But, they admitted two-thirds of the students who took the tests failed.” showing that there some positive attributes coming from the common core initiative but that doesn’t change the fact that only 1 out every 3 kids was able to pass the test. But students are not the only ones being affected by common core standards teachers are as well. Common core not only makes it harder for non traditional learners to keep up but it also allows for teachers to have very little flexibility in their lesson plans. Along with the sheer amount of lesson plans teachers are being forced to fit into a school year hurting the students ability to be able to learn everything.

Despite common core being put into place to help students understand how the problems works it has done the exact opposite and test scores have plummeted. Teachers are upset, students are stressed, and parents can’t help because they learned everything differently while they were in school. Common core mathematics should not be the standard way of learning math it is not benefiting kids and test scores a decreased dramatically since it has been in place.