A document posted to the education section of Apple’s website reveals the company’s close ties to the controversial Common Core learning standard.
Entitled “Curriculum, Assessment and Teaching Tools for iPad,” the document claims to offer a comprehensive list of “exemplary” apps and iBooks focused on English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies.
“The App Store includes many apps designed to help build literacy and language skills… These textbooks feature video, interactive images, a glossary and dictionary, search capability, and the ability to highlight text and add notes,” the document states. “Also available is a wide range of literature including required reading and Common Core Text Exemplars.”
Despite the growing backlash against Common Core among parents and educators, the increasing number of schools obtaining iPads through federal grants will likely keep Apple from disassociating itself from the curriculum.
“Considering what a tangled web Common Core has become, you would think big names like Apple would distance themselves from it, but perhaps the prize is too profitable for some to ignore,” EAG News’ Danette Clark notes.
Even though educators have openly admitted that false math answers will now be accepted as legitimate, four out of six apps featured in the document’s Mathematics section are Common Core aligned.
“Under the new Common Core, even if they said 3 x 4 was 11, if they were able to explain their reasoning… and they just got the final number wrong, we’re really more focusing on the how,” Curriculum Director Amanda August famously said last year. “But the emphasis is really moving towards the explanation.”
Similarly, kindergarten students in Columbia, Ohio were asked to answer a math problem last July that had no correct answer provided.
Unfortunately, blatantly false material is not limited to Common Core math.
Last October, sixth grade students in Arkansas were asked to throw out two amendments in the Bill of Rights as part of a history class assignment. According to the paper, the government ordered the decree after the document was found to be “outdated” and could no longer remain in its current form.
An eighth-grade student in New York was even suspended from school last April after informing classmates that they could opt-out of an upcoming Common Core English test.
