This is part 19.
Here is a post from a friend of mine:
More “Promise Programs” This agreement between OCR and Wake County Schools includes “peer mediation” and “restorative justice circles” instead of suspensions.
The district must continue to make changes with discipline policies, practices, and procedures, data collection and self-monitoring, and district staff training. All of these changes must have the aim of reducing minority discipline levels.
It was also revealed that the creation of the over half a million dollars a year “Office of Equity Affairs” was a requirement for quelling the complaint filed against the district. This office is now tasked with the development discipline “equity plans” for the entire district.
The Office of Equity Affairs started with only 3 employees, including a Social Justice Warrior from the Southern Poverty Law Center being paid $85,000 a year. A 4th employee was added over the Summer – Christina Spears. More details on how much Spears is costing taxpayers will be reported as they become available.
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Here is a post from Alice Linahan:
Heads up- Listen Live:
Congressman Louie Gohmert is on the House Judiciary Committee and will be questioning the CEO of Google on Dec. 11, 2018. You can listen by clicking below:
As a parent of a former public school student, who opted our daughter out of having a district-issued Chrome-book and a district-issued g-mail account back in 2015. I can tell you it was impossible for our daughter to do her school work without accessing another student’s Gmail account in order to get assignments completed. Today, it is not even possible for a student to take a class in Texas public schools without being fully exposed to google classroom and Google’s Gmail system. Which is why I am now a homeschool mom for our youngest child and testified on Nov. 27, 2018, in front of the Texas Senate Education Committee on the issue of Data Privacy.
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And someone’s reply to this post:
we went to an orientation, not at a public school even, a catholic school and they announced they got a grant for chrome books for the kids that year, they were so proud of that fact and it seemed in talking with them after, they were unaware of the implications. Being informed, this was a huge red flag when we hard that. Needless, to say we homeschool now
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And another post from Alice Linahan:
TECHNOLOGY VS. TEACHERS IN MATH CLASSROOMS
http://www.educationviews.org/technology-vs-teachers-in-ma…/
“To begin with, the assumption that moving to the technologically-driven curriculum is the answer to education’s many problems today is an erroneous one. It’s still about working with the people inside the buildings who must choose to work with any proposed and proven curriculum, no matter what its form. School leaders should be required to know what results have been shown by a program and in what specific environments. Otherwise, it’s just another fad from another vendor. Most good teachers recognize fads. They also know how to avoid wasting time on them.
Therefore, it seems reasonable that those who are designing new curriculum materials, whether online or in print, for teachers and students should get to know what actually goes on in a classroom. The results of a statewide digital program, Think Through Math (TTM), which is part of the online SUCCESS program (Texas Students Using Curriculum Content to Ensure Sustained Success), shows a serious lack of that knowledge about teachers, student behavior, and administrative participation by those who tried to implement it.
Based on the report’s summary, whether or not the TTM curriculum was valuable and improved student learning could not be accurately assessed. One wonders why such a massive effort would have been agreed to by the Texas Education Agency instead of setting up small pilot programs with defined groups of children across this giant state.
At least the researchers admitted to many of the problems that prevented an appropriate assessment of their program. Some of the mistakes they cited were as follows:”
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Here is a feed that was shared in an anti-Common Core group. It related to the mindfulness stuff talked about in the Utah anti-Common Core group:
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Here is a post from a Nevada anti-Common Core group:
Ironic story: I met with the administration at my kids school to tell them it was not ok that they set up an account for my kids that are under the age of 13 on Khan Academy. I told them about Khan’s privacy policy and that I can actually sue them along with every other parent that has a child under the age of 13 that had an account created for them….. this meeting was about 2 weeks ago. This now comes home with my daughter today 😒
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And some replies to this post:
First came Common Core, then came nationwide software like Khan Academy that “teaches” to CC. The good news is we are working on a opt-out of SBAC bill through the NV legislature.
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What would an opt out bill do?
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Allow parents to opt their children out of the SBAC test like many other states like: CA, OR, UT, and many others…
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We already opt out. That’s why I guess I was confused
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Not everyone in the state has the “right” to opt-out😢
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We need opt in not opt out its proactive not reactive.
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Why is Kahn academy bad? It is so much easier to understand when I have to help my kids with math
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I’m fine with my kids doing Khan if they create their own account with me at home. Not at school with school ID linked to IC and all of our personal family information
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An update on the story of the teacher fired in VA for not bowing down to the Transtapo. Apparently students tried to start a petition going for the teacher’s reinstatement, only for it to be confiscated by the principal. However, the principal has relented (under threat of legal action, of course!) Now the students are staging a walkout to protest the unanimous decision by the transfascist school board to terminate the teacher. I applaud their standing up to the tyrannical school board. May students across the country emulate their example:
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Here is a post from the Texas anti-testing group:
From IDEA Manual put out by the ARC/Disability Rights TX – I thought the STARR replaces TEKS. The statement below confuses me. Are TEKS and STARR going in tandem?
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Here is a post from a Utah anti-Common Core group:
Thoughts?
http://eagnews.org/parents-object-to-elementary-schools-lunchroom-fingerprint-scanner/
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And some replies to this post:
So they dont like biometric data really tgen why havent they opted out of ed tech completely or pulled their children from federally funded schools yet ? They must not have figured out that the SLDS already has fields for biometric data on each student.
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Federal government has been promoting collection of biometric data for years. And every biometric device company is looking to get the big school contracts. There are news stories of kids having to give retinal scans to get on the bus. It’s Orwellian for sure.
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pearson is testing it on children in india
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I believe it.
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Here is a post from an anti-Common Core group:
Together, we can make the internet a great place for children to grow up. Ummmmm no.
The message implies it’s okay for children to grow up with a screen – as long as it’s approved content by the sponsor: Common Sense Media. But with its Project Inicorn partners, Silicon Valley BigData funders, why am I surprised? #HardPass.
And here are some replies to this post:
Common Sense is an excellent resource for books as well. Not sure how this email implies anything but making sure kids are safe when they use the internet. Better to make it safe, than ignore the fact that kids will and do use screens at some point in their life.
I take issue with Common Sense Media’s statement that the internet is a great place for kids to grow up. The recent 60 Minutes piece show research how children’s brains change when exposed to screens, their cortex is thinning. In general, these children have a 2 year lag in language development. There is also research that shows blue light from screens damages the retina, causes blindness. Screens are addictive, linked to depression in children and teens. I wish that an organization who gives advice to parents about protecting their children, would not promote screens and instead, would actively work to inform parents of the risks. There’s also the risk of data privacy. Hidden data collection (meta data, keystrokes, algorithms) combined with other data collection (surveys, assessments, etc) makes online “personalized learning” very predictive, with the ability to collect millions of data points per child. There are no federal laws regulating the collection, use, selling of this data. Rather than make student data MORE shareable, I wish Common Sense Media would support parents and say that we need a federal law giving parents consent before their children’s data is collected, processed, shared outside of school.
“Together, we can make the internet a great place to grow up” is very different than your paraphrasing. Have you read beyond that statement or looked at their website? You may not like the looks of this one page but it doesn’t appear that you know much about Common Sense.
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/kids-action
If you can show me where Common Sense Media supports a federal law giving parents consent over their children’s data collection, I will gladly change my statement.
Common Sense Media is partnered with CCSSO (the folks who co-own the patent to Common Core State Standards), and others in bigtech, on Project Unicorn. Common Sense Funders include The Bezos (Amazon) Family Foundation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of NY, Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Overdeck Family Foundation, R.K. Mellon Foundation Symantec ,The Anschutz Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation. Another of their investors, Omidyar Network . I wish they would use their influence to protect student data, return parent consent and alert parents on the danger of screen time in the classroom
Geesh, everyone has connections to them. Like I said, have a good day.
please continue to shine light on the obvious conflicts between big money and big data and big government. Together we can restore FERPA and get FED LED ED out of our lives. For now, just get your children out of public school. Trust is earned. The internet; doe; boe; pta; uft and public schools…have failed to secure our trust – and failed our children. Teach them well.
Here is a post that I found shared in the ParentStrike group:
Iowa’s graduation rate is 90%. 80% have plans to continue their education. Their ACT scores for students meeting all 4 benchmarks has consistently been above the national average.
YET, the corporate “reform” model invaded that highly-performing state! Change collective bargaining law, expand vouchers, establish Education Savings Accounts and expand tuition tax credits that fund nonpublic school scholarships, and cut funding among other measures. TELL US AGAIN WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT?
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And another post shared in the ParentStrike group:
Using a Disney-like mascot to promote test-prep software i-Ready is how you put lipstick on a pig.
#refuseiReady#optout#Snargg#iReadyFL
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“But above all else, the iReady Universal Screener is a dangerous assessment because it is a dehumanizing assessment. The test strips away all evidence of the students’ thinking, of her mathematical identity, and instead assigns broad and largely meaningless labels. The test boils down a student’s entire mathematical identity to a generic list of skills that ‘students like her’ generally need, according to iReady. And yet despite its lumping of students into broad categories, iReady certainly doesn’t hesitate to offer very specific information about what a child likely can do and what next instructional steps should be.”
Source: https://mathexchanges.wordpress.com/…/why-iready-is-danger…/
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Here is a post from the anti-competency based education group:
One of the leaders in the one to one movement in public schools, Baltimore County Public Schools….
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Here is a post from Alison from the anti-CBE group:
Re: Cradle to Career Pathways, this map will be of interest. This is why Lumina is pushing competencies, to feed into the skilling / reselling pipeline to automate the labor force via Microsoft / Linked in. Ties to Walmart and Northrop Grumman. Great. Interactive version here: https://littlesis.org/…/3650-credential-engine-lumina-labor…
Skillful is rolling out in 20 states. CO was first, now IN. https://news.microsoft.com/…/indiana-governor-eric-j…/
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Here is a post from a friend of mine:
EXCERPT:
Where Else The Road Leads:
Recently, I was researching for an interview about the U.N.’s overreach into American Education. I found the trail leads to a couple of places you Warriors may know (or may not). The latest FAFSA information for those students wanting to go to college (or are being forced to fill the form out to graduate high school) contains all kinds of information which could be another article all by itself. However, as many times as the College Board is mentioned, I looked at bit closer. Buried in the College Board’s fine print for taking the SAT exams is this:
(The College Board document can be found here. The added emphasis you see is from the UNESCO Archives as well as the U.S. State Dept. Archives.
If you wish to see where else UNESCO Coupons are issued or accepted, visit here.
To see the complete list of USA UNESCO Coupons suppliers and those groups accepting them, find that here. Warriors, you’ll be armed with the knowledge that some key CCSS Machine groups are in the UNESCO Coupon system.
Another road stop? The UNESCO ASPNet, spread across the globe. Here in the USA, 27 States and the District of Columbia are members of this network. What’s ASPNet?
The U.N.’s Associated School Project Network.
https://commoncorediva.wordpress.com/2018/12/12/lost-somewhere-on-the-road/
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And another post from this friend:
Rules are about to be adopted based on the new Computer Science Standards that were adopted in August.
Here is what I sent to the State Board of Ed. I’m concerned about the overreach in the standards when they include direction to the teacher in HOW to teach. Standards should be academic content. The HOW should be left to the local communities (teacher) to decide. That’s where I object to what’s been adopted:
After reading through the draft Computer Science Standards, I’m submitting proposed changes to the first draft.
Questions:
Who developed the Computer Science Standards? What are their credentials?
What teachers were involved? Were there any early childhood experts?
Did any expert offer guidance on whether these standards are developmentally appropriate for the age group targeted?
What math skills are necessary for a solid understanding of computer science?
Guiding principles discussing the importance of literacy skills in learning the content, should be included.
Our biggest concern, and therefore our most important suggestion, is the removal of “practices” included in the standards.
Dr. Sandra Stotsky, content-standards expert, referred to the practices as a way of inserting pedagogy in the standards. When I asked her about the practices she said, “Practices should not be in a standards document.”
Inserting pedagogy is an overreach on the part of the State. This limits a teacher’s ability to change teaching-methods, if a method does not work well in the classroom. An example of this is in the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practices. Math teachers have explained the numerous problems when the practices tell a teacher how to teach.
Assessing practices becomes subjective, and in some cases impossible to teach, according to the Manchester teacher who presented testimony before the Manchester Board of School Committee.
New Hampshire State Law RSA 193-C requires statewide assessments to be valid, appropriate and objectively scored. http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/…/ht…/XV/193-C/193-C-mrg.htm. Practices would be assessed in a subjective manner, violating state statute if they are assessed on the state standardized assessment.
Assessing practices takes away from what should be taught in the classroom, and teachers will not have the flexibility to change teaching methods, if they are not working well. Practices included in and assessed as standards, will be essentially forced on teachers. If parents object to the teaching methods used by the teacher because the methods are not working well, the likelihood of a teacher changing their methods is slim to none. If a child is going to be tested on a specific practice, the teacher is essentially forced to use those methods in their class, even against the teacher’s better judgement.
This is an overreach on the part of the State. The State should not be involved in telling a teacher how to teach in a classroom. That’s best left up to local districts to decide.
Any assessment based on practices will not give parents a clear picture of their child’s proficiency in the core subject. While academic content may be assessed, so may behaviors. Collaboration and communication will be assessed since they are part of the practices. If a student excels in the academic content but doesn’t display a certain behavior, the student will be penalized. The assessment then gives parents a skewed picture of their child’s proficiency in the core academic content.
Dr. Stephen Wilson, Professor of Mathematics at Johns Hopkins University, explained how this becomes problematic when testing children on mathematical practices. In Dr. Wilson’s critique of the Smarter Balanced Assessment, Dr. Wilson said:
1) The conceptualization of mathematical understanding on which the Smarter Balanced Assessment will base its assessments is deeply flawed.
2) The consortium focuses on the Mathematical Practices of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSS-M) at the expense of content, and they (Smarter Balanced Consortium SBAC) outline plans to assess communication skills that have nothing to do with mathematical understanding.
3) In addition, they (SBAC) will be unable to provide student-level data for critical procedural skills, instead providing data only at the classroom or school level.
4) ….the draft supplies little guidance for curriculum developers or for the assessment of mathematical content knowledge.
5) Communication skills are NOT critical to mathematical understanding, and insisting on them in order to judge mathematical understanding is misguided at best.
6) Mathematical Practices, or what are usually called process standards in most states, do little more than describe how someone pretty good at mathematics seems to approach mathematics problems. As stand alone standards, they are neither teachable nor testable.
7) Mathematics is about solving problems, and anyone who can solve a complex multi-step problem using mathematics automatically demonstrates skill with the Mathematical Practices, whether or not communications skills are present.
8) Problem solving leads to mathematical practices, not mathematical practices leads to problem solving.
9) This Draft does not give good guidance for curriculum developers, because content is an afterthought.
10) It appears that the assessments will stress communication skills and Mathematical Practices at the expense of content knowledge.
Barry Garelick also critiqued the Standards for Mathematical Practices. He has written extensively about math education in various publications including The Atlantic, Education Next, Educational Leadership, and Education News. He recently retired from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is now teaching middle and high school math in California. He has written a book about his experiences as a long- term substitute in a high school and middle school in California: “Teaching Math in the 21st Century”.
Garelick said, “The SMP promotes developing habits of mind used in abstract and quantitative reasoning. It is not directly teachable.”
He goes on to give an example of how this idea of standardizing practices doesn’t work:
“While abstract and quantitative reasoning are important goals of algebraic thinking, the SMP opens itself up to the prevalent belief in the reform math camp that students can be taught various algebraic habits of mind outside of an actual algebra course. An example of this type of thinking can be seen in a certain type of problem presented to students in early grades. For example, the students are shown pictorial problems like black and white beads in a numbered series of growing sequential patterns. The problem shows the first three patterns and asks students to predict the number of white beads in pattern 5, say. Students in fifth grade have not yet learned how to represent equations using algebra. Also, the problem is more of an IQ test than an exercise in math ability. Furthermore, such problems ignore the deductive nature of mathematics. An unintended habit of mind from such problem is to encourage inductive type reasoning. Students then learn the habit of jumping to conclusions once they identify a pattern, thinking nothing further needs to be done.”
There is a common theme among experts who’ve looked at these kinds of practices included in the Common Core Standards. With the numerous problems that arise by including practices, these decisions are best made at the local level. Giving teachers flexibility to change methods that do not work well at a specific grade in a specific classroom is important. Taking that local control away from the teacher, parent, administration and school board should be avoided, especially when there are no peer-reviewed or independent studies that show improvement in academic outcomes when practices are included in academic standards.
A specific academic standard that offers clear academic content to the classroom teacher should be the main focus when developing content standards. Any such standard should be developmentally appropriate for the child who is learning a content standard at each grade level. Including standards that are not grounded in academic content in computer science should be reviewed and removed if the standard is focused on the practices.
For instance, Impacts of Computing: 1A-IC-16 Compare how people live and work before and after the implementation or adoption of new computing technology. This standard has nothing to do with academic content, but appears to be included as an effort to make students aware of the impact of computer technology. The standard also references the communicating and computing practice. This could become a time-consuming assignment that offers no actual academic content in the course.
Teachers are certainly free to include these practices in their classroom if they find value in them, but should never be included in the standards if that will force certain practices upon each district and each teacher in the classroom.
We need to trust the local teacher to make these important decisions based on what content needs to be covered and on the age and maturity of students, while still maintaining the ability to change methods if the teacher sees that a particular method is not working in the classroom.
Some key areas of concern with the standards:
1A-CS-01 Select and operate appropriate software to perform a variety of tasks, and recognize that users have different needs and preferences for the technology they use.
The first part of the standard appears to be a direct task that can be tested. The second part relies upon “recognition,” which may be a difficult behavior to teach and assess.
1A-CS-02 Use appropriate terminology in identifying and describing the function of common physical components of computing systems (hardware).
The description under the draft standard offers teachers a better and clearer standard: Students should be able to identify and describe the function of external hardware, such as desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet devices, monitors, keyboards, mice, and printers.
For instance
Students (SHOULD) would be able to use simple troubleshooting strategies.
Compared to: 1A-CS-03 Describe basic hardware and software problems using accurate terminology.
To contrast with the concerns I’ve mentioned, here is an example of a clear content-based standard:
1A-DA-05 Store, copy, search, retrieve, modify, and delete information using a computing device and define the information stored as data.
This standard eliminates problems that can arise when the standard directs the teacher how to teach a practice.
Input is needed from high school math and science teachers especially because these standards should be allied to the content in math and science in advanced high school coursework. We also recommend a review by a large number of high school math, science, and English teachers anonymously, to protect their identities.
Ann Marie Banfield
Education Liaison, Cornerstone Action
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And yet another post from Ann:
The Democrat controlled NH Senate has renamed the standing Education Committee the “Education and Workforce Development” committee.
As I’ve been saying, public education is being dumbed down via workforce development. Looks like the Democrats in NH are thrilled about it.
NOTICE how they didn’t include LITERACY ?
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And some replies to this post:
The suggestion that preparation for the workforce is the justification for dumbing down school curriculum makes no sense If anything people need to be better educated in STEM areas today than before
We see it in NH with Competency Based ed.
The focus shifted away from literacy in the core subjects to empty workforce skills.
Some may be valuable but forced on every teacher in every grade isn’t the solution.
An example I use is from a parent who contacted me a while ago. She had home-schooled her son for 8 years then put him in a public school. She called to complain to me about how her son was required to do a “math project” with another student. This was done to meet the collaboration competency.
So they worked on the project for a week.
The mom said she could have covered the chapter they were working on in a day or two. IT took them a week.
Over the year, students fell further and further behind what she could have taught in the same time period as a home-schooler.
It’s forced on every class regardless of whether it’s good for that subject or not.
Except.. I think that things are often called STEM.. and they really aren’t. Just because there is a computer involved doesn’t make it STEM.
Sally can make a powerpoint..great.. that is not a STEM skill.
Logic and Math is really want is needed.
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What is an empty workforce skill?
The collaborative work theme is central to ed school doctrine
I would not be opposed to workforce training if it were real Students do need to be prepared for the workforce in fact and over and above preparation for college degrees SO many college degrees leave students in deep debt and still unable to advance into well paying jobs and professions
I saw one skill as “appreciation for diversity”
I think there is certainly value in some of these skills, but forcing teachers in every subject in every grade?
We know it then shifts focus away from the academics.
I agree that colleges are NOT preparing students for jobs and I think there needs to be some serious consideration given to Marco Rubio’s idea. He suggested that colleges be required to give students and parents an idea of what kind of future a student has once they graduate from the degree program they are considering. Will they be prepared for a job or just heavily in debt? Will they be able to expect a certain salary level that will allow them to cut the cord from living at home?
The dangers of common core run WAY deeper that what is being discussed though. People are in for a rude awakening.
Which makes me wonder why they support free college tuition for all.
Colleges today brainwash and indoctrinate and awful lot outside the hard sciences It makes perfect sense to then push colelge for all
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I think C.S. Lewis summed it up the best:
http://ashbrook.org/publications/onprin-v7n2-dunn/
This education model of workforce training is based on the failed model from the 90’s Outcome Based ed.
I think future employers would be thrilled if kids graduated literate.
I guess naming it the “Care and Feeding of Educrats and Bureaucracy Committee” was too long (and too honest).
ROFL..leave it to you Jon to come up with the perfect summary.
They are re-naming it all over the country. Is this an HONOR to Bad Boy “Clinton”. If most women were smart they would vomit on hhim!
I had a very interesting conversation w a professor from a local community college in town. We happened to be volunteering together this week and he was expressing his frustration over kids the last 3-5 years not being able to do basic algebra. The best part – he admitted to me he doesn’t know what’s happening in public education; basically admitting colleges and high schools don’t know their asses from a hole in the ground and don’t even communicate with one another.
I heard today that the NH DoE is involved with a grant so that Nashua students can get credit for Algebra 1 for participating in some robotics thing.
I have to get more info on it, but my jaw dropped.
That’s what they think school is — preparation to be a cog in the workforce.
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EXACTLY!
I believe that whether you go to college or not the determination of your success lies within you. People can have many degrees and accomplish nothing and others with just the will to survive can improve greatly.
And here is a post on Ann’s page, in to response to an article about the Virginia teacher fired by a Transtapo school board:
In [child name redacted by me] class (grade 8 ) 25% of the girls are lesbian, trans or bisexual. That statistically makes no sense. (Which I’ve told her.) Its trendy. Since when is sexuality trendy. Possibly for the reasons you’ve stated. But sexuality should not be a trend.
And another post on this discussion:
I had a paraprofessional working in a local school tell me that it’s cool to be LGBTQ now.
Peer pressure maybe?
Years ago it wasn’t so accepted.
Now that it’s trendy, kids may be trying or experimenting.
That was her take based on what she saw.
Here is a post from a Massachusetts anti-Common Core group:
Teacher tells us we have to give our daughter computer time because MCAS is all computerized this year. Isn’t that literally her job? To teach the skills? Like, isn’t the point behind MCAS to find out what the kids are learning from their teacher? I’m so frustrated!
And some replies to this post:
So is she saying computer skills are the priority? Or the curriculum.
she’s saying that because the MCAS is taken by computer, I have to teach her to type.
I’m not against my child learning to type, don’t get me wrong. They’re just not super into devices and I don’t push it. She’s asking ME to push it because of this test that tests HER ability to teach. It doesn’t make sense!
So much wrong with this! Paper and pencil is more appropriate.
Results for my kids were not sent to parents until October, if they were supposed to help teachers or students, results 2 months into a new school year are helpful to no one.
Here is a post that someone made on the page of the Common Core Diva:
BTW! This is the junk they are pushing on our local middle school.
https://www.leaderinme.org/uploads/Documents/results/7_Habits_Lit_Review_for_Education.pdf
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A Leftist teacher has blocked a 2nd grade student from reading the Bible at show and tell: https://www.faithwire.com/2018/12/14/teacher-prohibits-second-grader-from-reading-bible-at-class-show-and-tell/
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Here is a post that was shared in the Utah anti-Common Core group:
This is extremely upsetting to me. Oquirrh Hills didn’t fail. The system as it is set up failed them.
Standardized testing failed these children. “Rigorous” standards that are inadequate and have severely limited our students who come to school with many set back already, are a set up for failing.
These students were striving in other ways, but those were not highlighted.
The morale of the community is down. As the article states, parents are worried their children will be labeled at their new schools, as they will be spread out to neighboring elementary schools. I see this as making the community break apart, not coming together. Disgraceful.
I am so sorry that the Turnaround Assessment Measurements have caused this, though I have spoken against this in the past.
Will anyone listen and look at causation instead of spending tax payer monies on turnaround venders who do not help, placing bandaids on bleeding cuts?
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And another post from this group:
As the final meetings of the Health Standards Townhalls approach next week, really pay attention that these standards fall in line with the National Health Standards put forth by the CDC and other national organizations. Notice coercion and peer pressure is encouraged, at the national level.
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And I found a post from the Common Core Diva in this group, which shows the Education and SEL material in the Farm Bill, as well as the tie in with the Agenda 21/2030 and the SDGs, which aim to not only control our education and create a global workforce, but also control food supply and production as well:
Warriors, Congress wants to spend $876 billion of our taxpayer dollars to reform not only how Farmer Brown grow crops, but how Americans learn to eat. SEL in the classroom via your food? Oh, that’s only the beginning of this bad egg.
H/T Utah!!
https://commoncorediva.wordpress.com/2018/12/14/educations-magic-beans/
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Here is a post from an anti-Common Core page:
The Oregon Legislature is considering a bill that would require middle school and high school students to undergo an annual mental health exam.
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Here is a post from my friend Ann from New Hampshire:
I have concerns about this. First of all, I think the Commissioner has his heart in the right place by wanting to make sure that if a student does learn the academic content (let’s say through an online course, etc. ) that they receive credit.
However, the prior Deputy Commissioner gave an example of when a student works at a hospital, earning biology credit. NO, it’s not the same.
It really depends on who is offering the credit and if they are making sure all content has been learned.
I would call myself cautious at this time. I do think down the road, we may hear about how kids aren’t really learning what they should learn in an entire course.
This week I sat with a teacher who said she’s teaching 75% of what she used to teach years ago. She’s been forced to use authentic tasks/workforce skills, and so now students do not learn as much of the academic content. This was brought to NH by Fred Bramante’s push for Competency Based Ed.
Workforce training = dumbed down schools.
Prove me wrong.
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Here is a reply to a comment of mine that asked why we allow the discrimination against Christians and Christ in schools and that we should stand up to it:
My three grandchildren saw i was there at their “holiday” program , i read the program and saw the trees , Santa . deer and sleighs but not one song mentioning Christmas or our Savior Jesus’ birth . I got up and walked to the entrance where the teachers were standing and handed them back their program and told them they were celebrating Paganism (a religion) but totally removing Christ from this celebration. And then told them i was leaving and not returning to any of their functions until they stopped being prejudice against Christians. They appeared to silently want to agree with me but the fear of loosing their pay checks kept their mouths shut. Christians must stand up and leave these Godless functions, and take their kids with them.
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Here is a post shared in a Texas anti-Common Core group:
Information Needed:
Parents and teachers, I need your assistance, please. Those of us who have followed education know that many, many changes have taken place that have affected the landscape of student learning. What I would like to learn from you is, to what extent has fear been an influence?
Fear can be a positive motivator if it is applied to move a person in a direction that betters their current condition. Fear can also cripple and stifle creativity if it is used to condition and manipulate individuals.
Parents, what are you witnessing with your children when it comes to this element of fear as it applies to their school work, teacher relationships, fear of passing STAAR and even perhaps their outlook on their future?
Teachers, I would love to get your input. The fact that teachers are afraid to speak out on the topic of fear in the school workplace points to the reality of the topic in the first place. For the veteran teachers, I would love to get your perspective on how you have seen the element of fear affect how students learn and the overall workplace environment, from the early years in your career to the present day.
If you would be so kind to contribute with your comments, both parents and teachers, I will compile the information into an article so we can all try to understand this element of fear and how it affects student learning today.
And here are some replies to this post:
My son is now 23.
Background: He has always scored off the charts on all tests. We moved here from SD, which has one of the best school systems we have ever seen. My oldest son was one of four National Merit Scholarship Finalist in his high school there. His graduating class had 101 kids. Four NM scholarship finalists is HUGE. My younger son was always in GT classes and was placed in AP and honors courses based on his abilities.
As the new kid at WCJH he was bullied, and NOTHING WAS DONE! We were told that is “just how some people are,” and he needed to learn to deal with it. He was on FB someone had sent him a page that was set up to talk about how everyone hated a particular student. The principal said there was nothing she could do. A dedicated hate page by her students and she was not going to even talk to the kids about it. (I went with him to report it. He was so nervous!) After moving up to SLHS, he found a safe haven with his band and the directors. But the fear mongering in his classes caused severe anxiety. We started counseling and my son was diagnosed with severe anxiety and major depressive disorder with suicidal ideation. I guess not being exposed to this earlier in life made him more susceptible??? It was a shock to his system to not be encouraged to explore all his interests and LEARN and told to focus only on those classes that would give him a
“competitive” GPA and encouraged to be result oriented vs. process oriented.
His drs both advised it was the educational environment that created this ridiculous sense of fear of failure and we should consider different placements. For a formerly confident and extremely successful student, it was a hard diagnosis to accept. The constant “grade whoring” (NOT sexual, but the terms the students used to describe the tactics to get a “bump” in their grade) and his unwillingness to be a part of that, was what led to the depression. He had absolutely no reason to have any fear of failure but that is literally all that he heard.
Fear was created to control the students. I started volunteering more (outside of band) at the high school to get even more involved and actually see what was going on 1st hand. I was shocked (and frankly disgusted) to hear other parents discuss how to get any edge they could for their children. Hours of how a student should not take certain classes (even if it was their passion) because it would not benefit the all
mighty GPA. A few weeks of listening to this nonstop, I was developing anxiety and actually had a panic attack trying to explain what was going on to my husband. One day I just got up and walked out of the portable we parents were working in. I went to the counselor’s office and had my son brought in. I offered to pull him out and either find a private school or home school. Although he was conflicted about having to leave the band, he did not hesitate. He cried he was so thankful to even think about getting away from the craziness. We unenrolled and found an excellent private school that focused on developing the “whole” child and allowing them to find their passion, with no negative consequences.
To this day, if we have to attend an even at one of the public schools in Katy, his anxiety rears its ugly head. (They all look like SLHS.) we even left a concert without going in because it was just too stressful. When a I drive anywhere near SLHS I start feeling anxiety creep in. It makes me sick what happened to my child there and I waited 18 months to pull him out.
It’s terrible that happened to your son and to you. As a teacher I began having anxiety attacks at the school where I taught. Even when I moved to another school and district that was MUCH better, I continued to have PTSD anxiety attacks and nightmares about the previous school. They finally stopped when I realized I was not going to be screamed at. Now that I’m retired I still have “school dreams” but they are happy ones. I pray that you and you son will eventually forget the “bad things” and that his school experience will be positive and supportive.
I quit teaching preschool at the end of last year after I was diagnosed with PTSD. I think mine was a culmination of what we want through with my son and then admin changes at my school that were nightmare inducing. I taught part time threes and the amount of academics (that were not developmentally appropriate) made me so sad for those kids. I had a three year old whose parents took her to Kumon for tutoring on her days off so she would “be ahead of the game.” It made me cry for her. Her parents thought they were creating this “genius learner” when all they were doing was not allowing her to develop age appropriate skills. Things that are learned when they play and interact. Things like problem solving, language development, thinking creatively, social skills. If it was not a structured activity she was lost. Her parents wanted her to “do work.” At center time she would ask me for worksheets. Not drawing. Not art. But a worksheet with a right and wrong answer. She was not ahead of any of her peers academically and certainly behind socially, especially her speech and language.
I believe a certain amount of fear can be healthy BUT when expectations far out weigh the resources provided, it makes teachers desperate. Desperate to keep up with the curriculum, desperate to get grades in, desperate when dealing with behaviors… the list goes on. Keeping up with very fast moving curriculum causes teachers to scrape the tip of the iceberg instead of going in depth with their teaching. This results in children lacking very important understanding and application of concepts needed to progress through the rest of the curriculum. When I went from being a general education teacher (only being aware of what was going on within my 4 walls) to being an LSSP, it was very eye opening. Our sped babies, who need us the most, are suffering terribly. In some cases, I believe they’d be better off not being identified. It causes some teachers to focus on their “bubble kids” and depend on the special ed “label” to allow a sense of something to fall back on or use as an excuse as to why they don’t pass. The lack of special education teachers and support staff make it very difficult, even for teachers with good intentions and work ethic, to REALLY individualize instruction and target weaknesses. In my experience, the majority of these kiddos are just being “passed through” and we are failing to teach them with intentions to close the gaps. I also want to add that when TEKS were moved to a lower grade level (5th grade math TEKS to 4th grade) (oh and the level at which kindergarteners are “supposed” to read), it caused an all new kind of desperate! This is developmentally inappropriate. Children are still developing at the same rate as they were 50 years ago! Why are we expecting more of their brains than physiologically possible? The results of this movement include extreme behaviors, whether it is to avoid tasks they can’t be successful with or when frustrations reach its max. These students are not learning to be social either, because teachers are too worried about curriculum… I won’t even go down that rabbit hole.
I want to add the dependency on technology to “teach” our kids is not beneficial either. There are appropriate times for technology but teaching a concept is not necessarily one of them. Technology can be helpful when a student is practicing a concept that has already been taught (or mastered for the most part) and fluency is the end goal.
When all this nonsense first came out, I mostly ignored it and continued to seek out new and creative methods for involving my students and pointing them toward the love of learning. Those were my best teaching years. Then as administrations changed at my original school in Texas (not naming names) the shaming began from principals and district officials. Weekly Department chair meetings where we were expected to present weekly statistics on how well the students mastered weekly objectives. Each teacher had to administer weekly quizzes measuring mastery of objectives. I then had to compile the data and report it to the principal and other department chairs. Then came the district 6 weeks assessments which were reported to the principal, district coordinators, and eventually the superintendent. Out went the creativity and joy of learning. Out went the fun learning experiences that stayed in the minds of students forever. By that time I was fed up with the paranoia and changed school districts. I even took a pay cut to do so. For awhile things were great and teachers shared creative techniques with their peers. But eventually the almighty State reached its tentacles to even the more successful districts. Once again the creativity and exciting learning experiences disappeared and teachers were forced into daily meetings about assessment strategies. Campus and district assessments increased. As one of my former students told me, “The most exciting thing in class now is when the PowerPoint has a sound effect!” As more of the same continued, I decided it was time to retire, partially from fear, but more from disgust. Education just wasn’t fun anymore for me and my students.
(Pat, you know the districts and schools to which I have been referring.)
“What we learn with joy we never forget.” – Matt Chinworth
I specifically remember being told in a faculty meeting in the mid 2000’s to “get rid of the fluff”. “No more fluff; Testing objectives only”.
the fluff is the bait that catches students’ attention. Then you “reel them in” to the core of the lesson.
My daughter goes to TMHS and overall it’s a really good school and the teachers (at least the ones my daughter has) are really good and encouraging. But that STAAR test mess has just got to go. It stresses everyone out and to what end? It’s like telling the kids that no matter what they did or the grades they got all can go down the drain with that test. Awful. I will say that my daughter seems less stressed since she saw how I handled a prior STAAR test debacle while she had straight A’s.
As a grandparent of elementary school aged children I’ve witnessed my grandchildren fear those people that we call trusted adults. My granddaughter was very afraid of going back to school with homework that was not done by methods taught by her teacher. It’s math, so if you show how you got your answer it should be marked correct, right? NOT. Well my granddaughter didn’t understand it with the one method that her teacher demonstrated and neither did either of her math wiz parents soooo my daughter taught her the method that was taught to her years ago and she understood it BUT she cried so hard because Ms. Ruiz was going to be mad at her. My granddaughter was also fearful of telling my daughter about any discipline that took place in the school because she didn’t want to “get in trouble”. Ultimately my granddaughter has been enrolled in another school and she is now a totally different child. Administration never believe what the children say and stand behind their staff and as a grandparent I was fearful because of the backlash that my grandchildren would receive. There is so much more to my story but because we are actively fighting with these people I’ll digress. This is a public charter school and she’s now enrolled in a public neighborhood school that was closed down by TEA 2 years ago and doing much better.
Not sure if my 2cents is helpful..but heres a snippet of my opinion.
Always an elementary teacher, no matter what other role ive held on my campus, unfortunately the fear of how a campus performs or underperforms affects the instruction of all students.
Far to much time is spent teaching test taking strategies vs core curriculum. Depending on the grade level n which content is assessed…other content is pushed aside, not taught or crammed in after testing season ends…which is a huge disservice to our children…we seem to assess n assess n assess some more to see how students are performing…but not leaving time to provide deep teaching n learning to take place. Fortunately many of my teachers feel comfortable enough to talk to me without fear of being ridiculed….they are frustrated. THE education world is very frustrating today
I’m in my 31st year, and I don’t remember being fearful until the last few years. I don’t like walking in each morning not knowing what to expect. I’m a planner, and changing things every week (and sometimes every day) is driving me crazy. I don’t feel like there’s a true plan. It’s like everyone is flying by the seat of their pants every day. We lost some really good teachers last year with no explanation. We’re going to lose some more this year because it’s just too stressful now. It’s no longer about the kids. It’s about the numbers and having perfectly written documents whether they can be implemented with fidelity or not. The high school students I work with are extremely fearful. They know they aren’t prepared to enter the real world. We are no longer teaching “life skills” because we have to make sure we address the high stakes testing objectives. It makes me sad. I had numerous teachers that taught me about “life” and I’m extremely grateful for those lessons. I wish we had time to continue those important conversations with students.
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Washington State University has caved to the gender-bender insanity: https://www.theblaze.com/news/wsu-placing-menstrual-products-in-mens-restrooms-in-the-name-of-inclusivity?utm_content=buffer734e7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=theblaze
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Here is a post from the Texas anti-testing group:
I’m not new to this, but I’m new to this part. I would really appreciate some help on how to handle this with my daughters school. Please note that it is an IB school, if that matters lol, and would not let us opt out. But any help would be appreciated before I go up there unprepared. Thank u!
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And some replies to this post:
Let you?
Yes sir. Mrs Dye, the principal, told me her school being an IB school that they dont allow it
You must be pretty new to this. Schools don’t raise your kids and you don’t need their permission to opt out.
My daughter failed it because we opted out, we are at an IB school in Round Rock ISD and they do not do this at all!
I wish they all could be accomodating!! These kids need to be kids and not worry about all this starting so young.
my daughter goes to an IB school. When the principal received my email her response was do you want to keep her out for testing days or the entire week?
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Wow. Mine offered to remove her from testing, put her in another class with worksheets, and not be on lockdown. Or that I could keep her home but they would accomodate if I wanted to send her.
Here is the first article you need to read: http://www.txedrights.net/the-required-summer-school-notice/
I’m from Lubbock and their school district is awful and frendship isn’t any better. Anyways my daughter went to an IB school in Denton ISD and trust me it doesn’t mean anything and the STAAR Test won’t have anything to do with her college courses. Opt out and stand your ground. This group has plenty of resources to get you started on the right direction.
Schools don’t “let” people opt out their kids. People opt out & schools have to deal with it. That said, summer school is only one way to address AI, and it isn’t the best way. Develop your own plan to take to the GPC, & inform them that your child won’t be participating in summer school.
And another post from this group:
I will have my sons ARD the first week in January. He is doing amazing in school right now but math is still a struggle. This is the year the school will want to retest him to high heavens if he fails the STAAR (he’s always passed). I allow my child to take this test but he will only take it one time!!! What is the difference in opting out or telling them he only takes it ONE time?
And some replies to this post:
Ummmm..they have a record of his score? Not being snarky, but why even allow him to take it? PLENTY of us have had our kids not take it and be successful. And, for the record…NO ONE CARES ABOUT STAAR for college. No one. Not one admissions counselor or app has asked for it.
Opting Out for many is about the injustice of the entire system and the weaponization of a child’s good scores to harm students/ communities who don’t score well. So allowing your child to score well on the test lends itself to that end.
My kids are both in AP classes in HS and never took a single STAAR. My oldest has scholarships to some of the best/top schools in the U.S. Not allowing them to take STAAR is VERY MUCH about not participating in something I know is wrong. I have been in this fight since we had TAKS. Not a single “state mandated” score is anywhere for either of my kids. Because of my stance and my kids’ non-participation it has very much helped others. I refuse to participate. Good luck to you!
The data ‘can’ be used against you.
For instance…If the child has made ‘progress’ on the STAAR between years they act like the child is doing great… even if the kid failed BOTH years… so NOT great. So basically since the child is making ‘progress’ there is no educational need 🤦🏼♀️
Or if your child IS doing well, they can use that data to reduce/deny services.
I have NEVER seen STAAR data used in a way that actually benefited the kid.
They tried this with is in middle school. They tried to say that even though my child had failed both 6th, 7th, and 8th grade that he was making gains in closing the gap, therefore he didn’t need intervention. Shut that down quickly!
My child hasn’t taken the staar since the 5th grade. This yr she is in the 8th. They already know how I feel and where i stand and of course they still try and convince me to have her take it. Umm no not going to happen
my son failed the reading Starr 3 times and took summer school. He was so stressed. I was stressed. It’s horrible.
Here is a post from a Minnesota anti-Common Core group:
Do you remember Marc Tucker, president of NCEE, who wrote the well-known “Dear Hillary Letter”? Interestingly, the man is a self-appointed adviser to a number of presidents, including current president Trump. Here Tucker encourages candidate Trump to move on the workforce agenda and to follow the lead of Switzerland (DeVos signs MOU with Swiss for apprenticeship program) and for which DeVos has acted. There are so many forces pushing against our elected officials. Start talking to your reps and senators now!
And here are the replies to this post:
Tucker wrote a letter to DeVos, herself, dated July 2018. If I’m remembering correctly. Edit:
Looking forward to reading this. I’m wondering if he also went after Ivanka. Ivanka has been leading charge with the workforce agenda.
And another post from this group:
My jaw “kind of” dropped when I read the IMAM’s comment. Truly, this “is” what it’s all about. 😳 I’m not okay with this.
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Here is a post from a Michigan anti-Common Core page:
“Watching the video just showed how controlled and cowardly the Republicans truly are. Not just the obvious sell-outs, but also the supposed champions. You can actually see a few Democrats who gave floor speeches encouraging their colleagues to vote no on legislation such as the ‘A-F’ grading system that would allow an unaccountable bureaucracy to rank schools based on how well they implement Common Core in the classroom. Many liberal lawmakers opposed this measure because it is undemocratic and a proven disaster for children. The Republicans, on the other hand, kept quiet because getting uppity might cost them that next DeVos check. The Republicans clearly know their place, but the Democrats to their credit are far less cowed than their opposition.
The ‘A-F’ grading scale creates a new board that will essentially be the Common Core police. Under the new Snyder-backed reform, it impossible for our schools to improve. For example: If your school is brandished a “C” by the state, the local leadership will focus on abiding by anything the unelected bureaucrats tell them in order to need to get a “B” grade. It has nothing to do with improving student performance. Every state that has tried this system is near the bottom of the national ranking, and each of those states got worse in the course of time that it was being done. It was Democrats, not Republicans, making some these points on the House floor. It was refreshing to see Democratic legislators arguing passionately for their point of view. Their constituents must be pleased that they have representation that will fight for their values. It would be nice to know that feeling.
Here is a post that was shared on this Michigan anti-Common Core page:
Tim Kelly basically lied to Gongwer in his explanation for passing “Innovative School” legislation. These bills are an attempt to bribe schools into adopting Common Core based Competency Based Education which is another unproven experiment.
Here is Mr. Kelly’s quote:
Tim Kelly:
“We need to be able to have schools get up and running and quickly learn if something works. If it fails to retry and try something new.”
We exactly know Common Core does not work, yet he refuses to support legislation to empower schools to drop it!
No, Mr. Kelly seems to think our kids are just guinea pigs in an expensive education experiment designed and controlled by the education cabal, not parents or local communities.
And here is a post from someone from Michigan:
Sadly, even now, when he does not have to cowtow to big money folks, Senator Patrick Colbeck who lost his bid for governor because of a schism in his conservative base, still can not find it in his heart or brain to vote right on education policy. He voted YES on the stupid, not conservative, big government Common Core policy of A-F grading of schools. Folks, he was not our hero. Yes, I do not think a D governor will do better. But Colbeck just proves once again, he is no hero for grassroots.
And another post from this person:
What could go wrong? Mandatory high school & middle school mental health assessments. Schools fail to teach our kids to read, write and do math. Now parents should trust them to evaluate our kids mental health? Ideas like this spread. Coming to a MI legislature near you?
And some replies to this post:
The teachers are already doing this to some existent! Every parent should go to school and pick up a copy of their child’s file! Yes there is a file and you never see it. Then you will see brick and mortar schools fall so fast the government will flip. All their hard work will be destroyed by the parents. I get a copy every 2 year. You will be shocked to see what teachers put in them about your child.
excellent advice. Kalamazoo Public Schools told some parents NO, they could not have a copy of the file, NO, they could not bring in an attorney to look at the file with them, NO, the file will not be changed. KPS says parents can come in to the school, alone, and look at the file, period! They, the superintendent and school attorney, claim these are the rules in FERPA, the law our Congressmen claim protects kids and parents!
When you request a file you must be specific to include ALL records or you will only get a partial file.
then the parent should have the Attorney subpoena the file. It’s worth the couple hundred bucks. Kalamazoo public schools must have stuff they are hiding otherwise they would have no issue with this!
I did the first one from day one of school through 3 rd grade then went from there.
I am nearly 70 years old. We moved to Georgia when I was 11. The principal of the middle school we went to called my Mother, had her come in and gave her files which I believe we’re called CA39s. They had been sent from our school in Michigan. He said we don’t keep things on children like this, take them. It was disgusting what these teachers were writing . We did move back to Michigan eventually but no records went with us nor did we have any further personality problems with teachers who had read files and treated you as you were labeled.
Just to say this has been going on a long time. Like you I would strongly urge parents to find those files and read them.
Thank goodness we had a man with compassion and sense who understood children. He certainly gave me the clean slate I needed to enjoy and succeed in my schooling. ( By the way our children went to Christian School ).
just your health care parents need to be proactive in regards to education and their child’s file. Sad thing is over half could care less and this is why kids are still at home at 30 among or things which are not related to this topic.
You know that, eventually, any child whose parents are raising him to be conservative will undoubtedly be found mentally incompetent… Some of the sci-fi movies are turning out not to be so fiction!!
Thanks to God for guiding me through the last 5 of 32 years teaching. It gets MoreCrazier and Crazier. A college student would need to be either Insane or Truly Dedicated to go into Teaching. Especially since in the near future, they will be mere Facilitators of Digital Learning Platforms.
Here is a post from a Utah anti-Common Core group:
I went to the standards meeting last night in Logan. Only me and another guy in the room were mentioning the inclusion of families and parents more in the processes and he mentioned the impact of family support in better mental health.
IF YOU HAVE CONCERNS PLEASE ATTEND THE MEETING IN DRAPER TONIGHT! Not being there or speaking is seen as support.
The mentions-
-glad dental is included as dental health is important for overall health
– need to add HPV to the AIDS/HIV standards because kids are being vaccinated for it it should be discussed as another disease of this type. And it is a huge cause of oral cancers.
-need to acknowledge the various sexualities
-there was surprise of parental notification and consent for teaching topics such as safe touch, reproductive anatomy. Surprise that contraceptives and Intercourse were not demonstrated.
-mental health concerns for LGBTQ
-one woman thought that men in the legislature should know about women’s health issues and that contraceptives are used for more things than birth control such as weight control, acne, etc. she thought since she knew about men they should know about women
– lots of mentions of sexual abuse being from family and parents (not sure it was an accurate statistic as the source was not mentioned) from what I have read and observed it is usually a step parent or a live in significant other.
-the need to teach about dental dams
– one was questioning the zero alcohol is safe being taught because her kid’s teachers taught alcohol in the home was bad. It was explained that for children under 21 it was both illegal and scientifically not appropriate for alcohol consumption on development.
– health department representative mentioned services and resources offered through them.
– there were a lot of special interest type representation like victims of assault advocacy, CAPSA, health teachers, etc. the democrat candidate for one of the house races was there and commented.
– A “women’s health advocate” talked which to me means planned parenthood.
Overall there was support for the standards and the undertaking.
The one health teacher there said that 90% of forms from parents are signed. For good or bad, this is taken as support. The health teacher also mentioned opt outs are not for sheltering reasons but also concerns over past porn addictions or other very compelling reasons which I liked.
– there was a woman there who was new to Utah who was surprised multiple times throughout the meeting that certain things were against the law. (Demonstrating contraceptives, the laws on how that could be discussed, not talking about how to have sex, no mentions of gay sex, that the state is abstinence based …) by the end of the meeting she said, I’m getting it that most of this is a legislative issue. I fully expect she will be taking her ideas and issues to the legislature to discuss.
Some of my concerns
-appropriate touch is introduced in 1st grade but the handout of the standards doesn’t specify what that means, I was told there is a terms and definitions page.
– trusted adult is used multiple times, I’d like to see that specifically say parents then trusted adult if your parents are unsafe because when I was in 3rd grade, telling my mom wasn’t emphasized as much as telling someone and I told my friend who was also in 3rd grade.
– I like that parents are notified by law because then when my 2nd header comes home and us discussing anatomy I don’t worry that something has happened to them but understand they learned it at school. It also helps to be able to facilitate conversations throughout the years about these topics and add in our family view. I’m also one of those parents that actually goes to the classroom and meets the teacher to get a feel for where they’ll take the discussion and to review the materials used.
– a lot of implying the need for CSE type standards.
There were things that I did like too.
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And another post from this group:
“If you want to see how far into the weeds test-centered schooling can go, then take a trip to Florida, where some folks are worried that four-year-olds are not experiencing enough rigorous testing…”
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Here is a post from the anti-CBE group:
Just got this text from XQ Schools : Announcing a NEW, FREE online course on competency-based education developed by the MIT Teaching Systems Lab (edX) with support from XQ. Sign up now.
Important to remember that edX is part of k-12 Workforce databadging Pilots started in AZ and CO :
And some replies to this post:
Our new Commissioner of Public Ed in FL will be looking to this I’m sure. FL just took a terrible hit to traditional public schools yesterday.
Your legislature needs some schooling FAST! …. First one to the trough has been the name of the game. #HitPause makes more sense. I think it appeals to ordinary people.
Disrupt their conversations for a change. Introduce doubt. #HitPause Offer a better way that actually benefits kids, families, and communities. I’d love to see FL lead the way on this. The infrastructure exists in FL — believe it or not.
Here are some posts on an anti-Common Core page in reply to an article about CPS cracking down on parents:
Parents in WA State have reported to me that their children were stripped naked in an elementary School by CPS, in front of the Principal and their bodies searched for bruises. Right in the principal’s office. parent knowledge until after.
That’s just 1 example.
I’m not the least bit surprised by this. Happens in CA every day
Here is a post from a Nevada anti-Common Core group:
We need help this school district is crazy. IT’S VERY LONG.
WE NEED HELP! WE NEED PROTECTION FROM DCSD. We are being threatened by DCSD with a trespass order. We are accused on 11-30-18 of refusing to meeting with the teachers which isn’t true and due to a death in the family the kids missed 3 days of school so because Ms. White made the statement that we refuse to meet with the teachers, my husband dropped off the packet of missed work along with a model of the earth for my son. He signed in at the school prior to school hours and he happened to sign in under Ms. Cronin Mack who signed in at approx. 8:15 am and my husband at approx. 8:39am, 6 minutes before the start of school. He spoke to the teacher about our son’s work with our son standing next to him. The teacher’s desk is against the wall and she was behind her desk when he came in. My husband didn’t do anything to the teacher. They talked about the work, math and reading assignment that was marked as homework but not sent home, and the email that Ms. White sent stating it was school work yet it was marked homework on the “We missed you!” page, so my husband wanted to verify so our son gets the credit. Here are a couple of emails from Ms. White. She attached my email to the teacher below. The email threatening us with a trespass order is not C.C. to Cronin-Mack or Thomas More why would that be? I stated before that this school district is doing everything they can to set us up, make us look bad so they can get their desired outcome which is no paper trail communication. ZCES/DCSD called the police on my husband back in about 2014 because my husband didn’t sign in at the office. Our son called us crying in 6th grade, so he went to the school to talk to our son, the office staff had to call our son from class and we received calls on our home and cells the next day from the police stating we didn’t sign in and found with the police report that the teacher was told to place a restraining order against my husband, because my husband was talking to the teacher in the hallway. This is 6 years of harassment and bullying from DCSD. They are angry that we won’t comply, we ask questions and they are punishing our family for it. I can only imagine what they are doing to our son in school because of this.
Recent interaction with teacher
Wed, Dec 19, 2018 8:01 am
Teresa White ()
Dear Mr. and Mrs. [name redacted],
As I stated in my previous email, your communications with our teachers at Zephyr Cove Elementary School have made both of them feel uncomfortable and harassed. I have read your complaint about feeling the same. As you stated, we do not get to tell anyone how to feel, like you do not have the right to tell them how to feel. Once our teachers feel harassed or intimidated, it is incumbent upon their supervisors to mitigate that feeling, as we have attempted to do for you on countless occasions through multiple teachers and administrators. Since your correspondence to our teachers has made them feel this way, we have respectfully requested that you communicate through me, or Mrs. Cronin-Mack. Your recent emails to the teachers indicate that you are not willing to follow our request. That is your prerogative, but our teachers will not be responding to you directly. They will send correspondence to me, or Mrs. Cronin-Mack and we will respond.
Today, Mr. [name redacted] entered the school and went to Mrs. O’Donnell’s classroom. Mrs. O’Dconnell felt intimidated and trapped. Such interaction is unacceptable. She was behind her desk and Mr. [name redacted]’s physical presence blocked her from being able to move out from behind her desk. This created a very uncomfortable environment for Mrs. O’Donnell. Additionally, Mr. [name redacted] confronted her on the emails coming from administration. Again, making her feel uncomfortable and intimidated.
I would hate to have to provide a trespass order to a parent, but you may not come on any of our campuses and make our teachers feel the way you made Mrs. O’Donnell feel today. The District believes that we have done everything in our power to partner with you in the education of your children. Their safety, education and well-being are of utmost important to us, as is that of all children in our schools. Today, your actions caused Mrs. O’Donnell to be shaken as she prepared to start her day with her students. This is unacceptable.
Normal school protocol requires all visitors to check in at the office upon entry. From this date forward, you are strictly required to follow this protocol should you or Mr. Grammar desire to speak to any teacher of your children in person. Upon checking in, school staff will escort you to the classroom and be physically present to provide some measure of comfort to the teacher. Your failure to comply with this normal protocol shall result in me asking the School Resource Officer to issue a trespass order for the protection of our staff.
Thank you for understanding our position and please let me know if you have any further questions.
Teri White
Fwd: [child name redacted]’s missing assignments
Fri, Nov 30, 2018 11:57 am
Teresa White twhite
To
Cc Romelle Cronin, TC Moore
Dear Mrs. [name redacted],
Thank you for your inquiry of Mrs. O Donnell. This email was forwarded to me. Staff at ZCES are feeling somewhat whelmed by your emails, particularly since you refuse to speak with them or meet with them. It is not right that our staff be asked to correspond with you differently that we correspond with other parents, particularly since your emails are lengthy, often contain insinuations about staff intent, and make our staff feel harassed to some degree. For those reasons, all future correspondence should be directed to me, or Mrs. Cronin-Mack.
Please know that we will do our best to answer your questions however, if the email or written correspondence continue to be excessive, as expressed in previous years, we will cease to correspond in this manner and require meetings or conversations to update you about the progress of your children in our system, as is the protocol used with all other parents in the District. We are happy to answer questions, but simply cannot continue to permit our staff to feel attacked by your excessive email correspondence and expectations that they communicate with you differently than they communicate with all other parents.
Regarding your inquiry with this email:
• Fridays are regular school days for all children. Mrs. O Donnell usually makes assignments due on Fridays so that she may grade them over the weekend. Thus the dates of the work indicate Friday as the due date.
• The missing work is classwork. The expectation for all children is that they complete the work in class. It will not be sent home for completion. If it is not completed in class, any grade assigned will remain a zero. Your son is prompted multiple times to complete the work, but usually sits and does not do it, or reads, even after multiple requests by his teacher to complete his work.
• Your son was not made to stay in at recess. He elected to stay in at recess to work on his missing work so that he would be able to participate in the school-wide reward time held at the end of the day.
• Of the papers sent home, some are graded and some are not. If they have no mark on them, they were not graded.
• The “Interpreting Characters” assignment was actually a post assessment to the unit and was given on October 12. Your son completed it one month later and was permitted to take it home. The assignment was to write a paragraph for each question. Your son wrote 1 sentence for each. He was graded accordingly.
• The determination to promote your son to the next grade will be based upon his mastery of the 4th grade content. If he is unable to demonstrate mastery, or otherwise refuses, retention will be a conversation that we will need to have sometime in April or May. Teachers base this decision on a year’s worth of work and performance on grade level assessments and do not pre-determine such outcomes.
Thank you, again, for your inquiry. If you have questions, please feel free to ask.
Hello,
I received the papers showing [child name redacted]’s missing assignments for 11/9/18 & 11/16/18, thank you. Spelling: Comic- le- words due 11-9-18 & Picture words due 11-16-18. In language he is missing The Nose Knows work, due 11-9-18 and in Science he is missing the same The Nose Knows due 11-9-18.
What is happening on Friday’s in your class? The assignments missing are both dated on a Friday. Where is the work? Is there a reason that you didn’t send it home for him to complete when you sent the printed I.C. missing assignment papers? He said he didn’t refuse to do the work but that he ran out of time. He also said that you kept him in snack recess today to complete the mountain/lakes map of the U.S. assignment. I’m confused on why he was kept in from recess at all, especially for one assignment but not the others? Why couldn’t he take the work home to finish? Will you be providing the work home so that he can do it?
Also, I was looking over the work sent home in his Friday folder today and [child name redacted] has many math assignments without grades or stars or some kind of markings to show that it was graded or acknowledged. Is it graded or how does that work, especially since he is doing poorly in math according to you? Another thing is the assignment from a day that he was absent (11-19-18) titled “Interpreting Characters: The Heart of the Story- Grade 4: Fiction, Unit 1” It’s marked as 7/10 but doesn’t show what he was marked down for in each of the 4 questions. Also if it’s his interpretation of the story, how did he get anything wrong? What is marked wrong with that assignment?
Lastly, [child name redacted] is going to be absent Monday 12-3-18 and from now on if there are missing or incomplete assignments please, send them home with [child name redacted] so that he can finish it and bring it back the next day just as the other teachers do. Are your intentions to fail [child name redacted] and keep him as a 4th grade student next year?
I am not being uncivil, harassing, disrespectful, uncooperative or anything else that DCSD has called and labeled me for the last 6 school years, yes this is necessary information.. Also, it’s stressful for me to have to write this just to ask questions about my son’s schoolwork or education. I’ve been programmed by DCSD that I have to defend my every action or writing so that teachers and staff don’t think or say I am being disrespectful, uncivil, uncooperative, harassing, cynical, derogatory, etc, etc, etc Thanks for your understanding with why I have to include this information.
Here is a post from the Common Core Diva:
This just in and a TERRIBLE blow to every citizen’s freedom to right to privacy in their personal info. H/T Karen Bracken.
How does this impact students, teachers, and schools? #studentdatarape
HR 4174 (FEPA) was just passed by the Senate and now can go on to signed into law.
Link to my research on HR 4174:
https://commoncorediva.wordpress.com/2017/11/12/turncoats/
Here is a post from Wrench in the Gears:
My response to a recent e-newsletter article from the National Education Policy Center’s about the Summit Learning protests in Brooklyn. Long read, but useful overview regarding impact investing, automation of instruction, defense research in ed-tech, and ties to larger global struggles around online surveillance education.
Here is a post from a page called Anne on the Issues:
I would like to make something abundantly clear for people who may not grasp the magnitude of this situation (which are by far, most people):
Two years ago when the Roy C. Ketcham Pride Club showed up en masse to protest my presence on the Wappingers BOE, it was because the Board was voting to approve a policy of allowing anyone of any sex and any age to use any restroom or changing facility of their choosing based on the premise that gender is a matter of opinion and that anyone who challenges the concept is effectively guilty of bigotry and violation of the Equal Rights Amendment.
And it’s not just bathroom use.
The policy also presumes the affirmation of the premise of “transgender” in ALL activities AND curriculum.
And I was the sole member of the Board not just to challenge the policy; but to even merely request a delay of the vote in order to engage in discussion and consideration.
The policy was passed by a vote of 8-1 that very night.
But here’s the piece that most concerns me and which I’m 100% certain the vast majority of people are absolutely clueless about-
Obama instituted the policy NATIONALLY.
It was subsequently ruled unconstitutional as a national policy.
But MOST STATES including of course, NY, CA, MA….. had already adopted and with breakneck speed, implemented the policies STATE WIDE and HAVE NOT REVERSED IT.
So for people who think it’s just a handful of rogue districts or schools or states dealing with this issue….
Or that the teacher who was recently fired for refusing to overtly refer to a girl as a boy is an anomaly…
You are GROSSLY underestimating the magnitude of this agenda.
Both in it’s scope and in it’s intent.
I guarantee that the very VAST MAJORITY of the children of people reading this post are being taught and at the very least being held subject to these policies.
The rare occurrences you hear of, such as myself and the teacher who was fired, are the VERY VERY FEW WHO HAVE actually PUSHED BACK AGAINST THE AGENDA.
The vast majority of the people involved in education and media and public works of any kind (including libraries [“trans” reading to the kids]), are simply being subjected and compliant.
They have been programmed.
I originally just typed “are being programmed”.
But I deleted it and changed the wording.
It’s done.
Here is a post from the page For Kids & County:
Highlights from article by trusted educator / school board member Brenda Lebsack:
“As a public educator for over 20 years, some changes in the proposed California Health Framework concern me…In Chapter 3, Line 1847, the draft recommends the book Who Are You? for pre-K–3rd graders as a “guide” to develop their gender identity…In the book, gender is described as, “boy, girl, both, neither, trans, genderqueer, non-binary, gender fluid, transgender, gender neutral, agender, neutrois, bigender, third gender, two spirit…”
“The California Department of Education is inviting input on the proposed health framework draft. The deadline to give input is January 11, 2019…” See article for links and details.
Here is a post from a California anti-evil-sex-ed group:
I just got an email from our Middle School principal about a 6th grade health survey…
Dear …. Families,
I wanted to send you a quick email to be sure you had received the consent forms for a social emotional health survey that 6th grade students will be given next week. English teachers handed them out this week in class and I have included it in this email. CoVitality Permission slip.pdf
The survey is a brief, universal screening tool we (…………. Middle School) is using to measure social and emotional strengths and weaknesses. Participation is confidential and voluntary. Only our school psychologist, her intern and myself will see the results. Please refer to details in the attached letter. If you do not want your child to complete the survey, please contact the school psychologist,
I have heard about ‘surveys’ recently (not sure this is that) that are very suggestive in their questions about gender and sexuality and that has me concerned.
I question the need for these surveys and the purposes behind them.
- – – Any experience with this ? ? ?
And some replies to this post:
They don’t have to take them. U can and should opt out. My 11 yr old did not take it, but his friend did.. and was mortified… asked how u identify urself… gay lesbian bisex…etc etc. The kid did not know what bi..was and a classmate explained it to him in vulgarity . It’s wrong and i thought about this today.. my company would get sued for asking me those questions. Opt out!!! And share w other parents its not mandatory
of course I will opt out but this is all about all the other kids whose parents don’t opt them out and they have no idea what’s going on – and this is how they spread the gender confusion
Was this the Healthy Kids Survey or Social Emotional?
What District?
San Diego. I don’t know what it’s called yet.
In my district this survey (healthy kids) is for 4th and 5th graders. Personally, I opt out of everything that is opt-out-able! (is that a word? LOL) School is for academics and they don’t need to know one extra dam* thing about my kid.
Its in DSUSD website, even their 2015-2016 Report
Here’s a sample of the Climate Survey for Elementary and Middle School/High School.
Thank you all for your comments and suggestions.
Principals coffee this morning with a principal that I like respect and Trust.
the 6th grade survey that only this Middle School is doing is a follow-up to responses to the 7th grade California state healthy kids survey.
Our middle school and teachers are concerned about kids dealing with bullying and self esteem issues and falling through the cracks.
they’r using a survey that seems very simple about how they’re feeling about themselves school and their surroundings. I did get and read a copy.
He did tell me that the 7th grade State survey does have an additional LGBTQIA module that San Diego added last school year.
And another post from this group:
Anaheim Union High School District
Parents?? did you know that your children are being survey about they’re sexual practices at the Jr. High and High School.
As adults, are you ok with the government asking you about your sexual practices??? Why is it ok for the government to ask our children about their sexual practices???
Something is seriously wrong with that on multiple levels, let’s start with these are Children and this is invasion of privacy.
And yet another post from this group:
Beth Swann shared a link.
December 15 at 8:01 PM
A friend of mine who has been digging deep into education research for years recently shared these comments regarding mindfulness and SEL and how it all ties into globalized education and CSE:
Parents are woefully unaware of the way that standards, assessments and accountability (school grading) laws have been rigged by sexual rights activists. Mindfulness is part of grooming children as political and sexual rights activists. The US Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos recently signed the G20 Education Ministers agreement to implement the UN’s Education 2030 Framework for Education. Google it and get educated about it.
But, for a primer, you can read here about how mindfulness is being used to train teachers and children to question their thinking….to question reality. People who question their foundation can be easily controlled by anyone with a political or social agenda.
See that Planned Parenthood (a UN 2030 partner) is ready to prepare youth with Mindfulness programs:
The roots of the “feelings” movement in education go back to 2003 when UNESCO (the UN’s Education division) sent 130 Education Ministers around the world a report about developing Social and Emotional Skills (SEL) in children. Now, 15 years later, the ideology in that report has taken over US teacher training and SEL is part of Common Core’s federal education reforms. Schools receive funding and principals and school leaders see their schools receive better school grades when they implement SEL.
From a Christian perspective, we understand the importance of planting our roots in a truth-based foundation. So, it is important for parents to know that UNESCO is an openly anti-family, anti-Christian, pro-LGBTQI organization that uses education policy to change the beliefs and behaviors of cultures. The educator that they credit with helping them spread sexual ideology into most curriculum subjects is an SEL “expert” named Linda Darling-Hammond. She designed the policies for standards, assessments and accountability (school grading) in the 2016 federal education Common Core law the Every Student Succeeds Act. Her SEL-promoting company called the Collaborative for Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is working with school districts to ensure that schools adopt SEL policies and reforms.
Pro-family groups like Family Watch have warned Americans for years about UNESCO and its agenda to politicize and sexualize what’s taught and tested. SEL is being used to change children’s Christian values.
Here is an article promoting SEL from Common Core advocate Edutopia:
Got SEL? Teaching Students to Describe Emotions | Edutopia
Here is a link to Stella Morabito and Karen Effrem’s resources warning parents about SEL. They have PowerPoints and videos at the link. Please read their impressive bios. I have great respect for both of these courageous women and my education research dovetails theirs. Pro-family groups like Family Watch have shared their materials widely:
For those here who have seen “positive” SEL programs, I would just say, nothing is ever implemented 100% at the beginning. They boil the frog in the pot slowly. Once people are persuaded that education can’t be done without focusing on emotion, then they can be convinced to focus on how their beliefs affect other people’s emotions. Then, the political indoctrination can easily take hold. Children, by nature, feel sympathy and concern for other people. Their feelings can easily be manipulated to embrace anti-Christian ideologies when they are told that their beliefs are hurting others feelings.
And yet another post from this group:
??PARENTS ??
Saddleback Valley Unified School District is introducing guided meditations, sleep stories, breathing programs, and relaxing music to your children.
And yet another post from this group, from someone talking about the article about CPS being weaponized against parents:
This is the true story of a friend of mine and her son >> read it. She continues to fight hard to bring the corruption to light. You can’t even imagine the resistance and coverups she constantly encounters.
And yet another post from this group:
January 1, 2019, California schools must allow students to use the bathroom or locker room of their choice. Go to your school boards and demand privacy for your children. They have to provide a separate bathroom for your child.
And some replies to this post:
The parents at my school district have submitted a legal letter (names redacted), can either of you attach the letter template that was used by PYLUSD here?) to our principal and teachers, demanding that our children be allowed to use a single-stall bathroom on campus. We have one in the nurse’s office that some of the children have been using consistently. In the beginning of the school year, some staff were giving our kids hard time about their right to choose to use the single-stall bathroom. But the parents kept complaining and submitting emails. Now, all the staff have been trained to let the kids use whatever bathroom they feel comfortable in. Don’t give up, parents! We have to stand up and speak out to keep our kids safe. If we don’t, nobody else will.
The bathroom law is a real problem. A little girl in Georgia, was sadly assaulted in a multi-stall bathroom in her elementary school. How many kids need to be assaulted before our school districts wake up and do something about it??
our current bathroom law in itself is a problem. Any boy can walk into the girls’ bathroom and vice versa. My family has run into issues with multi-stall bathrooms at our local library as well as at one of the fast-food chain restaurants. Nowadays, anyone can walk into any bathroom, which compromises everyone’s privacy and safety.
And here is a post that was shared in this group:
Parents in Elk Grove, California, are being asked to review proposed K-8 social studies curriculum this week that includes a third-grade lesson on honesty and bravery using famed LGBT politician Harvey Milk as a role model.
Some parents and community leaders are alarmed the school district would use Milk, well known for his pederasty, as a role model, especially after several of its teachers were recently fired and arrested for sexual contact with students. They are also upset with sexualized topics, like homosexuality, being introduced to impressionable young children with little concern for how these lessons will contradict the values children learn at home.
“What kind of message are school officials trying to send student, parents, and teachers by making Harvey Milk a hero to third graders?” asked California Family Council President Jonathan Keller. “Harvey Milk’s past behavior with teens would disqualify him from being a teacher with in the Elk Grove School District, so why would the district consider textbooks that encourage 8-year-old kids to admire him?”
Here is a post from Alice Linahan:
Please take notice of what is said in this press conference at time stamp 18:37. It is shocking that Azar flat out said we need to put more kids on psychotropic drugs, not to mention wanting mandated mental health screenings.
Folks, it is the Education Reformer’s College and Career Readiness Common Core-aligned Standards and Accountability system (pushed and funded by Devos herself) along with the state-mandated technology in the classroom that is actually causing much of the mental health issues in our children today. And they want access to give American Students more drugs? Folks this is beyond deceptive.
It is unethical, immoral and wrong.
PARENTS IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP!!
(Note, for some reason the video wasn’t showing up. (It may be outright censorship as I’ve had FB links work before and even copying the URL sees to not only not show the video, but not show the URL to the video either, forcing me to use a URL shortener. Please copy the link below into your browser as it won’t work as a link as is.) )
shorturl.at/aiQRY
_____________________________________
Here is a post from a Wisconsin anti-Common Core page:
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
We are interested in learning whether your voucher school has changed its curriculum to Common Core. Has state money come with strings attached? Are parochial or private schools changed by participating in the voucher program in Wisconsin? Please post your experiences here.
And here are some replies to this post:
My children go to a private christian school on the voucher program but they do not use common core
Do they explicitly choose non-CC materials? Do you know, for example, which mathematics curriculum they are using? How long has this school been accepting vouchers? Do you know what measures the school has taken to avoid CC in the classroom? Does the school advertise themself as non-CC?
I don’t have answers to all these but they certainly are good questions to ask, that I’ve honestly never thought of before. I do know math is Saxon and that when they were in public school, all there books stated common core on them but none of the books at this school do. I believe this is the 3rd year on the voucher program.
There are requirements to have voucher students take the Forward Exam which is CC aligned. The school needs to do well enough on the Forward Exam in order to keep its ability to accept vouchers.
Because of this, schools will have a tendency to:
1.) Have all students (not just voucher students) take the Forward Exam
and
2.) Align curriculum with the test so that performance is increased.
Public schools who choose to use alternative standards or non-CC curriculum would face the same problem, except, of course they are required to do the Forward Exam for ALL their students.
This is a way for DPI to say that it dEducation Chairmen Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R – Fond Du Lac) and Senator Luther Olsen (R- Ripon) ANYTHING here for Wisconsin? You’ve raced towards data mining, embedded common core, tried a rebrand hocus pocus, neglected and arrogantly ignored parents for years. Sadly this pattern wasn’t limited to Wisconsin Education Committee Chairmen. But you are in a position to do something. Now.
“If educrats really want to prove they are listening then they need to positively respond to criticism: jettison social-emotional learning, return to classical education instead of the hyperfocus on STEM, address data privacy concerns with real solutions.”
“They lost trust when they responded to calls to repeal Common Core by providing a rebrand and, in some states, just changed the name. Real listening will result in real changes and revisions to their agenda not just a pat on the head.”
oesn’t require schools to adopt CC, but still get most schools to adopt it anyhow.
It would be interesting to see whether anyone has experience with this actually happening in their school.
Most parents are not aware you can opt out your children of the Forward Exam. We opt our children out of that test. It is nothing but data mining.
And another post from this page:
Education Chairmen Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R – Fond Du Lac) and Senator Luther Olsen (R- Ripon) ANYTHING here for Wisconsin? School to work has failed. Computers in the classroom aren’t the technological fix for poor policy and lack of teacher support. Who.Da.Thunk?
“This movement is also part of the competency-based education and school-to-work effort that is seeking to move away from the teaching of students by human teachers and toward computerized skills training with near constant assessment and data mining of five to ten million data points per student per day, including affective data mining and personality profiling. This is the type of education lauded by the National Center on Education and the Economy former chairman Marc Tucker and board member Anthony Carnevale, who clearly support the idea of government-corporate controlled apprenticeships as done in the European social democracies.”
The European/Soviet/Swiss/Fascist model of learning has failed. Multiple times. Stop pursuing failure. “This Swiss model of apprenticeship has students being funneled into career paths in 6th or 7th grade and then starting apprenticeships in 10th grade. When Bill Gates did a similar career-based smaller learning communities model in the U.S. before pushing Common Core, it failed miserably. Unfortunately, that is not deterring Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Swiss government to expand such programs in the U.S.”
And yet another post from this page:
Education Chairmen Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R – Fond Du Lac) and Senator Luther Olsen (R- Ripon) ANYTHING here for Wisconsin? You’ve raced towards data mining, embedded common core, tried a rebrand hocus pocus, neglected and arrogantly ignored parents for years. Sadly this pattern wasn’t limited to Wisconsin Education Committee Chairmen. But you are in a position to do something. Now.
“If educrats really want to prove they are listening then they need to positively respond to criticism: jettison social-emotional learning, return to classical education instead of the hyperfocus on STEM, address data privacy concerns with real solutions.”
“They lost trust when they responded to calls to repeal Common Core by providing a rebrand and, in some states, just changed the name. Real listening will result in real changes and revisions to their agenda not just a pat on the head.”
Here is a post from someone from Wisconsin:
“STEM” IS PART OF THE EDUCATION SCAM. Looking at the table that’s reproduced in this article, it should be utterly apparent to even the casual observer that “STEM” is all about centralization of so-called education and the control of people’s lives. At the risk of repeating myself:
1) There is no actual STEM shortage; it is utterly fabricated in order successfully to market centralized education “reforms” (actually deforms).
2) The growing deficits in education are CREATED, not fixed, by the elite class of politicians, bureaucrats, and Big Business types who control our education system.
3) STEM “education” (actually low-level skills training combined with social-emotional conditioning) definitely WILL NOT provide the high-level science, technology, engineering, or math jobs it’s so regularly claimed it will, nor is it actually designed to do so.
4) STEM is ABSOLUTELY part of the school-to-work/workforce development pipeline for forming, labeling, slotting, and supplying low-level workers to those areas that the elite class deems appropriate.
5) STEM “education” (again, actually mere skills training at a very low level) facilitates ONLY the theft of children’s opportunities–their ability to forge a successful future of their own individual making.
I’m all for kids becoming scientists and engineers and mathematicians if that’s what they want to do. But STEM, as proffered by the corrupt partnership of Big Government and Big Business, is not going to get kids there.
Stop believing the STEM lie.
And some replies to this post:
I don’t trust Betsy DeVos, if that’s where he’s getting his information from.
Why doesn’t someone introduce Trump to the American Principles Project? He would get the truth about what STEM really means!
STEM didn’t just start with DeVos, just a continuation policy from previous administrations
Started with a book. A Nation at Risk.
Study Marc Tucker.
And the agenda to create “worker bees” for the oligarchy started with the very advent of government-sponsored schooling as we know it today (i.e., late 19th/earth 20th century). The “fathers of modern public education” tell us that in their own words and it doesn’t even take much digging to find it. But, of course, the masses are willfully ignorant…just as the system planned to make them from the get-go.
The problem is that, while Arnie Duncan his predecessors were largely transparent about their socialist bias, DeVos is a Trojan Horse (perhaps even to Mr. Trump). She got the position based, I am sure, on hefty campaign donations and was proffered to the president by RINOs (in fact, it’s probable that she is one of the threats to his presidency recently mentioned as still in the administration) because she called herself an “education reformer.” But when one really digs into her true views, she makes RINOs seem liberty-minded! I think Trump doesn’t realize that – and certainly hasn’t thought about how the DOE’s very existence is unconstitutional. I know he’s not perfect but in this case he’s trusting a viper masquerading as a dove.
You’re totally right, [name redacted], that STEM didn’t start with this administration. It’s been around for a while. But it hasn’t seemed to get any less effective. In fact, if anything, it’s a more successful lie now than when it was first introduced.
Agreed, [name redacted]. I’m not what one would call a huge Trump fan, but it seems to me that on education he took the worst possible advice he could have. It mostly came from the Jeb Bush camp. And that’s a nightmare.
So true. It’s also infuriating that complex demands for Science Fairs are placed on the shoulders of 3rd graders who haven’t developed the ability for abstract thinking yet. It results in a disparity for kids coming from parents who understand scientific procedure and can help their child and those who don’t . The kids who have uneducated parents learn that they are “bad students” which is so so sad for them. They believe the kids with the good reports actually did them on their own.
I never did one Science Fair in K-12 and somehow managed to ace research and design in college when it was developmentally appropriate and relevant to a career that I selected.
you know I have tons of research tying STEM to the UN. Ivanka and DeVos are pushing the STEM fallacies as a team. I his is why the President isn’t stopping the federal educratic overreach. May I use your post? Thanks.
Here is a post from the Texas anti-testing group:
So this happened in NOLA today..the precedent has now been set.
https://www.nola.com/education/2018/12/new-orleans-set-to-be-1st-all-charter-school-system-in-us-by-2022-despite-outcry.html
Here is a post from an Ohio anti-Common Core group:
This is the webpage used as a resource for NE Ohio’s Cuyahoga County teens. Some glossary terms on this site:
open marriage = Refers to the relationship or union of two people who agree that they each can have other sex partners.
biphobia = Refers to negative attitudes, fear or dislike of bisexual individuals.
pansexual = A term that describes people who are attracted to people across a range of genders and/or gender identities.
etc……
You can also download the ‘gender unicorn’ coloring page from this site.
Join Protect Ohio Children (Ohiovaluevoters.org). Next mtg is in the Columbus area on Thursday, Jan 17th
Upon reading Charlotte Isberyt’s book “The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America”, I noticed on pages 448-449, that it said that Michael Farris of Homeschool Legal Defense Assocation (HSLDA) supported at least since 1995 the apprenticeship part of the school-to-work model and praised the Swiss apprenticeship system. In light of the recent deal between DeVos and Switzerland, I wonder if he still supports said model and what his other positions of the STW model he now may support. Considering that, in 1999, Mr. Farris had Patrick Henry College implement the apprenticeship system, to some degree, it may be that that college has been infiltrated by the Common Core Machine.
Also, from this book, I found that the Heritage Foundation is definitely a WILLING part of the Common Core Machine and has been globalist possibly as early as the mid-1980’s. Their support for other globalist schemes such as the First Step Act (AKA Jailbreak) should also be red flags as to their true loyalties.
The book mentions, around page 450, of this program between HHS and DOE called “Together We Can” that was brought about in 1999. No doubt this was part of Agenda 21, the forerunner to Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals. The more recent programs such as 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Career Clusters, Career Pathways, Cities of Learning, etc, appear to be more recent implementions of these evil schemes to destroy the United Nations and create a global government.
Look out, there’s gender unicorns in Arizona schools:
Here is a post that was shared on Alice Linahan’s wall:
If charter and private schools continue to creep into our area DallasISD will find its self in the same predicament. The issue is who will accept all student and that is not charter or private schools who traditionally cream off the students and leave the rest for public schools.
From the article:
El Paso Independent School District officials are anticipating a $2.8 million budget gap in the coming school year, even after the recommended closure of four schools and despite additional funding for operations approved by voters.
And here are the replies to this post:
Who’s at fault? Is it our Texas Legislators? Where does the root of this problem start?
legislators who opened the door for charter schools that were suppose to help in areas that are failing but that is not the case.
Let’s talk about Samples went to an open enrollment district and took students with him from Skyline. I looked at TEA enrollment numbers from DISD from 2011 to this fall. DISD numbers have always varied slightly each year but remained consistently in the 154K range for students +/-2K students. Charters are really the culprit??? And now private schools are the new culprit??
I am not myopic, I am looking at the overall picture and when we attempted to bring 300 students from St. Anthony charter you and others opposed that. I am not familiar with Samples taking Skyline students but a few students compared to thousands of students do not equate to the big problem of charter schools who in this area from the DallasISD enrollment have about 34,000 students and most in Southern Dallas.
The culprits are those who sit on the board of Trustees some who are elitists and fail to fund our neighborhood campuses properly by continuing to approve budgets that are not campus need based. Allowing the central administration to destabilize our schools with constant churn and not keeping talent on our campuses, poor planning and lack of planning as was evident in bus debacle and bond program. Putting forth a plan to demolish or close 47 schools -really? Pogo quote here: we have met the enemy and they are us.
I did oppose St Anthony deal. I thought it was hypocritical of you to blast charters all the time and then try to strike a deal with one. I am very surprised about the loss of students to open enrollment campuses south of COD and you are completely unaware of it. You are supposedly on top of everything, how would this slide by you? DISD hasn’t ever had that high of enrollment that 34K students left and went to charters. That would have put DISD enrollment count into the 170K and over and never has enrollment been that high. Peak I saw was 161K for one year. Y’all should do better with the story of enrollment. The numbers don’t add up.
As far as the budget, I was opposed to giving more money without full transparency on where every dollar goes. They dollars nor the student enrollment is being fudged.
You can forget about getting a decent education from a charter school. When the primary motive is the profit motive, education will always take a back seat. The theft of public funding for a privately run “school” operation is criminal .
these people have no clue that the charter schools are not educating our children. Most of what we get is lip service and opposition to educational opportunities that make since. It baffles me that someone in South Dallas would oppose bringing 300 children in a charter school on to DallasISD where there would be more resources. Go figure!!!
Here is a post from an anti-Common Core group:
2/4/2010 DESTRUCTIVE TO OUR SOVEREIGN SURVIVAL AS AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY: In-Class: United Nations Simulation and Global Education in Community College Settings
And another post from this group:
In 2014, the Qatar Foundation International partnered with the U.S. Department of Education and the State Department to facilitate an online program to connect all U.S. Schools with classrooms abroad by 2016 – offering $$$THOUSANDS to American schools. The stated goal of the initiative is to “…connect every school in the U.S. with the world by 2016.” We notice that there are over 2.5 MILLION subscribers in 2018 and a long list of “sponsors.” Where’s Davoss?
This is not the QFI’s first foray into the U.S. education system. The Qatar-based foundation awarded “Curriculum Grants” to … U.S. schools and language organizations to “…develop comprehensive and innovative curricula and teaching materials to be used in any Arabic language classroom”. QFI, based in Washington, DC, is the U.S. Branch of the Qatar Foundation, founded in 1995 by Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalfa Al Thani. He is still the group’s vice-chairman, while one of his three wives, Shekha Moza bint Nasser, chairs the organization’s board. Thani also launched Al Jazeera in 1996 and served as the television network’s chairman. The Qatar foundation is close to the Muslim Brotherhood.
sources: http://www.connectallschools.org/
Here is a post from the anti-CBE group:
This ad came up on my fb page:
https://go.valant.com/Facebook-Landing.html?_vsrefdom=fbppc&ccid=facebook
I had to search around for a while to figure out that EHR means electronic health record.
And a reply to this post:
Evidence Based treatment centers are a big huge fat JOKE. They do not allow therapists to use whichever form of treatment they see fit for the client-they can only use the prescribed “evidence based” form-like CBT. They keep the therapists in a box, basically. And they are not allowed to go outside the box. It’s all based on “outcomes” “What separates us is a focus on clinical outcomes,” he said. We have a new therapist on staff who came from one of these outcomes based groups (Youth Eastside services) and she said it was horrible. Most of our therapists worked there once since its’ a training facility for new therapists to get their internships. They never recommend the place. And this place-YES-is administering Mental health evaluations to ALL our MS and HS students in a couple districts in the area.
Here is a post from a page called The Crucial Voice of the People:
If you listen to the People, you will hear many on both sides of the political divide blaming “the other” party. Today I see remarks to the effect that Democrats had nothing to do with The Privatization Movement that is destroying our public schools. #Listen
At minute 33:30 Marc Tucker begins to explain the plan that became The Privatization Movement. He takes 8 minutes and 72 seconds to do so. At minute 42:02, then Governor Bill Clinton sums it up
President Clinton became the first to put standardized testing and charter school funding into federal law. He was not the first president to put exploration of “national standards” into law; that was Reagan. Both parties set out to use education to float the tech economy…….NOT TO “reform” but to “transform” the system into a publicly-funded privately run “quasi-governmental” system.
And some replies to this post:
Democrats called it GOALS 2000, Republicans called it America 2000, but it was exactly the same plan just a different name.
And before that — in 1988 — the Southern Regional Education Board set “Goals for Education: Challenge 2000.”
If any of this had been a sincere effort to make things better for all children, they had plenty of time to communicate with parents.
You’ll see some familiar names on this commission. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED301966.pdf
After reading The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, I found that TH Bell, the guy that Reagan appointed as Secretary of “Education”, was in large part responsible for the creation of outcome based education, which was revived within the last few years as “competency based education”. Also, while serving as the US Commissioner of Education in the 1970’s, he recommended the creation of the US Department of Education to Congress!!! He was the one that pushed that all students have computers and predicted that books would be gone by 2000 (luckily, he failed in that endeavor, but his evil dream is, via Common Core and other programs, being realized, and continued by Betsy DeVos.) Furthermore, this globalist pig fired Edward Curran, the director of the National Institute of Education, when Curran tried to persuade President Reagan to get rid of the NIE (a predecessor to the DOE).
Furthermore, he pushed for changing education to be more geared toward “workforce readiness” and also even suggested remaking adult education.
Here is a post from the Common Core Diva:
Warriors, are you aware that beginning 2018-19, ANY student wishing to play in EVERY NCAA division sports team MUST be aligned to CBE and CCR (both are a combo of CCSS and STEM)?
I have the proof here. An article jam packed with research, links, and revealing the entire agenda
*Please share.
Looks like Montana State University has fallen to the Trans Thought Police: https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/12/28/montana-state-university-faces-lawsuit-for-punishing-views-on-transgender-lifestyles/
Here is a post from the anti-CBE group:
Seattle, King County. Best Starts for Kids wants to know all about your child and their developmental issues to best inform their new developmental screenings for ALL children born in King County.
https://beststartsblog.com/2018/12/06/we-need-your-help-if-youre-a-primary-care-or-service-provider-for-families-with-young-children-take-this-survey/
Here are some posts in reply to an article warning about HR 4174 (the FEPA bill):
Thank you.
Also: UNESCO recently published a paper showing (for people that understand) that data interoperability is helping them control curriculum–as their 2004 Microsoft contract put in motion. The paper is called “Future Competencies and the Future of Curriculum”:
http://www.ibe.unesco.org/sites/default/files/resources/02_future_competences_and_the_future_of_curriculum_30oct.v2.pdf
In the foreword, they thank Australian Anthony MacKay who is Marc Tucker’s replacement at the NCEE. So, MacKay is helping UNESCO use interoperable data to control curriculum.
Anthony MacKay and Linda Darling-Hammond will be keynote speakers at a personalized learning summit in Portland in April. The conference is sponsored by UNESCO’s 2030 partner the Collaborative for School Networking (CoSN). CoSN is controlling everything the State Education Technology Directors Association (SETDA) does for data interoperability:
https://cosnconference.org/program/global/
A “Fact Sheet” on HR 4174 states some key misleading “facts”: (I’m spitting mad as I paste this):
“Does the bill create a central tracking system for the American public?
No, the legislation does not establish a new database nor does the legislation authorize any new data collection. CEP specifically recommended against the establishment of a data warehouse or clearinghouse in its final recommendations and the Ryan-Murray legislation would not create such a clearinghouse.”
(Giant omission alert. While the bill doesn’t create a NEW federal database, it does LINK all the existing ones, and makes sure everything is interoperable nationally. De Facto, that’s NEW as a system, and yes, it’s national. Just like China. Control-freak Communist China.)
The fact sheet goes on:
“How does the legislation address existing bans on data collection and use?
The bill does not modify existing bans on data collection or use. CEP specifically identified the “student unit record” ban in its final report as one potential ban that Congress may want to revisit.”
(Oh, really!? Lifting the student unit record ban means deleting the last vestiges of personal privacy. The fact that CEP recommends that is all you need to know! The fact that Obama appointed the chair of the CEP to be the chair of the CEP is also all you need to know.)
found at https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/fact-sheet-foundations-for-evidence-based-policymaking-act/
Here are some posts in the anti-CBE group about Smart Cities, which are related to personalized learning, Ed Tech, and surveillance:
In all the Smart City Contracts, Drones, Cameras, Personalized Learning and edtech and analytics (AI) in schools, we worry about how this data can be biased, wrong, repurposed, used in ways to limit or predict or penalize people, especially children. (And we are told we are tin foil hat wearers, conspiracy theorists.)–okay– Do ANY of these contracts state the data cannot be used in certain ways? cannot be combined with certain sensitive data, cannot be further shared, or repurposed, analyzed? and is there a huge penalty attached, right of action for citizens to sue the bad actors who misuse data? …NOPE. why not? If there truly is nothing to worry about, then these criteria should be required in EVERY CONTRACT.
contracts are not even worth the paper or image they are written on any more. people must reject the tech intrusion in the privacy of their homes, communities, work places, places of worship, etc in order to ever combat the reality of the threat.
Colorado is working on becoming a smart city. Looks what is coming to keep us “safer”.??
^^^been in the works awhile. and in 49 states…will soon be a requirement for new cars to have compatible tech built in. “this internet of roads project is based on technology being implemented today. Wyoming already has a V2X pilot program spanning 402 miles on Interstate 80. And automakers are building it into cars. It’s being used in 70 locations and “thousands of vehicles already on the road,” according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, which is working on a potential rule requiring future cars to be built with the technology inside.
The $20 million grant awarded in December is part of the federal agency’s BUILD program to support transportation infrastructure projects.
https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-transportation-secretary-elaine-l-chao-announces-15-billion-build-transportation?fbclid=IwAR2ECbuPWz2dlrtMsThR7NKL38QhGlFILmDm-yzuZHG54hus-Qt2_jjqq0g
While I’m glad he won the settlement, parents might want to think twice about sending their sons to a place like the University of Cincinnati where he can be expelled for the mere allegation of sexual assault (of which he wasn’t allowed at all to defend himself): https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/12/28/u-of-cincinnati-pays-47k-to-student-deprived-of-due-process-rights/
Here are some posts from an Illinois anti-Common Core page:
.I’ve put my 35 years of service into the education of children in the state of IL and have been retired for 10 years. That being said, I have a very difficult time believing that this “reform”, if it is indeed being introduced into curriculum, is the fault of the teachers, administrators, superintendents, etc. All the reforms that I had to deal with were thrust upon my colleagues and I by politicians who thought they were experts in the schools just because they were once in one. Again. Let me say: I’m retired and OUT of this debacle called Common Core. I saw it coming years ago and knew it would be a disaster. So, I guess I could be considered a prophet! If schools really ARE doing this SEL…..the authors of this are right about one thing: parents better get ahead of this and speak up. Fast.
you are spot on! Teachers are at the mercy of politicians in just about every way! Like [name redacted], I was hugely opposed to Common Core and spoke against it often. Even the teachers unions got on board! ?? Parents do need to wake up and parent. Stop abdicating their important role to the schools. Common core IS a disaster and has damaged countless students across America!
Too many of the good teachers end up “voting” with their feet and retire or switch careers or… leaving those that follow the union that colludes with politicians… Who will stand up for our children?
What can I say….? We have an aging workforce anymore in the education business….people are retiring. The real problem is that teachers are so poorly thought of anymore, fewer and fewer people are even enrolling in education programs at university. In answer to your question, “who will stand up for our children?”….it’s simple: their parents.
Of course parents (and grandparents) should be standing up for their children. But, so many of these young adults who only have or two children assume the teacher (who is highly trained) must be the expert. Many of the young teachers have been taught the latest “fad” theory, but do not have children of their own and don’t know how things were done just a few years ago. So often things like Social emotional learning sound good at the high level. The devil is in the detail.
and a lot of the younger teachers believe in all this social emotional learning stuff. They have VERY different behavior management styles and expectations for students. We have a teacher who spends 30 minutes a day doing yoga and mindful meditation. That time would be better spent playing outside.
teachers aren’t parenting experts and very few are even experts. Maybe those with 25 plus years in the classroom. But they most certainly have much to learn coming right out of college. However, some think they know everything and ignore the ones who can help them. . .the veteran teachers who have been there done that.
Educated parents, kept busy by a mirad of daily demands, many times inadvertently abdicate the teaching of personal responsibility for feelings. Emotional health is not learned by directions, it is learned by experiences and example.
Here is a post from a New York anti-Common Core group:
So I go to my sons school to give him a.m. med for his tics, (which I
can’t stand the med)& nurse says “ok hurry up cuz ya gotta get back & finish your test. (Benchmark🙄🙄🙄) and I nicely say “ok, can
we not have him choke his meds down & RUN back to his class?? The test can wait a few minutes”!”😡😡Is health staff trained too to never take kids outta class, even if it’s for medication!?? Good grief. Needless today there was no “happy holiday” wish to me as I walked out!!! Good ridden for 12 days to school!!!😡😡😡😡
And here are some replies to this post:
I would have told her off. Don’t rush my kid to take his medicine because he had a test. I’m sure the teacher would give him more time if needed. Ugh she sounds like she’s having a bad day and should have left that at the door.
“And the benchmark can WAIT.” -this mom. btw My son has tics too. Both vocal and motor.
Refuse those benchmarks! Pointless&abusive! Using your child as a Guinea pig!
I did address her w/tone, believe me. She gave me an eff you look. Not first run in I’ve had w/her. Annnd I said my remark as she was was telling him to get back to the test..not after she said it. I kinda cut into her remark. Too bad.
You should be discussing this with the Superintendent of that school instead of Facebook.
did it ever occur to you that it is said on Facebook because supers or other do nothing but permit it?!!!!!!!
Benchmarks are a common core issue. The superintendent can’t do anything about them.
what [name redacted] doesn’t know is that I have complained & I email complaints too, to have documentation.😉
it is shameful — kids are already attacked educationally —- then to be treated poorly is gross —- so many experience the same and it is important to share these stories as well as the educational stories — it speaks to the atmosphere that our children face and are subjected to. The abuse has severely grown!
I found this post on a City-Data thread:
A friend of mine was teaching in Vegas; she recently left after having a heart attack. She said way too many standardized tests and not enough time teaching what they should really soured her. It was a very stressful job when they took her out of her last teaching position 3 years ago to move her to the one she quit.
I found this post in an Alaska anti-Common Core group:
PTO’s and PTA’s are being replaced by an internal Title 1 parent liaison. Titile 1 is federal and this means more bureaucracy and probably LGBQT initiatives.
Here is a post from an Ohio anti-Common Core group:
From Karen Bracken
Our government created this crisis on purpose. It is called the Hegelian Dialectic. They create the desired crisis in order to put in the desired outcome. In this case the desired outcome is to destroy the teaching profession so they can use the computer to teach the propaganda and use room monitors or better yet kids just go anywhere they want to plug in. We are moving down a slippery slope quickly and most parents are to blame for allowing it to happen.
patriotmongoose 
