tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80250104810431230712024-03-13T01:52:39.317-07:00Stop Common CoreCommon Core is "Education Without Representation". Washington DC is aligning all public education to a centralized government. That is the direction and purpose of Common Core and it will indoctrinate our children's generation and all future generations. "The end result of the full application of the Common Core will be fully socialized communistic education, entirely controlled by the government." ----Viktor Kostov, PhD BulgariaBarry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-71469332961993217582016-03-29T21:08:00.000-07:002016-04-07T13:15:32.023-07:00Common Core A Part of Leftist Centralized Education Plan, Says Heritage Foundation Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<header class="articleheader" style="color: #111111;"><figure class="figurearticlefeatured" style="margin: 0px;"><div class="featured-container" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">
<img alt="In this Nov. 17, 2015 photo, a student works in an eighth grade algebra class at Holy Spirit School in East Greenbush, N.Y." class="attachment-isc-bbn-full size-isc-bbn-full wp-post-image" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2016/03/AP_279239248896-640x480.jpg" height="480" itemprop="image" style="display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 510px;" width="510" /><br />
<div class="attribution" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.498039); border: 0px; bottom: 0px; color: white; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 10px; position: absolute; right: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
</div>
</figure><div class="byline" style="border: 0px; line-height: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 15px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span class="by-author" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="by" style="border: 0px; color: #777777; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">by</span> <a class="byauthor" href="http://www.breitbart.com/author/dr-susan-berry/" style="border-right-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-right-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 1px 0px 0px; color: #0088bb; display: inline-block; margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 7px 0px 0px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">DR. SUSAN BERRY</a></span><span class="bydate" style="border-right-color: rgb(153 , 153 , 153); border-right-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 1px 0px 0px; color: #777777; display: inline-block; margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 7px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">29 Mar 2016</span><a class="bycount" data-disqus-identifier="3450786 http://www.breitbart.com/?p=3450786" href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/03/29/common-core-a-part-of-leftist-centralized-education-plan-says-heritage-report/#disqus_thread" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: black; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image-source: none; border-style: solid; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-width: 2px 3px 3px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 1em; min-width: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 2px 2px; position: relative; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">89</a></span></div>
</header><br />
<div class="entry-content" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<h2 style="border: 0px; clear: both; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 10px 0px 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Common Core standards initiative is part of the progressive push to centralize education, says the Heritage Foundation in a new report – a compilation of essays by experts in education policy in the United States.</span></h2>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Lindsey Burke, a Heritage Foundation education fellow, introduces the <a href="http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2016/03/common-core-and-the-centralization-of-american-education" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">report</a> with a summary of how the Common Core initiative evolved:</span></div>
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 5px; font-style: inherit; margin: 10px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; quotes: ''; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Common Core State Standards Initiative was created by Achieve, Inc., and driven primarily by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association. The effort began moving forward in earnest in 2009, with the financial support of the Obama Administration. Following the introduction of Common Core, the Administration offered $4.35 billion in federal Race to the Top grant money, along with waivers from the onerous provisions of the widely derided No Child Left Behind Act.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Forty-six states signed on to Common Core, either enticed by the waiver/grant package dangled before them by Washington, or out of a belief in the project itself. Whatever the motivation, the Common Core standards, along with federally funded common assessments aligned to the standards, put American education on the path toward a national curriculum.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Neal McCluskey, director of education at the Cato Institute, writes in his essay, “[T]he trajectory of Common Core is a direct path to a federal curriculum.” He continues with a history of education in the United States and the march toward centralization.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Americans do not need centralization at the national level; rather, we need to move to complete decentralization so we can treat children as what they are: unique individuals,” McCluskey states.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Theodor Rebarber, CEO of AccountabilityWorks, explains the seeming paradox that many proponents of “school choice” are also proponents of Common Core. He observes that some conservatives and libertarians have been fooled into believing the “market-based language” of school choice used by many who also support Common Core’s standards-based tests.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Rebarber writes that the United States has been using a model of education policy whereby “curriculum standards serve as the fulcrum for education reform…state policy elites aim to create excellence in the classroom using an array of policy levers and knobs – all aligned back to the standards…”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Common Core defines and constrains the content and sequencing of the curriculum—and, in many cases, even the instructional methods—to such an extent that the distinction is disingenuous,” he writes.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Advanced Placement and SAT programs are created and administered by the College Board whose president, David Coleman, was also the “architect” of the Common Core standards. Stanley Kurtz, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, writes:</span></div>
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 5px; font-style: inherit; margin: 10px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; quotes: ''; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Under Coleman’s leadership, the College Board has begun to radically redesign all of its Advanced Placement exams, not just AP U.S. History. Ultimately, this transformation will also include subjects such as Physics, World History, European History, U.S. Government and Politics, and Art History. So in effect, Common Core covers English and math, while the College Board’s AP subjects cover the rest of the curriculum.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“It is time to wake up and realize that Common Core has radically expanded its reach, capturing the entire spectrum of the curriculum, not in name, but in fact,” Kurtz adds. “If we are ever to restore local control and public accountability to America’s education system, the College Board’s recent power grab must be a central component of the debate over Common Core.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">William Estrada – director of federal relations at the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) – says that, as a result of the unpopularity of the Common Core initiative, homeschooling is growing in the United States. He articulates his concern that, with further centralization of education, homeschooling freedom will be adversely affected.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“The current Common Core effort has applied solely to the public schools thus far, but if proponents are successful at establishing a nationalized one-size-fits-all approach to education, policymakers will likely inquire as to why homeschoolers and private-schoolers are not taking the same tests,” he writes. “How do we know, the argument will go, that these children are receiving a good education?”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Williamson Evers, research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, explains that despite parents’ and taxpayers’ passion for local control of education, given the current public school “monopoly” of distant elites setting policy, those closest to the children “view the public schools as an unresponsive, declining bureaucracy carrying out edicts from distant capitals.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Evers says Common Core not only “undermines competitive federalism,” but also “in part” was “designed to do so.” Nevertheless, he sees organized groups of parents pressing for Common Core’s repeal in their respective states and opting out of the Common Core-aligned tests as a positive force for education freedom.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The entire Heritage Foundation report can be read <a href="http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2016/03/common-core-and-the-centralization-of-american-education" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-72134146588219963882016-01-12T13:54:00.004-08:002016-01-12T13:56:07.049-08:00Sales Manager at Major Textbook Publisher Quickly Fired After Hidden Camera Captures Common Core Claims<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit;">A sales manager at one of the nation’s largest textbook companies has been fired after she was caught making controversial claims about Common Core on an undercover video.</span><br />
<div class="postContent" id="postContent" itemprop="articleBody" style="border: 0px; clear: both; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Dianne Barrow, who was secretly recorded while at a restaurant by conservative muckrakers with Project Veritas, laughingly said that she “hate[s] kids” and simply does her job to sell books. While unknowingly being recorded, Barrow alleged that Common Core simply enables publishing companies to sell more textbooks and make more money.</span></div>
<div id="taboola-mobile-mid-article-thumbnails" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“You don’t think that educational publishing companies are in it for the education, do you,” Barrow, the West Coast sales manager for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, said. “No, they’re in it for the money.”</span></div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1062550" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;">
<a href="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Screen-Shot-2016-01-12-at-10.58.43-AM.jpg" rel="attachment" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="Image source: YouTube" class="size-large wp-image-1062550" src="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Screen-Shot-2016-01-12-at-10.58.43-AM-620x315.jpg" height="315" itemid="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Screen-Shot-2016-01-12-at-10.58.43-AM-620x315.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="620" /></span></a><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; color: #888888; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Image source: YouTube</span></div>
</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“It’s all about the money,” she said again at another point in the video released Tuesday. “What, are you crazy? It’s all about the money.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Senior Vice President Bianca Olson confirmed to the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3394331/Textbook-sales-leader-says-national-Common-Core-education-standards-money.html" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Daily Mail</a> on Tuesday that Barrow “has been terminated.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“I hate kids,” Barrow had been caught on the undercover video saying. “I’m in it to sell books; don’t even kid yourself for a heartbeat.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The company’s CEO, Linda Zecher, told the Daily Mail that she and her company are “as appalled by these comments as we expect readers will be.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“These statements in no way reflect the views of HMH and the commitment of our over 4,000 employees who dedicate their lives to serving teachers and students every day,” Zecher said. “The individual who made these comments is a former employee who was with HMH for less than a year.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Jodi Cohen, a Brooklyn teacher, seemed to confirm Barrow’s comments while speaking to an undercover journalist at what appears to be a bar.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Oh my god, it’s all a money game,” she said. ”And the things is, what they do is, they create some new f***ing system that f***ing sucks to sell more books, and then we have to learn something new with the students,” she said. “So it’s bulls**t.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Besides Common Core, Barrow also weighed in on the 2016 presidential race.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Who is listening to Donald Trump. I mean, come on,” she said of the GOP frontrunner. “Do you know who is listening to Donald Trump? It’s all old, white men that are frustrated with their lives.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“It’s like a midlife crisis,” she continued. “And so, he doesn’t know policy, he doesn’t even — has he ever read the Constitution?”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Watch the heavily edited video from Project Veritas below.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="366" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c8tZGl1SVs0" style="border-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="510"></iframe></span></div>
<div id="sailthru-scout-container" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px; color: #333333; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
</div>
</div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-50506533032301384752015-05-05T18:38:00.001-07:002015-05-05T18:38:19.113-07:00Common Core-Related Worksheet Teaches That Only White Schools Get New Textbooks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A Florida father is up in arms over a class worksheet his fourth-grader received that stated that “only schools in white districts” get new textbooks.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It was part of a story in a “cause and effect” lesson Tim Marden’s son was assigned at Newberry Elementary in north-central Florida:</span></div>
<blockquote style="border: 0px; color: #555555; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px 30px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">One day some time ago, a boy named Jack was doing his homework. His mother began to examine Jack’s textbook. A puzzled look clouded her face. She noticed that the book was worn and missing a dozen pages.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The next day, she told the school’s principal that Jack deserved better materials. He agreed, but said that only schools in white districts got new texts. Schools in African American areas got old, damaged books.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So Jack’s mother met with a lawyer. They filed a legal case, claiming unequal and unfair treatment toward Jack. A judge decided that Jack’s mother was right. The board of education agreed to revise the system for providing materials to schools in the district.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Marden told TheBlaze he asked his child’s teacher about the worksheet, and the teacher agreed it was troubling and “developmentally inappropriate.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="Full Page Worksheet" class="size-large wp-image-963212 aligncenter" height="620" itemid="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Full-Page-Worksheet-480x620.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" src="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Full-Page-Worksheet-480x620.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;" width="480" /></span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Alachua County Public Schools spokeswoman Jackie Johnson told TheBlaze the exercise comes from the state’s Florida Standards, which she described as ”pretty much Common Core standards with some changes.” She did not comment about the “appropriateness” of the example used.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Johnson said the goal of the unit is for students to “understand that the right of equal opportunity is or was protected by the Civil Rights Act, integration and changing laws; Martin Luther King Jr.; [and] the U.S. Constitution.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Any parent, student or staff member who objects to an instructional material may also request that the material be re-evaluated at the school level, then at the district level,” Johnson said.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Madden said he has no objection to his child learning about racism, but said the lesson should be more specific rather than the “obtuse nature” of the worksheet.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“It’s just a made-up story, it lacks concrete, fact-based information, ” he said. “We have so much history, why not use it?”</span></div>
</div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-75550732890427937242015-03-12T09:26:00.001-07:002015-03-12T09:26:21.413-07:00Arkansas Mother Obliterates Common Core in 4 Minutes!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wZEGijN_8R0" width="550"></iframe></div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-81958008784853874282015-02-25T17:18:00.002-08:002015-02-25T17:18:30.954-08:00Judge Takes a Swipe at Common Core<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Ahead of the controversial Common Core exams being administered across the country, a judge ruled Tuesday that the state of Missouri’s membership with a testing company aligned with the Common Core State Standards is illegal, the <a href="http://www.kspr.com/news/local/missouri-judge-rules-pact-with-common-core-testing-illegal/21051620_31469042" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Associated Press reported</a>.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Missouri conducts its Common Core <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article8533370.html#storylink=cpy" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">math and English exams</a> in grades three through eight under by the Smarter Balanced Consortium of 16 states, out of more than 40, who have adopted the standards.</span></div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_933656" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 525px;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Screen-Shot-2015-02-25-at-9.17.15-AM.png" rel="attachment" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Common Core opponents wave signs and cheer at a rally opposing Mississippi's continued use of the Common Core academic standards on the steps of the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015. Both Gov. Phil Bryant and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves have vowed that the state will quit using the standards. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)" class=" wp-image-933656 " src="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Screen-Shot-2015-02-25-at-9.17.15-AM.png" height="373" itemid="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Screen-Shot-2015-02-25-at-9.17.15-AM.png" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="601" /></a></span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Cole County, Missouri Circuit Judge Daniel Green said the state’s membership with the testing company is “illegal interstate compact not authorized by the U.S. Congress.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Missouri’s education department budgeted about $4.3 million for member dues this fiscal year.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers developed the controversial Common Core education standards. The U.S. Department of Education has tied federal grants to states with adopting Common Core, which critics say makes it a de facto federal program. More than 40 states adopted the standards, but three states have outright repealed it, while numerous others are reviewing or rolling back certain aspects of the standards.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Two private testing companies are involved in administering the exams, Smarter Balance and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.</span></div>
</div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-16820869709836608162015-01-11T15:34:00.001-08:002015-01-11T15:37:49.555-08:00You ought to listen to the videos in the Mississippi web site to stop Common Core<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://stopccms.org/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgstJF6np5XhHmikJgKp32mFHN-YaO7CznY2inZDTNNuMp-mZzaCIdiiT8LTw9xkvurhnWM6n7pxmdDkj9h4UhZ31AuTsOTWND_2706F2ERcW6ZJm2E7nfe6urtFxtzh5qBIHn9RcbNz0o/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-01-11+at+4.35.32+PM.png" height="165" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-66282545272277657492014-12-20T08:04:00.002-08:002014-12-20T08:06:45.174-08:00Mom Says She Uncovered ‘Very Shocking’ Content When She Decided to Look Over Her Child’s Vocabulary Lesson<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The parents of a high school student in Farmville, North Carolina, are <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/12/19/school-islamic-vocabulary-lesson-part-common-core-standards/" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">seeking answers</a> regarding a Common Core-aligned vocabulary assignment given to their child that they claim is essentially Islamic propaganda.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The assignment was reportedly given to seniors at Farmville Central High School and included several pro-Islamic messages.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The worksheet reportedly read: “In the following exercises, you will have the opportunity to expand your vocabulary by reading about Muhammad and the Islamic word.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The assignment used the words astute, conducive, erratic, mosque, pastoral, and zenith in sentences about Islam.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“The responses to Muhammad’s teachings were at first erratic. Some people responded favorably, while other resisted his claim that ‘there is no God but Allah and Muhammad his Prophet,” one sentence read.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Read some of the other sentences via <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/12/19/school-islamic-vocabulary-lesson-part-common-core-standards/" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">FoxNews.com</a> below:</span></div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_907558" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 10px; border-color: rgb(51, 51, 51) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204); border-style: solid; border-width: 4px 1px 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; margin: 20px auto; padding: 5px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 520px;">
<a href="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/muslimworksheet.jpg" rel="attachment" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="Source: FoxNews.com" class="size-large wp-image-907558" src="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/muslimworksheet-620x348.jpg" height="224" itemid="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/muslimworksheet-620x348.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="400" /></span></a><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; color: #888888; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Source: FoxNews.com</span></div>
</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A parent, who asked to remain anonymous, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/12/19/school-islamic-vocabulary-lesson-part-common-core-standards/" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">told the news outlet </a>that it was “very shocking” to read the religious material.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“I just told my daughter to read it as if it’s fiction. It’s no different than another of fictional book you’ve read,” she said.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">One of the students who was reportedly in the class in which the assignment was given told FoxNews.com that she was “caught off guard” by the content.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“I just looked at it and knew something was not right – so I emailed the pages to my mom,” the student added.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A Pitt County Schools spokesperson reportedly confirmed the assignment is from a state-adopted workbook that meets “Common Core standards for English Language Arts.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Our school system understands all concerns related to proselytizing, and there is no place for it in our instruction/ However, this particular lesson was one of many the students in this class have had and will have that expose them to the various religions and how they shape cultures throughout the world,” the district said in a statement.</span></div>
</div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-42976451401356070992014-12-16T17:35:00.002-08:002014-12-16T17:35:49.963-08:00‘I Don’t Want to Deal With This Nonsense’: What a 10-Year-Old Girl Had to Say About Common Core Left Parents Cheering<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The school board members seemed to know what was in store — they joked about “cutting her off” as she took the mic — and they were right to be concerned.</span></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_905822" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 10px; border-color: rgb(51, 51, 51) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204); border-style: solid; border-width: 4px 1px 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; float: right; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 20px 20px; padding: 5px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 372px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="Image source: YouTube " class=" wp-image-905822 " height="342" itemid="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Screen-Shot-2014-12-16-at-10.18.02-AM-620x570.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" src="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Screen-Shot-2014-12-16-at-10.18.02-AM-620x570.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="372" /></span><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; color: #888888; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Image source: YouTube</span></div>
</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">When New Jersey 10-year-old Elizabeth Blaine reached the podium in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=m0hTl638Exg&app=desktop" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">video</a> recorded by her mom Monday night, she laid right into Common Core testing and she didn’t let up.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“I love to read, I love to write, I love to do math but I don’t love the PARCC,” Elizabeth said. “Why? Because it stinks.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The PARCC, or Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, is a Common Core test, and the Montclair School Board was meeting to discuss a policy that would allow parents to opt their kids out of taking it.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Elizabeth was all for the policy.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The PARCC is riddled with ”very confusing and extremely hard questions,” Elizabeth said, and in a deadly mix of unforgiving technology and the application of concepts that students haven’t learned, the test is a counterproductive mess.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Elizabeth said:</span></div>
<blockquote style="border: 0px; color: #555555; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px 30px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“One of the essay questions was identify a theme in ‘Just Like Home’ and a theme in ‘Life Doesn’t Frighten Me.’ Write an essay that explains how the theme of the story is shown through the characters and how the theme of the poem is shown through the speaker. Include specific details from the story and the poem to support your essay.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“This is crazy! I am one of the most gifted students in my grade, or so my mom says, and I have not even the slightest clue what this means.”</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">By the time she was done speaking, the room had erupted with cheers and applause.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“I’m glad my mom and dad are letting me opt out,” Elizabeth said, “because I don’t want to deal with this nonsense.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Watch Elizabeth’s whole speech below:</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/m0hTl638Exg" style="border-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="560"></iframe></span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Monday’s meeting was a first reading of the opt-out policy, the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/12/16/10-year-old-tells-school-board-i-love-to-read-i-love-to-do-math-but-i-dont-love-the-parcc-why-because-it-stinks/" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Washington Post reported</a>; the Montclair School Board will vote at a later meeting on adopting the policy.</span></div>
</div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-10202372310080543622014-12-02T15:56:00.000-08:002014-12-02T15:56:36.304-08:00Critics say Common Core includes collecting psych data on kids<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3x04Fnlq9c5rejY55Y5dG4yw4kQOZZbXB_sU91MMXD85eHK1FDwdufqVwkWxBawh6N_t4irErRAQ_qIBRgeUiR1TEcUzAqz5RJx5m4LKyeC2sMxNo9GARUt4RnJy7FsoR-JwBeRqnAFk/s1600/Classroom+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3x04Fnlq9c5rejY55Y5dG4yw4kQOZZbXB_sU91MMXD85eHK1FDwdufqVwkWxBawh6N_t4irErRAQ_qIBRgeUiR1TEcUzAqz5RJx5m4LKyeC2sMxNo9GARUt4RnJy7FsoR-JwBeRqnAFk/s1600/Classroom+2.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A little-known aspect of Common Core should have students worried about what goes on the dreaded "permanent record," say critics of the national education standard.</span></div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Parents in Pennsylvania have written outgoing Gov. Tom Corbett to demand a moratorium on the collection of what they describe as sensitive and personal information on students, which they say is part of a federal database to track the development of every child. And education activists around the nation say it is part and parcel of the controversial campaign to impose a uniform, national standard for math and English.</span></div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“This follows them from the cradle to the grave,” said Tracy Ramey, of Pennsylvanians against Common Core. Her group, along with Pennsylvanians Restoring Education, recently wrote Corbett to demand the shutdown of the state’s Pennsylvania Information Management System (PIMS) in all 500 school districts.</span></div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“What’s alarming is what they are doing with the data,” Ramey said.</span></div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The process, set to play out throughout the country in what critics call a “womb to workplace” information system, was originally developed by the Department of Labor and contains information on every U.S. citizen under the age of 26. Most of the information on individuals is collected while K-12 students are in school, and includes names, grades and information such as personality traits, behavior patterns and even fingerprints. The state of Pennsylvania was one of the early adopters of the data mining and contributed to the framework for a nationwide program.</span></div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Both groups allege that any state entity as well as outside contractors can access personal information.</span></div>
<blockquote style="background-position: 0px 0px; border-color: rgb(215, 215, 215); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: #222222; font-style: italic; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 24px 74px; quotes: none; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“This follows them to from the Cradle to the Grave.”</span><br />
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 12px; padding: 0px; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">- Tracy Ramey, Pennsylvanians against Common Core</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“The personally identifiable information includes information on every student’s personality, attitudes, values, beliefs, and disposition, a psychological profile called Interpersonal Skills Standards and anchors,” reads the letter sent to Corbett on Monday. “This data has been illegally obtained through deceptive means without the parents' knowledge or consent through screening, evaluations, testing, and surveys. These illegal methods of information gathering were actually fraudulently called ‘academic standards’ on the [Pennsylvania] Department of Education website portal.”</span></div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Anita Hoge, a member of Pennsylvanians Restoring Education, said local districts may have a need to collect some personal information, but a state or national database is a danger.</span></div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“There are two problems with sharing data beyond the local district,” she said. “First, parents are not aware that FERPA [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act] regulations now allow their children's data (personally identifiable information) to be shared to outside third party vendors. And, this data is being collected and placed on a data system that is shared with the feds. This first level of data collection and sharing is a violation of privacy.”</span></div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div class="related" style="-webkit-transition: width 0.2s linear; background-position: 0px 0px; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 24px 24px; padding: 19px 0px 0px; transition: width 0.2s linear; width: 294px;">
<h2 style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Related Image</span></h2>
<div class="m" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 14px; max-width: 880px; padding: 0px; position: relative;">
<img alt="PIMS contract page.jpg" src="http://a57.foxnews.com/global.fncstatic.com/static/managed/img/880/558/PIMS%20contract%20page.jpg?ve=1&tl=1" itemprop="image" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.2s linear; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; transition: all 0.2s linear; width: 294px;" /><a class="expand" href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/12/02/womb-to-workforce-anti-common-core-advocates-allege-data-mining-on-students/#" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background-image: url(http://global.fncstatic.com/static/v/all/img/rs/overlay-expand.png); background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 16px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #183a52; display: block; height: 27px; left: 16px; position: absolute; text-indent: -9999px; transition: color 0.2s linear; width: 28px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Expand / Contract</span></a></div>
<div class="source" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px;">
<div itemprop="sourceOrganization" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This excerpt from a state contract provided to FoxNews.com explains how the state implemented a "womb to workforce" database.<span class="source" itemprop="name" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2px;"></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“The second problem is that the data then becomes a ‘decision making model,’” she added. “This is where the violations of privacy are expanded for information to be used for ‘interventions.’ This is a civil rights violation.”</span></div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Pennsylvania Department of Education officials said the activist groups are misinformed.</span></div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“It’s riddled with inaccurate information,” Tim Eller, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, said of the letter. “This has been an ongoing issue associated with Common Core, [and one] which Pennsylvania is not part of.”</span></div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“It’s possible that school districts are collecting data but not probable,” he said, adding that the DOE has no outside contracts either.</span></div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The department provided a list of “data elements” that go into the PIMS system, which include semester grades and courses taken, but also information on truancy, infractions and disciplinary actions.</span></div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">But Hoge said her group has proof their concerns are well-founded, in the form of a contract the state entered into with Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS).</span></div>
<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“PDE has made great strides designing a comprehensive K-12 data system and creating a solid foundation for a ‘womb to workplace’ information system," reads a section from the grant contract, which Hoge's group obtained from the state Senate Education Committee. "Thus far, we have developed the foundational features of PIMS and have two years’ worth of longitudinal data in a state data warehouse.”</span></div>
</div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-58826577202630117252014-09-04T19:44:00.002-07:002014-09-04T19:44:57.861-07:00Watch This Math Teacher Take Almost an Entire Minute Explaining How to Add 9 Plus 6 Using Common Core Math<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A simple addition problem seems to become a little more complicated under Common Core. That is made very clear in a new “Homework Helper” segment that recently aired on WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, New York.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In the new educational segments, local teachers attempt to help confused parents better understand their children’s Common Core homework. In the introductory segment, a math teacher takes nearly an entire minute explaining why 9 plus 6 equals 15.</span></div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_860871" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 10px; background-color: white; border-color: rgb(51, 51, 51) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204); border-style: solid; border-width: 4px 1px 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; margin: 20px auto; padding: 5px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 525px;">
<a href="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/CommonCore-new.png" rel="attachment" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="W" class="size-large wp-image-860871 " height="322" itemid="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/CommonCore-new-620x322.png" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" src="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/CommonCore-new-620x322.png" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="525" /></span></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; color: #888888; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Our young learners might not be all together comfortable thinking about what 9 plus 6 is. They are quite comfortable thinking about their friend 10,” the teacher says in the video. “10 is emphasized in our young grades as we are working in a base-10 system. So if we can partner 9 to a number and anchor 10, we can help our students see what 9 plus 6 is.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">She continues: “So, we are going to decompose our 6 and we know 6 is made up of parts. One of its parts is a 1 and the other part is a 5. We are now going to anchor our 9 to a 1, allowing our students to anchor to that 10. Now our students are seeing that we have 10 plus 5. Having them now more comfort seeing that 10 plus 5 is 15. That is much more comfortable than looking at 9 plus 6, an isolated math fact.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Got all that?</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Essentially, the Common Core way of solving the simple math problems has students decipher that 5 plus 1 equals 6 and 10 minus 1 equals 9 before they even solve the actual problem. One has to wonder why kids can’t simply be taught that 9 plus 6 equals 15.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Watch the video via the Foundry Blog:</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uc3Pv5Q_AdA" style="border-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="525"></iframe></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And basic subtraction:</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Y7o08jqJhew" style="border-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="525"></iframe></span></div>
</div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-22452829808599584812014-08-30T13:15:00.005-07:002014-08-30T13:15:55.266-07:00Is ‘social justice math’ creeping into your child’s curriculum?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">With American children heading back to school, Thursday’s Glenn Beck Program focused on the latest developments related to the Common Core standards and how it impacts the future of education in this country. Dana Loesch spoke to Kyle Olson, co-author of <a href="http://www.glennbeck.com/conform/" style="color: #2e7fbe;">Conform: Exposing the Truth About Common Core and Public Education</a>, about a disturbing trend in classrooms: Social justice-inspired math.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px; margin: 10px auto; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="338" src="http://www.video.theblaze.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=35746237&width=540&height=338&property=theblaze" width="540"></iframe></span><br />
<div id="gbtv_embed_banner" style="margin: -4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As Dana explained, because of the way Common Core has been implemented, not all private school or homeschool curriculums are safe. Furthermore, as Kyle pointed out, college entrance exams like the SAT and ACT are going to be reformatted in the coming years to be “Common Core aligned,” which means children who do not receive a Common Core curriculum will be at a disadvantage.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Just because you homeschool or go to a charter school or private school or whatever the case may be, it is critical parents are engaged in that process, aligned with the teachers and school leaders to make sure their child is getting a proper education and one they expect for their kids,” Olson explained.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Perhaps most disturbing, however, is a trend Olson described among math materials that seeks to recalibrate the economic principles from which concepts are taught.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“There is a huge movement to push what is known as ‘<a href="http://eagnews.org/radical-math-social-justice-indoctrination-in-math-class-courtesy-of-common-core-obama-backed-reform/" style="color: #2e7fbe;">social justice math</a>,’” he said. “Proponents of social justice math don’t like how much consumerism is in math.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">If you think back to your elementary school years, your math equations probably centered around going to the store and making a purchase or having to make change in some way. Not anymore. Now, <a href="http://eagnews.org/common-core-math-question-for-sixth-graders-was-the-2000-election-fair/" style="color: #2e7fbe;">progressives are pushing to have themes</a> like climate change and casualties of war worked into these problems.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“A typical math problem would be you have 13 cents and a green pencil is 3 cents – you know, that sort of problem. They want to get rid of those sorts of problems,” Olson said. “Instead, they want to calculate war deaths, or they want to calculate the number of liquor stores within a particular radius of the school, or problems related to global warming – those sorts of things.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Ultimately, there is a push to insert a political and ideological bias into areas of the curriculum that should be straightforward and fact-based.</span></div>
</div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-33543517951136692792014-08-15T06:20:00.001-07:002014-08-15T06:20:12.517-07:00Common Core anger triggers homeschooling surge in North Carolina<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://eagnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/homeschoolhouse.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; clear: right; color: #414b4a; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="homeschoolhouse" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-20774" height="217" src="http://eagnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/homeschoolhouse-300x217.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; cursor: move; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 1em 1em; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina officials say there has been a huge increase over the past two years in the number of Tar Heel families who have pulled their kids out of public schools and begun educating them at home.<br /><span id="more-34247" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />The number of homeschools has jumped 27 percent since the 2011-12 school year, <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/08/13/4069580/home-schooling-accelerating-in.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #414b4a; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">NewsObserver.com</a> reports.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As of last year, 98,172 North Carolinian children were homeschooled; that’s 2,400 students more than the number who attended a private school.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">While the sputtering economy is the reason families are choosing homeschooling over private schooling, the nationalized learning experiment (Common Core) is the main reason families are leaving the public schools in the first place.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Common Core is a big factor that I hear people talk about,” Beth Herbert, founder of Lighthouse Christian Homeschool Association, told NewsObserver.com. “They’re not happy with the work their kids are coming home with. They’ve decided to take their children home.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In-the-know parents understand that Common Core’s plodding approach to math instruction leaves students unprepared for college study in STEM courses – science, technology, engineering and math.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">These same parents also realize that the nationalized learning standards’ emphasis of nonfiction, “informational” texts over classic literature is intended to mold students into drone-like workers, not out-of-the-box thinkers.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For some homeschool parents, it’s the Common Core-related standardized testing that they’re trying to protect their kids from.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Whatever the particular reason, it all adds up to a significant exodus from the public schools.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Homeschooling doesn’t mean kids have to miss all the social and sports-related aspects of traditional schools. Communities with a significant number of homeschoolers offer extracurricular activities for families.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Homeschooling was legalized by the state Supreme Court in 1985. In the days before Common Core, most homeschool families chose to leave the government-run schools because they were too secular, violent and crowded, the news site notes.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It’ll be interesting to see if the homeschool surge levels off once state education leaders revise and replace the worst parts of Common Core, as state lawmakers recently <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/07/17/North-Carolina-Governor-To-Sign-Bill-To-Replace-Common-Core-Standards" style="background-color: transparent; color: #414b4a; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">directed</a> them to do.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">But North Carolinians shouldn’t be surprised if it continues to grow, as homeschool parents share their success stories with others.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“It was scary at first,” homeschool parent Melissa Lopez told the news site, adding that her New York friends were skeptical when they heard her plan.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Up North it’s not as common as it is down here so I always thought it was a crazy idea. But once I said, ‘I’m not asking for opinions – I’m doing it,’ they see it’s worked out for us,” Lopez said.</span></div>
</div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-61965550809569349252014-08-09T08:51:00.001-07:002014-08-09T08:53:31.807-07:00Abbott And Costello / Classic Math vs. Common Core... Yes, 7 x 13 really DOES equal 28<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="350" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XnICFjDn97o" width="550"></iframe></div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-57784139543548324922014-08-07T07:44:00.003-07:002014-08-07T07:44:58.953-07:00BERKELEY MATH PROFESSOR RATNER: COMMON CORE 'WILL MOVE U.S. CLOSER TO BOTTOM IN INTERNATIONAL RANKING'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjR3Orwsv7Cmg9ldq4_nZX9Da2YOf_1V7OSxTxGGCUZ_j2aXceYQ_sQ99zjdCzUBC318SPFFjFm-YsrosWiB2MIElvgFs9tUDO5cIhpUXT2hdvDlh31D_0dUnJCQG780FHnUbZdgFF1hE/s1600/computer-lab-ap.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjR3Orwsv7Cmg9ldq4_nZX9Da2YOf_1V7OSxTxGGCUZ_j2aXceYQ_sQ99zjdCzUBC318SPFFjFm-YsrosWiB2MIElvgFs9tUDO5cIhpUXT2hdvDlh31D_0dUnJCQG780FHnUbZdgFF1hE/s1600/computer-lab-ap.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<h2 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; font-weight: normal; line-height: inherit; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In an <a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/marina-ratner-making-math-education-even-worse-1407283282" style="color: #0088bb; text-decoration: none;">op-ed</a> at the <em style="border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wall Street Journal</em>, Marina Ratner, renowned professor emerita of mathematics at the University of California at Berkeley, explains why the Common Core standards will make math education even worse in the United States and move the nation “even closer to the bottom in international ranking.”</span></h2>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Ratner <a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/marina-ratner-making-math-education-even-worse-1407283282" style="color: #0088bb; text-decoration: none;">writes</a> that she initially experienced the Common Core standards last fall through her then-sixth grade grandson in Berkeley.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“As a mathematician I was intrigued, thinking that there must be something really special about the Common Core,” she recalls. “Otherwise, why not adopt the curriculum and the excellent textbooks of highly achieving countries in math instead of putting millions of dollars into creating something new?”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As she began to read about the controversial standards, however, Ratner says she hardly found any academic mathematicians who could assert that the Common Core standards were better than California’s pre-2010 standards – considered to be among the finest in the nation.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Ratner read that Bill McCallum, a leading writer for the Common Core math standards, indicated the new standards “would not be too high” compared to those of other countries in which math education has demonstrated excellence.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Additionally, she discovered that Jason Zimba (video below), another lead writer of the Common Core math standards, told the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education that the new standards would not prepare students for STEM or selective four-year colleges.</span></div>
<iframe class="inline-video" frameborder="0" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eJZY4mh2rt8" style="background-color: white; border-width: 0px; color: #111111; display: block; line-height: 22px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="540"></iframe><br />
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Upon closer review of the standards, Ratner says she observed, “They were vastly inferior to the old California standards in rigor, depth and the scope of topics.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Many topics – for instance, calculus and pre-calculus, about half of algebra II and parts of geometry – were taken out and many were moved to higher grades,” she writes.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“It became clear that the new standards represent lower expectations and that students taught in the way that these standards require would have little chance of being admitted to even an average college and would certainly struggle if they did get in,” Ratner continues.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Reviewing her grandson’s math homework, Ratner found it followed the Common Core math standards exactly. Assignments on fractions required drawing pictures of “6 divided by 8, of 4 divided by 2/7, of 0.8 x 0.4, and so forth.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“For example, create a story context for 2/3 divided by 3/4 and use a visual fraction model to show the quotient…” Ratner reads, and then asks, “Who would draw a picture to divide 2/3 by 3/4?”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Noting that, with Common Core, students are continually asked to draw models to answer “trivial questions,” Ratner asserts, “A student who gives the correct answer right away (as one should) and doesn’t draw anything loses points.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Breitbart News asked <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/offices/nac/members/milgram-bio.html" style="color: #0088bb; text-decoration: none;">Dr. R. James Milgram</a>, professor of mathematics at Stanford University – who was asked to be a member of the Common Core Validation Committee but then refused to sign off on the standards – about Ratner’s observation regarding Common Core’s persistent emphasis on visual models, even for simple questions.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“It is believed by most U.S. math education Ed.D.'s that at-risk students learn better using manipulatives and that the focus of U.S. standards should always be these students,” Milgram said. “So they choose pedagogy that effectively turns off the average and even more so the above-average students in a desire to focus on the weakest students.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Milgram observes, however, “The research on how at-risk students learn most effectively is absolutely clear on the fact that this is the worst possible method for teaching these students this material.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Likewise, the research on gifted students shows that those students learn best when they are allowed to accelerate and learn at their own speed,” he adds.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Finally, over the last century, not one paper in the education literature that has met basic criteria for reproducibility has shown that the kind of group learning pushed in Common Core is more effective than direct instruction,” Milgram asserts. “In fact, a close reading of most of these papers seems to indicate that these methods are significantly less effective than direct instruction.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Given this, the most likely outcomes are an across-the-board-weakening of student outcomes,” Milgram warns.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“There have been some brave souls who have suggested that of course, the academics in the education schools are perfectly well aware of these facts, but the predicted outcomes are exactly what they want,” he states. “I don't know if this is the case, but it certainly explains much of what seems to be going on.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Ratner asserts the Common Core’s so-called “deeper” and “more rigorous” standards will actually simply replace mathematics “with some kind of illustrative counting saturated with pictures, diagrams and elaborate word problems.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">With all these flaws, however, she says she is most astounded by the pro-Common Core claim that the standards are “internationally benchmarked.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“They are not,” she writes. “The Common Core fails any comparison with the standards of high-achieving countries, just as they fail compared to the old California standards.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The Common Core standards “are lower in the total scope of learned material, in the depth and rigor of the treatment of mathematical subjects, and in the delayed and often inconsistent and incoherent introductions of mathematical concepts and skills,” Ratner writes. </span></div>
</div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-16759553170173619882014-08-05T07:08:00.001-07:002014-08-05T07:12:10.830-07:00Part 1 of 5 Stop the Common Core<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="350" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/coRNJluF2O4" width="550"></iframe></div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-41206409230247751562014-08-05T07:07:00.000-07:002014-08-05T07:16:42.656-07:00Part 2 of 5 Stop the Common Core<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="350" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/E8FJ1U90HIg" width="550"></iframe>Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-12550007352627669382014-08-05T07:06:00.001-07:002014-08-05T07:20:52.923-07:00Part 3 of 5 Stop the Common Core<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="350" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vnpqT_XirPo" width="550"></iframe>Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-74208044666916444212014-08-05T07:05:00.000-07:002014-08-05T07:22:33.710-07:00Part 4 of 5 Stop the Common Core<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="350" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/geLCamWdblE" width="550"></iframe>Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-84888519034180524792014-08-05T07:04:00.000-07:002014-08-05T07:24:03.340-07:00Part 5 of 5 Stop the Common Core<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="350" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rjJFjNx6jOI" width="550"></iframe>Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-52206800143599981952014-07-22T20:35:00.001-07:002014-07-22T20:36:32.755-07:00AMID HEATED DEBATE, LOUISIANA LAWMAKERS FILE LAWSUIT TO SUSPEND COMMON CORE STANDARDS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-aoXY4oQbj041CID6xDGZFUKwmD_iKkkvQpAKYHV4PPJN765Y1-zqowe-4FTN2M-P5Xui5Ux64JqqYvLmYXkDRK516LnmyCb7dO4QPQkqySnfUHLhuhkKFxdJtW-BfCqXwi0Ae3anYIw/s1600/this-weeks-common-core-standards-ap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-aoXY4oQbj041CID6xDGZFUKwmD_iKkkvQpAKYHV4PPJN765Y1-zqowe-4FTN2M-P5Xui5Ux64JqqYvLmYXkDRK516LnmyCb7dO4QPQkqySnfUHLhuhkKFxdJtW-BfCqXwi0Ae3anYIw/s1600/this-weeks-common-core-standards-ap.jpg" height="238" width="320" /></a></div>
<h2 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; font-weight: normal; line-height: inherit; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Lawmakers in Louisiana filed a lawsuit Monday in Baton Rouge district court that seeks an immediate suspension of the Common Core standards in the state’s schools.</span></h2>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">According to the <a href="http://www.katc.com/news/lawsuit-filed-to-stop-common-core-use-in-louisiana/" style="color: #0088bb; text-decoration: none;">Associated Press</a>, the 17 legislators – 13 Republicans and 2 Democrats – argue in the suit that state education leaders failed to properly enact the controversial standards that have been the focus of a <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/07/02/Louisiana-Board-Of-Ed-Votes-To-Lawyer-Up-Against-Jindal-Over-Common-Core-Exit" style="color: #0088bb; text-decoration: none;">heated debate</a> between Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and John White, state superintendent.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The lawsuit claims Louisiana’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) and the state education department failed to follow the state’s Administrative Procedures Act (APA) for implementing the Common Core standards.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The APA requires public notice, a 90-day comment period, and legislative oversight be provided prior to changes made to education standards in the state, but the lawmakers say these requirements were not met in the case of the Common Core standards.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Unless an injunction issues herein by the Court, needless time and resources will be expended in the teaching, testing, learning, and financing of Common Core, all to the detriment of the citizens of Louisiana,” the lawsuit states.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">BESE President Chas Roemer and Education Superintendent John White have planned a conference call to address the lawsuit’s claims.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“There are many statutes in Louisiana that require the use of the Administrative Procedures Act to implement a new rule,” Louisiana state Rep. Brett Geymann (R), one of the lawmakers who filed the lawsuit, told Breitbart News. “The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and Department of Education are not exempt from the APA and did not follow the law in implementing Common Core; therefore, they denied the public the opportunity to be a part of the process.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“We are hopeful the court will rule Common Core invalid and we can move forward with developing our own standards with local control,” Geymann added. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Jindal, like other governors and lawmakers, once approved of the standards, but as more light has been shed on the federal government’s involvement in pushing the Common Core standards onto the states, many are now distancing themselves in one form or another from the unpopular nationalized initiative.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">On Monday, <em style="border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://theadvocate.com/home/9754758-125/common-core-debate-among-most" style="color: #0088bb; text-decoration: none;">The Advocate</a></em> observed that the Louisiana Common Core debate had “mushroomed into the biggest education fight” in the state, according to veteran education officials.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In June, Jindal <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/07/02/Louisiana-Board-Of-Ed-Votes-To-Lawyer-Up-Against-Jindal-Over-Common-Core-Exit" style="color: #0088bb; text-decoration: none;">issued</a> executive orders to remove his state from the controversial Common Core standards and the assessments tied to them. He based this move on the argument that the decision by the Louisiana Department of Education to sign onto the PARCC Common Core test consortium was unlawful because it bypassed the state’s procurement law which requires an open bidding process.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In response, BESE voted to hire legal counsel to challenge the Governor’s executive orders, claiming his actions were illegal and defiantly <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/06/18/Louisiana-Gov-Jindal-Moves-To-Remove-State-From-Common-Core-Standards" style="color: #0088bb; text-decoration: none;">asserting</a> that Louisiana “will implement the Common Core State Standards, as well as … PARCC for the 2014-2015 school year.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Meetings between Jindal and White have <a href="http://theadvocate.com/home/9731362-125/jindal-white-meeting-yields-no" style="color: #0088bb; text-decoration: none;">failed</a> to produce any terms of agreement in what appears to be a battle of unprecedented intensity.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: #0e0e0e; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The rancorous dispute once again underscores the national debate <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/06/22/Common-Core-Issue-Highlights-Huge-Role-Of-Federal-Government-In-Education" style="color: #0088bb; text-decoration: none;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #1a72b2; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">sparked by the controversial Common Core standards</span></a> regarding the power of the federal government and its often allied state boards of education over the elected representatives of the people, local school districts, and parents.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Sara Wood, an attorney and parent who has been involved in organizing a grassroots group against the Common Core, said she believes White needs to be removed immediately as state superintendent.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“The longer BESE continues on this Common Core/PARCC path as a Board, it will continue to erode any trust in the ability of this Board to direct education in Louisiana and will bring more havoc to [the] lives of children, parents and teachers,” Wood said in an email statement. “After the July 1st meeting, it is undeniable that as a Board, BESE has no interest in protecting children, but it is only driven to protect its interests and agenda.” <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“</strong><span style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">With every action of the BESE majority, it is creating a clear perception of its indignant presumption that it is above the law and the principal actors have no shame in acting in that manner,” Wood continued. “In continuing to ignore parents and teachers and to defy the laws and leader of our state - Governor Jindal, and by refusing to do a proper RFP for the assessments, these principal actors are only digging a deeper hole for themselves and destroying the public perception and credibility of BESE.” </span></span></div>
</div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-57499664147187585612014-07-04T16:11:00.001-07:002014-07-04T16:14:01.127-07:00Toxic culture of education: Joshua Katz at TED x University of Akron<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="350" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/BnC6IABJXOI" width="540"></iframe></div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-23068481491231984662014-06-09T20:46:00.003-07:002014-06-09T20:48:40.186-07:00The Creative Way a ‘Furious’ Teacher Is Directing Her ‘Outrage’ Toward Common Core<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A New York teacher who is fed up with the Common Core curriculum says she is venting her outrage through art — specifically painting images that aim to show “how ridiculous and nonsensical” she says the standards are.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Medina High School art teacher Jennifer Ohar Scott <a href="http://www.wgrz.com/story/news/local/buffalo/2014/06/05/protesting-common-core-art/10047809/" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">explained her unique form of protest to WGRZ-TV</a>.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“As I’m painting, I’m furious,” she said. “I’m almost attacking the canvass with the brush because I’m so angry about what’s going on to these students.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“I do what I do best,” she added. “I paint.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<object bgcolor="#FFFFFF" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" height="378" id="flashObj" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="525"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, serif" size="5"><embed id="flashObj" width="525" height="378" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isSlim=1" flashvars="videoId=3608429529001&playerID=2767714613001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAB_xxTdk~,2G9NX7dxSufcF1FORttap-anlP7BexzT&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" seamlesstabbing="false" allowfullscreen="true" swliveconnect="true" allowscriptaccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" name="flashObj" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"></font></object></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The art produced, she explained, is inspired from her outrage with the Common Core standards.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“All of these paintings are put together based on images from the outrage of Common Core and how ridiculous and nonsensical it is,” she <a href="http://www.wgrz.com/story/news/local/buffalo/2014/06/05/protesting-common-core-art/10047809/" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">told WGRZ</a>.</span></div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_821461" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 10px; background-color: white; border-color: rgb(51, 51, 51) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204); border-style: solid; border-width: 4px 1px 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; margin: 20px auto; padding: 5px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 515px;">
<a href="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-09-at-5.08.50-PM.jpg" rel="attachment" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="High school teacher Jennifer Ohar Scott is protesting the Common Core curriculum through art. (Image source: Screen grab via WGRZ-TV)" class="size-large wp-image-821461" src="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-09-at-5.08.50-PM-620x344.jpg" height="344" itemid="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-09-at-5.08.50-PM-620x344.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="515" /></span></a><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; color: #888888; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">High school teacher Jennifer Ohar Scott is protesting the Common Core curriculum through art. (Image source: Screen grab via WGRZ-TV)</span></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">One depicts a class full of children with a man staring in through a window.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“I wanted almost to paint it like a doll house and the kids were in the school room and the school room is very small and he’s peering through the window of the doll house, kind of enjoying himself seeing the anxiety and frustration the children are going through.”</span></div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_821460" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 10px; background-color: white; border-color: rgb(51, 51, 51) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204); border-style: solid; border-width: 4px 1px 1px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; margin: 20px auto; padding: 5px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 515px;">
<a href="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-09-at-5.10.11-PM.jpg" rel="attachment" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="High school teacher Jennifer Ohar Scott is protesting the Common Core curriculum through art. (Image source: Screen grab via WGRZ-TV)" class="size-large wp-image-821460" src="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-09-at-5.10.11-PM-620x339.jpg" height="339" itemid="http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-09-at-5.10.11-PM-620x339.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="515" /></span></a><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text" style="border: 0px; color: #888888; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">High school teacher Jennifer Ohar Scott is protesting the Common Core curriculum through art. (Image source: Screen grab via WGRZ-TV)</span></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Another shows a man, not facing the viewer.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“To portray he’s not listening to people. He keep saying that Common Core and everyone likes it, but I don’t think that’s the general consensus. I think I was the most aggravated when I painted it,” she <a href="http://www.wgrz.com/story/news/local/buffalo/2014/06/05/protesting-common-core-art/10047809/" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">told WGRZ</a>.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Ohar Scott <a href="http://www.wgrz.com/story/news/local/buffalo/2014/06/05/protesting-common-core-art/10047809/" style="border: 0px; color: #e91e24; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">told WGRZ</a> that she thinks students are over tested as it is. She added that she feels the current system places too much pressure on individualized testing and suggested students be tested in groups to alleviate some pressure.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Nevertheless, New York State Education Department commissioner John B. King told WGRZ that the current testing is needed to assess students.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Ohar Scott’s art gallery will be on display in Buffalo’s 464 gallery through June 18.</span></div>
</div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-85141971914240939172014-05-24T09:11:00.001-07:002014-05-24T09:11:52.163-07:00Obama's Education Takeover<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="350" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/uLRHZEhGWY8" width="550"></iframe>Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-35650857592331274332014-05-24T08:49:00.001-07:002014-05-24T08:50:38.412-07:00Two Moms Against Common Core<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="350" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Mk0D16mNbp4" width="540"></iframe></div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8025010481043123071.post-53163831731247448562014-05-01T14:00:00.001-07:002014-05-01T14:01:41.445-07:00TN Student Speaks Out About Common Core, Teacher Evaluations, and Education<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="350" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/PprP5TCZBRI" width="550"></iframe></div>
Barry McCannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14798420825440686246noreply@blogger.com0