Common Core Education And More About Federal Government Control

[Ross]

So the Federal Government wants to teach Bullying ?

Schools Are Panicking over Testing Opt-Outs

When it comes to the welfare of their kids, parents can be pretty formidable. As it becomes increasingly clear in school districts across America that the standardized tests aligned with Common Core standards are making education worse, more parents are choosing to just say no.

Most states have provisions to allow parents to opt out of standardized tests if they have a reasonable objection, but as increasing numbers of people are taking advantage of this option, the schools are starting to get a bit jumpy. In Wayne County, West Virginia, for example, some students are feeling pressure to conform or be cast out.

West Virginia has two basic standardized tests, the older assessment known as the Westest, and the newer Smarter Balanced assessments that are being phased in as part of Common Core. After a wave of opt-out requests in Wayne County, a special assembly was called to single out the students who requested to opt out, with conduct that has been described as "bullying."

The affected students told their story on the Tom Roten radio show, and said that the school tried to intimidate them into taking the tests, even though they are not legally required to. The obvious question is, why do schools care so much?

The answer can be found in audio of a school board meeting held on December 19, 2013 (relevant audio begins at 1:26:32 in the video.) The State Superintendent of Education was asked point blank about opting out of standardized test, and said quite clearly that there was no penalty for students who wished to opt out. In fact, he said it multiple times. This should settle any questions about whether parents are allowed to opt out, but what comes next reveals why schools are so eager to conceal this fact. Schools have participation quotas for their tests, meaning that a certain percentage of students have to take them, or else the school itself faces a penalty, typically in the form of funding.

So schools are panicking that they may lose money and therefore are trying to bully students into taking endless tests that don't actually educate people. It's easy to blame school administrators for this, but the root of the problem is the tests themselves, along with the incentives and quotas handed down from the federal government. This further underscores the urgent need to sever the link between the federal incentives and education funding. and restore autonomy to state and local school systems.

http://www.freedomworks.org/content/schools-are-panicking-over-testing-opt-outs

[Ross]

Shouldn't our School Boards and School Superintendents be telling us about the testing for Common Core before doing the testing?

Shouldn't the School Board be Educated on Kansas KITE and CAP Testing and their relationship to Common Core Testing?

Shouldn't these people elected by us to work for us and the people we hire to work for us at good wages be knowledgeable enough on the subject to discuss it at School Board Meetings?

Shouldn't they be knowledgeable enough on this aspect of the education of our children, to talk with the people  and parents of Elk County?

Isn't that part of their job "EDUCATION" ?

What are the options for parents to opt out their children?

Is it their job to keep this type of information secret?

Have we got the smartest people sitting on the school boards?

I guess it is more important to have a professional type of a football field or to worry about reconstructing the roof and putting in steel beams using specialty welders so a Hugh air conditioning system can be put in the gymnasium rather than to be concerned about the Federal Government demanding  special testing of our children related to Common Core and their gathering other pertinent and private information on our children.

Go figure! Something to think on, isn't it?

[Ross]

« Federal Judge Rules Gov. Jindal's Common-Core Lawsuit Can Proceed | Main | Big Fla. Districts Report Online-Testing Woes; Some Exams Suspended »

Report: State Policies Largely Unclear on Testing Opt-Out Policies, Consequences

As states begin using new assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards, most recently in New Jersey and New Mexico, one question has become increasingly urgent: What do states' laws and policies say about parents opting their students out of these exams?

The answer, in many cases, is unclear, according to a new study released by the Education Commission of the States. My colleague Catherine Gewertz went over the report yesterday as she also detailed news stories about opt-outs in New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. Karla Scoon Reid also highlighted the report over at K-12 Parents and the Public. I had a few more things on my mind, so I decided to call ECS researcher Julie Rowland, one of the authors of the study. She told me that among the states she looked at, Arkansas and Texas are the two that mostly clearly prohibit parents from opting their students out of mandated exams.

Rowland also told me that states that bar opt-outs might be relying on the federal No Child Left Behind law, which requires schools to demonstrate that at least 95 percent of their students participated in statewide exams.

But what about consequences for students who skip out on these tests? It can be hard to find clear examples of these across states. Rowland pointed to Ohio as a state where the education department has outlined potential ramifications for students if they opt out of exams. Here are a few possible consequences for students if they opt out in Ohio, according to ECS:

• Third graders may be retained. The state requires demonstration of reading proficiency before promotion to 4th grade.

• Opting out may affect high school graduation. Passing high school assessments is one of the state's graduation requirements.

• English-language learners may be delayed or prevented from exiting the English development program.

For New Mexico, ECS has this to report: "Students who refuse to take the test, with the exception of those who receive a state medical exemption, count against the school for A-F School Grades. Although alternative methods are identified, the state requests that students demonstrate competency in the five core subject areas through completion of the accountability assessment in order to meet graduation requirements."

But in general, Rowland said many states don't spell out what might happen to students if they opt out.

But official state policies on opting out vary,  and in many cases apear to be nonexistent. Rowland told me that ECS' report wasn't intended to be exhaustive. In Kansas, "opt-out issues are handled at the local level," she said. (Rowland pointed out that districts can in many cases pursue their own policies when it comes to handling students who opt out.) Nevada parents were allowed to opt their students out of field tests for state assessments in 2013 (before field tests of the Smarter Balanced tests were conducted), but the report states there's no further information from the state about opt-outs. And ECS could not locate relevant information about opt-out policies or laws for Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Maine, Montana, and West Virginia.

"This is such a new issue, you could easily see how all of these policies are constantly evolving," Rowland told me.

And here's a related blast from the past: In 2004, the U.S. Department of Education increased the flexibility for schools regarding that 95-percent policy by allowing states to calculate "average participation rates for a given school over a two- or three-year period if the school misses the federal threshold in its most recent testing," as Erik Robelen reported in EdWeek at the time. When then-Secretary Rod Paige made that change, Robelen reported that the participation threshold posed a "significant challenge in some states."

http://www.cascity.com/howard/forum/index.php?action=post2;start=310;board=2

[Ross]

Assement Opt-Out Policies:
State Responses to
Parent Push Back

This is in PDF form and has to be downloaded at:
https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/01/17/68/11768.pdf

The Testing opt-out/refusal guide for: Kansas

Is also a PDF which can be downloaded at:
http://unitedoptout.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Kansas-OPT-OUT-Guide-February-2015.pdf

[Ross]

Now School Superintendents don't think teachers should be licensed, what next?
Isn't that a responsibility of elected School Board Members? Do the Superintendents serve the School Boards?

It sure appears to be just the opposite, when School Board Meetings appear to be Superintendent Meetings, with the Superintendent sitting at the head of the School Boards Table, doesn't it?

Are these elected officials intelligent enough to actually hold a School Board Meeting? If so the superintendent would be available in the audience the same as the School Principal and other staff or perhaps at a separate table from the elected officials. They would then be showing some decorum don't you think?      Where is the leadership ?

What direction are our schools heading?

Computers could replace teachers very easily and classroom monitors or class room technicians could control the class room..

Parents use the same technology at home for home schooling. The argument that children home schooled lack the socializing that school children receive is a fallacy. Home schooled children's parents form groups and have outings and field trips. Also remember their is socializing at Church and Sunday school, there is boy scouts and girl scouts and 4-H and other orgnizations.

Don't our School Boards and Superintendents cause enough teacher problems when they permit a teacher that should be fired to chose between being fired or resign? Doesn't that cause a financial burden on the next school and a burden on the children they come in contact with?

State Board of Ed Considering End of Teacher Licensure

Apr 14, 2015 by Mark Desetti

At the request of the Coalition of Innovative School Districts, the Kansas State Board of Education is considering a proposal that will allow those districts to hire unlicensed, untrained persons for classroom teaching.

While the superintendents calling for this have been trying to assure others that this practice would only be used sparingly, it begs the question of why they think it's a good idea to de-professionalize teaching.

Emporia State University professor John Richard Schrock, in a column in the Emporia Gazette, put the issue in perspective:

There is a shortage of medical doctors in rural Western Kansas. Why not allow pharmacists, nurses and veterinarians practice medicine?

Presume that we have a shortage of lawyers as well. Why not let policemen practice law?

We don't. It would "de-professionalize" these fields. But this is what was proposed at the March Kansas State Board of Education (KSBE) meeting. And it will come to a vote at their April 16 meeting.

Click here to read the column: http://www.ksde.org/Board.aspx

Teachers know better.

Knowing one's content is critical to good teaching but no more so than knowing how to convey that content to students. A skilled engineer certainly knows mathematics but can that engineer share mathematics with students for whom English is a second language? Can he reach students with developmental disabilities?
Homeless students, hungry students, students who witnessed violence in their home or neighborhood last night? What about students who just would rather not be spending time in a math class?

Yes, content knowledge is critically important. But having read the Merck manual does not make one a surgeon. In Kansas, trimming your child's hair does not qualify you to cut hair in a salon or barber shop. Have you ever noticed yourself looking up at the barber's cosmetology license?

This may be part of a trend. As Jon Stewart recently pointed out on The Daily Show, a new Kansas law allows one to carry a loaded concealed handgun on the streets without any training but it takes 1,000 hours of practicum to cut hair. Are we willing to go to the same place with teaching? Or will the State Board of Education stand up for teaching as a bonafide profession?

And just in case it is unknown to anyone, Kansas already allows districts to hire unlicensed persons to teach under certain very controlled circumstances. There is a conditional, restricted license that ensures pedagogical training happens. There is a provisional endorsement option. And there is the visiting scholar license. All would allow the districts to recruit from the business community or elsewhere. But all also ensure that our students are not experimented on by untrained, unlicensed personnel.

Contact your State Board of Education member now and encourage them to vote against opening Kansas classrooms to reckless experimentation.  Click the following link to use an interactive state map to locate your State School Board member and access their contact information.

Interactive Map of Board Members:  http://www.ksde.org/Board.aspx

Direct Contact Information for each Board Member:  http://goo.gl/csUUT3

http://underthedomeks.org/?p=247

[Ross]

COMMON CORE'S REAL GOAL?
'DUMBING DOWN PEOPLE'

Masses 'will be trained like Pavlov's dogs to fulfill their roles in New World Order'

Published: 17 hours ago

Declining SAT scores. Falling literacy rates. Reduced critical thinking ability. American children today appear to be getting dumber – and that's exactly how the government wants it, according to one journalist who has covered education topics extensively.

"The schools are actually doing exactly what they were designed to do: dumb down the American people," declared international journalist and teacher Alex Newman.

Newman, coauthor of the newly released book "Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America's Children," says education bureaucrats in Washington are not sincere when they claim to possess solutions to America's education problems.

"In response to the very real crisis in what passes for government-run 'education' in America today, the educational establishment is rolling out various so-called 'solutions' that will only make the problems worse," Newman said. "That is primarily because the phony remedies, which will extort taxpayers for more billions, only purport to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause – the fact that the system was literally designed to dumb down American children as a crucial element of replacing liberty and self-government with collectivism and tyranny."

In "Crimes of the Educators" Newman and coauthor Samuel Blumenfeld expose many of the false solutions to America's education woes. They write about the increased use of psychotropic drugs to try and treat ADD and ADHD in children. They unveil "cooperative learning" as a classroom teaching method based on communist ideology.

But perhaps the most notorious faux government solution is the Common Core State Standards Initiative, they report.

Get "Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America's Children," and see what Common Core really is doing to children.

Common Core has created national standards in math and English language arts for every student in America to meet at the end of each grade level. However, the standards are complicated and obtuse, as Newman and Blumenfeld describe in their book.

They are so complicated, in fact, that many parents can't even help their children with math homework because they can't understand the problems, either.

"As just one example of how bad these national 'standards' are, consider that both of the subject-matter experts selected by Common Core's own architects for the Validation Committee refused to sign off on them," Newman revealed. "The math expert cited, among other problems, incorrect math. The English Language Arts expert blasted the fact that the standards will reduce the ability of children to think for themselves."

In addition to imposing questionable standards, Newman reports the Department of Education is collecting obscene amounts of data on every student in the country – even data such as the number of teeth a child has lost and the condition of his or her gums.

"The data-mining schemes exposed in the book would make George Orwell blush," Newman asserted.

Conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly told WND she is no fan of Common Core, either.

"Basically, it's to violate the law and the Constitution by having a federal gang decide what kids learn and what they don't learn," she said.

Schlafly believes Common Core is designed to replace an American mindset with a global mindset in children.

"The people behind it want to make our kids internationalists and globalists and think they're citizens of the world instead of being proud of America as an exceptional and wonderful country," Schlafly said.

Newman agrees. He sees Common Core as but the first step on the road to a worldwide curriculum.

"Under the global miseducation regime right now being imposed on mankind, the uneducated masses will be trained like Pavlov's dogs from a young age to fulfill their roles in what top establishment leaders regularly refer to as the New World Order," Newman said. "The efforts are hardly a secret. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which partnered with Common Core financier Bill Gates on education, already has a set of global standards that it calls a 'World Core Curriculum' just waiting to be completely foisted on humanity.

"Education – and the future of humanity, by extension – is at a crossroads today," he continued. "On one side stand educational liberty and the burgeoning homeschooling movement. On the other: the United Nations, UNESCO, the Obama administration, Bill Gates, Common Core, Achieve, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the totalitarian-minded establishment. Their vision, as we document in the book, involves centralizing education and all power over schooling for the purpose of creating what quite literally amounts to global tyranny."

WND CEO Joseph Farah praised "Crimes of the Educators."

"There have been any number of books indicting America's educational establishment," Farah said. "But this is the first that appropriately describes what's happening in our schools as a pattern of criminal behavior against children and parents. It's about time. It's not just Common Core that's the problem – not by a long shot. But Blumenfeld and Newman have done the best job yet of explaining how and why this disastrous and insidious curriculum is being rammed down our throats by activists and unaccountable bureaucrats."

Newman firmly believes Common Core will actually worsen America's educational crisis.

"The problem with public education was never a lack of uniformly horrible standards, so imposing such a scheme on the entire nation will not fix the crisis," he said. "Instead, it will make it much harder for anyone to fix as Common Core's tentacles spread into every school district and major textbook publishing house in America.

"The future of the nation and its liberties depend on the education – or lack thereof – received by today's children," he warned.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/common-cores-real-goal-dumbing-down-people/#stCl40Kkv4lfseLy.99

[Ross]

Why is there a gag order on Common Core Tests?
Why don't they want Parents to see Common Core Tests?
Why didn't they notify Parents of the Opt Out option?

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Educators alarmed
by some questions on
N.Y. Common Core tests

By Valerie Strauss April 19 
I wrote a post yesterday saying education activists were reporting more than 175,000 New York students had opted out of Common Core English Language Arts exams given last week — and many more districts were still unheard from.  New York is at the center of a growing movement among parents around the country to protest new standardized tests aligned to the Common Core (or similar state standards) that they think are unfair to students and teachers because the results are used for high-stakes decisions against the advice of assessment experts. The post also mentioned some complaints from teachers about the composition of the tests, which are aligned to the Core and were created for the state of New York by Pearson, the largest education company in the world.

Here's a new piece, by Principal Carol Burris of South Side High School in the Rockville Centre School District in New York about educators' concerns with questions on the Common Core tests and the meaning of the opt-out movement.

Burris, who has been principal since 2000 and just announced her early retirement, taught at  the middle and high school levels and earned a doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her dissertation, which studied her district's detracking reform in math, received the 2003 National Association of Secondary Schools' Principals Middle Level Dissertation of the Year Award. She was named New York's 2013 High School Principal of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and was tapped as the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State. She has also written several books, numerous articles and many posts on this blog about New York's botched implementation of school reform.



By Carol Burris

Many New York parents are in rebellion. They are determined to see Pearson's Common Core test machine grind to a halt. The state's Grade 3- 8 opt-outs will likely exceed 200,000 and those who allowed their children to take the test are not happy campers. Parents and teachers are refusing to be bullied into silence about this year's tests, exposing the well-above grade level reading passages, and tasks that are bringing young children to tears.

First, the numbers.

Parent Jeanette Deutermann, who started Long Island Opt Out, keeps meticulous account of the numbers of students by district who refuse the tests. She has developed a network of parents, teachers and administrators who accurately report refusals. She is presently reporting that on Long Island alone, there were 81,931 test refusals on the English Language Arts exam. You can find updated numbers here. Newsday has translated raw numbers into percentages, estimating that over 40 percent of all Long Island 3-8 students refused to take last week's ELA Common Core state tests. Numbers in some districts reached well over 70 percent, with at least one district exceeding 80 percent. It appears that no more thanseven of the 124 districts on the island will meet the testing threshold of 95 percent. And that is before this week's math tests, when opt-out numbers are expected to climb, as they did last year.

Although Long Island continues to have the highest regional numbers, the movement has spread to all parts of the state.  Loy Gross is the parent of two children in Batavia, New York.  She home-schools her two children because of her dislike of the Common Core State Standards initiative.  She keeps meticulous state records of Common Core test opt-outs, both last year and this. She is presently reporting 177, 249 test refusals across the state with data from only 64 percent of all districts. Last year, her estimate of 50,000 was close to the final state tally of 60,000.

[Mom: The religious reasons my kids won't be taking Common Core tests]

It seems clear that the final 2015 tally will well exceed 200,000 students. New York State will likely not make the minimum 95 percent federal requirement for testing.

What will happen to New York schools then? If the New York State Superintendents' organization (NYSCOSS) is correct, not much. Despite the attempts of some districts to gin up fear by threatening vague and ominous sanctions, there is little that the state or the federal government can do. Districts will not lose funding unless it can be proven that they did not give the tests or willfully promoted opt out. The federal government is equally unlikely to withhold funds—there are no guidelines as to what penalties, if any, could be imposed. You can read the NYSCOSS summary of opt out implications here.

And then there are the tests.

An elementary principal of a well-regarded elementary school in an affluent, "gold-coast" district wrote the following:

These three days of ELA have been torture – I had only 23 students opt out and I had at least 3 times that number in tears. If we were permitted to talk about the content, it would be over so fast. Folks would be horrified at the vocabulary, the reading levels and the ambiguity of the questions. I was unable to answer at least 25 percent of them.

After her students completed two days of English Language Arts testing, fourth-grade teacher, Jessica Whalen, of the Jennie E. Hewitt School in Rockville Centre, wrote me and said:

And all year they've [her students] been so proud of their academic growth, I've been congratulating them so much as of lately...they've blown me away. Now, they were in tears...and I heard... "I thought I was smart, I guess not" " I'm stupid I can't even take a test." And more.

Jessica described the test as having readability levels far beyond what is appropriate, with questions that were "vague, wordy, designed for trickery–not accurately measuring if children understand the texts they are reading." She described the tests as far too long for her students to complete. She concluded by writing:

I got into teaching because I adore children, I love changing their lives, creating beautiful people....I have been stripped of that. And I can't imagine doing it, this way, another 20 years. It's hard to rest my head on a pillow at night, and feel good about what we are doing to these kids.

So, what is on the test?

Disgusted teachers and parents are defying the "gag order" and talking about the tests, anonymously, on blogs.  The sixth-grade test has consistently come under fire, especially during Day 3 when an article entitled, "Nimbus Clouds: Mysterious, Ephemeral, and Now Indoors" from the Smithsonian Magazine appeared on one version of the test.

Here is a passage from the article:

As a result, the location of the cloud is an important aspect, as it is the setting for his creation and part of the artwork.  In his favorite piece, Nimbus D'Aspremont, the architecture of the D'Aspremont-Lynden Castle in Rekem, Belgium, plays a significant role in the feel of the picture. "The contrast between the original castle and its former use as a military hospital and mental institution is still visible," he writes. "You could say the spaces function as a plinth for the work."

You can read the entire article here.

The genius at Pearson who put that article on the sixth-grade test should take his nimbi and his plinth and go contemplate his belly button in whatever corner of that Belgian castle he chooses. The members of the State Education Department who approved the article's inclusion should go with him.

Other complaints include:

* requiring fourth graders to write about the architectural design of roller coasters and why cables are used instead of chains

* a sixth-grade passage from "That Spot" by Jack London, which included words and phrases such as "beaten curs," "absconders of justice," surmise, "savve our cabin," and "let's maroon him"

* a passage on the third-grade test from "Drag Racer" which has a grade level of 5.9 and an interest level of 9-12th grade.

The eighth-grade test required 13-year-olds to read articles on playground safety. Vocabulary included: bowdlerized, habituation techniques, counterintuitive, orthodoxy, circuitous, risk averse culture, and litigious. One of the articles, which was from The New York Times, can be found here. Here is an excerpt:

Paradoxically, we posit that our fear of children being harmed by mostly harmless injuries may result in more fearful children and increased levels of psychopathology.

I am sure that 13-year old ESL students were delighted by that close read.

[Guess the subjects deemed too 'sensitive' for new Common Core tests]

And who will be scoring this new generation of tests? If you have a bachelor's degree, you can 'soar to new heights' working either the day or night shift with Pearson making $13 an hour. Or, if you would like to spend some quality time in Menands, New York, the temp agency, Kelly Services, will hire you for $11.50 an hour to score. No degree? No problem.

The company's last ad on Craig's list for test scorers didn't require one.

With these exams, the testing industry is enriching itself at the expense of taxpayers, all supported by politicians who self-righteously claim that being subjected to these Common Core tests is a "civil right." Nonsense. It is clear that none of this will stop unless the American public puts an end to this. I have only two words left to say—opt out.

You may also be interested in:

Mom: The religious reasons my kids won't be taking Common Core tests
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/04/17/mom-the-religious-reasons-my-kids-wont-be-taking-common-core-tests/

Guess the subjects deemed too 'sensitive' for new Common Core tests
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/03/31/guess-the-subjects-deemed-too-sensitive-for-new-common-core-test/

How the Obamas opted their children out of high-stakes standardized Common Core tests
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/04/07/how-the-obamas-opted-their-children-out-of-high-stakes-standardized-tests/

Principal: Don't blame Common Core standards for bad implementation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/04/13/principal-dont-blame-common-core-standards-for-bad-implementation/

Read article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/04/19/educators-alarmed-by-some-questions-on-n-y-common-core-tests/

[Ross]

THE OBAMA'S WON'T HAVE THEIR KIDS TESTED
WHY SHOULD WE?

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How the Obamas opted their children out of high-stakes standardized tests

President  Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and the "Easter Bunny" arrive on the balcony for the start for the annual Easter egg roll on the South Lawn of the White House on April 6, 2015 in Washington, DC. (AFP PHOTO/MANDEL NGANMANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Thousands of public school parents around the country are opting their children out of taking high-stakes standardized tests this spring, tired of the emphasis on high-stakes testing and concerned about the validity of the assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards or similar standards. A growing number of principals and superintendents are supporting parents in this decision, though pushback is getting stronger from others. But, says educator Alan Singer, there is another way to opt out your child from standardized testing — send them, if you can afford it, to a private school that doesn't give them.

The Obamas, for example, send their two daughters to the elite Sidwell Friends School, a private Quaker preK-12 school with campuses in Washington D.C., and Bethesda, Md. Sidwell, like other independent schools, does not bombard its students with high-stakes standardized tests. (It also doesn't evaluate teachers by the test scores of their students, a policy promoted by the Obama administration.)

Here's a piece from Singer on why parents have chosen to opt out their children from these tests, albeit in different ways. Singer is social studies educator in the Department of Teaching, Literacy and Leadership at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, and the editor of Social Science Docket (a joint publication of the New York and New Jersey Councils for Social Studies). He taught at a number of secondary schools in New York City, including Franklin K. Lane High School and Edward R. Murrow High School. He is also the author of several books.  A version of this originally appeared on his Huffington Post blog.



By Alan Singer

It was easy for Barack and Michelle Obama to opt-out. They send Sasha and Malia to the prestigious Sidwell Friends School in Washington D.C. where tuition is about $35,000 a year and students do not take high-stakes Common Core-aligned tests. The Obamas chose this school in part because it offers children an enriched curriculum, not constant test prep. It was also easy for New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to opt-out her children. According to her 2013 tax returns, her children, ages 12 and 7, attend the private Capitol Hill Day School, where they do not have to take high-stakes standardized tests either.

Wealthy celebrities are unwittingly part of the opt-out movement because their children attend or attended expensive private schools where they do not have to take high-stakes state-mandated standardized tests. They include Tom Cruise (daughter Suri, Avenues school in New York) and the children of the Jolie-Pitt clan (Lycée Français de New York).

Now you can opt out your children from high-stakes tests too. It's not hard. NYS Allies for Public Education has a sample "refusal" letter and video instructions on its website. All parents have to do is fill out the letter and deliver it to the school principal, either in person or via email. They also recommend a follow-up call before the test dates to remind school personnel. Last year approximately 60,000 New York State students refused to take the tests. In New York State, high-stakes Common Core aligned math and reading tests will be administered in grades 3-8 from April 14 – 16 and April 22 – April 24.

Karen Magee, president of the New York state teachers' union (NYSUT) is calling for a statewide boycott of the Common Core-aligned tests to protest new testing regulations and test-based evaluations of teachers propagated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Despite evidence against the validity of evaluating teachers using student scores on these tests, Cuomo demanded that 50 percent of every teacher's evaluation be based on test results in their schools. Meanwhile, he is unable to explain how the 70 percent of teachers who do not teach tested subjects can legitimately be judged based on the tests.

Magee dismissed the tests as "not valid indicators of student progress" or of teacher performance:

"I'm a parent. My child is in 11th grade at this point in time. Had he been a third to eighth grader, he would not be taking the test. The tests are not valid indicators. The American Statistical Association has said there is no direct link to tie these tests to student performance or teacher evaluation."

Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, the governing body for schools in the state, is trying to undermine the growing opt-out movement by offering to exempt teachers from high-performing school districts from evaluations based on student test scores. But children in those districts would still have to take the high-stakes tests and sit through months of test prep.

Jen Debler, a middle school teacher whose own children attend school in a high-performing Long Island district, emailed me, saying:

"I am refusing testing for my children again this year because I want creativity to return to their classrooms. I miss projects, book reports, and artwork. My middle schooler wishes for more hands on activities. I see a stark difference in the learning experiences of my older child compared to my middle and youngest. A flurry of module based worksheets has left my first grader uninspired by math."

Long Island parents Henry and Christina Dircks also had both of their children opt-out from the high-stakes tests last year and they will opt-out again. They discussed it as a family and the children and parents all signed the opt-out letters. The Dircks family's reasons for opt-out were featured in a letter published by a local newspaper. Henry Dircks wrote:

"I'm opting out my two children because I believe that these assessments are developmentally inappropriate, pedagogically untested and politically motivated. Our decision was not made lightly and included all members of the family in the discussion. As a high school social studies teacher, I hope that opting out will teach my children to question the conventional wisdom imposed by others, become informed and act on their convictions."

Debra Capone is organizing parents at PS 154 in Brooklyn to opt-out. She explained to me that last year her kids took the test, but her son, who is now in fourth grade, found it highly stressful and she sees no reason to put him through it again. Her daughter, who is in fifth grade, has no problem taking the test and does well, but she decided she wants to opt-out because the test are not fair to other children.

Beth Dimino, an eighth-grade science teacher in the Comsewogue School District and president of her local chapter of the teachers' union is refusing to administer the mandated standardized tests. The superintendent of her district, Dr. Joe Rella, is also a leading opponent of Common Core testing, as is Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Baraka is the first mayor of a major United States city to publicly endorse the right of parents to opt-out of high-stakes tests that have "undermined the promise of equity and opportunity."

Sydney Smoot is a 9-year-old fourth grader from Hernando County, Florida. In a speech to the county school board, Sydney condemned the Florida version of the high-stakes tests for reducing children to numbers. She also objected to a confidentiality policy that bans children from discussing questions on the tests with their parents. In New York State, teachers and administrators are pressed to sign confidentiality agreements, but not 9-year-olds.

Carol Burris, award-winning principal at South Side High School in Rockville Center, New York is a leader in the opt-out movement. In an essay posted on The Washington Post's Answer Sheet, Burris has essentially declared war on high-stakes testing and congressional and state politicians from both major political parties. Burris charges:

"It has become increasingly clear that Congress does not have the will to move away from annual high-stakes testing . . . Conservatives no longer believe in the local, democratic control of our schools. Progressives refuse to address the effects of poverty, segregation and the destruction of the middle class on student learning. The unimaginative strategy to improve achievement is to make standardized tests longer and harder...."

"The only remedy left to parents is to refuse to have their children take the tests. Testing is the rock on which the policies that are destroying our local public schools are built. If our politicians do not have the courage to reverse high-stakes testing, then those who care must step in."

PS: My grandchildren read this column before I posted it, discussed it with their parents, and the entire family decided they would opt-out!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/04/07/how-the-obamas-opted-their-children-out-of-high-stakes-standardized-tests/

[Ross]

Crimes of the Educators:
How Utopians Are Using Government Schools
to Destroy America's Children

Hardcover – April 14, 2015
by Samuel Blumenfeld (Author), Alex Newman  (Author)

#1 Best Sellerin Experimental Education Methods

CRIMES OF THE EDUCATORS: HOW UTOPIANS ARE USING GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS TO DESTROY AMERICA'S CHILDREN (HARDCOVER)


by Samuel Blumenfeld and Alex Newman

"How many parents ... send their children to school so central planners can mold them into functionally illiterate cogs in a centrally planned machine, having just enough knowledge to do their preassigned task? How will such cogs be able to think critically, much less sustain liberty and the American experiment? The short answer is that they will not – and that is the point." – The Authors

Product Description

Utopian dictators like Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot and Mao are criminals – genocidal psychopaths who have killed more human beings in the last hundred years than any other ideologues in history. They don't limit their murder to individuals, but to entire nations.

In the United States another form of utopians, the "progressives," have tried to destroy traditional America by strategically dumbing down her people. America's future is being crippled on purpose in order to fundamentally transform the nation, its values and its system of government. Laid out a century ago by progressive luminary John Dewey, the fruits of his schemes are plain to see today. Dewey got rid of the traditional intensive phonics method of instruction and imposed a "look-say," "sight" or "whole-word" method that forces children to read English as if it were Chinese. The method is widely used in today's public schools, which is a major reason there are so many failing public schools that cannot teach children the basics. This can only be considered a blatant form of child abuse.

American author and veteran educator Samuel Blumenfeld and journalist Alex Newman have taken on the public education establishment as never before and exposed it for the de facto criminal enterprise it is.

"Crimes of the Educators" reveals how the architects of America's public school disaster implemented a plan to socialize the United States by knowingly and willingly dumbing down the population, a mission now closer to success than ever as the Obama administration works relentlessly to nationalize K-12 schooling with Common Core.

The whole-word method of teaching children to read – introduced by John Dewey and colleagues in the early 20th century and which permeates Common Core – is a significant cause of dyslexia among students. Public education's war against religion, the "great American math disaster," promotion of death education and the government's plan to lower standards for all so that "no one is left behind" are destroying the logic, reasoning and overall educational prowess of America's next generation.

According to the Program for International Student Assessment, which collects test results from 65 countries for its rankings:

In reading, students in 19 other locales scored higher than U.S. students
In science, 22 education systems scored above the U.S.
In mathematics, 29 nations and other jurisdictions outperformed the United States
Journalist Henry Mencken said it best in 1924 when he wrote that the aim of public education is "to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality."

It is time to hold the Department of Education accountable for the crimes of the educators.

WND Exclusive Autographed Edition

Also available in a special "Autographed Edition." Signed books are precious treasures. An autographed book from your favorite author can turn an item of personal value into a cherished keepsake and a wonderful addition to any book collection.

About the Authors

Samuel L. Blumenfeld is the author of eight books on education, including: "Is Public Education Necessary?" "NEA: Trojan Horse in American Education," "The Whole Language/OBE Fraud" and "Homeschooling: A Parent's Guide to Teaching Children."

Alex Newman is an international journalist, educator and consultant who is currently based in Europe but has lived on four continents. He has a degree in journalism from the University of Florida and has worked for numerous publications in the U.S. and abroad.

http://www.amazon.com/Crimes-Educators-Utopians-Government-Americas/dp/1938067126

[Ross]

Can you say Hiel Hitler?
When will the threat come to our state?
"In any case, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has clearly warned that if states don't fix the problem of parents opting out, the federal government will "have an obligation to step in.""

STATE THREATENING ANTI-COMMON CORE PARENTS WITH JAIL?

Fight over federalized testing escalates

Resistance to Common Core is building across the U.S.

Parents in South Carolina who are part of a nationwide revolt against Common Core say they are being threatened with "criminal accountability" if they prevent their children from taking the tests required by the controversial educational-standards program.

Tamra Hood, a member of South Carolina Parents Involved in Education, said the state Education Department's Chief Operating Officer, Elizabeth Carpentier, warned parents could spend 30 days in jail if even a single day of testing is missed, Breitbart News reported.

In addition, Hood said Carpentier warned that groups that encourage parents to refuse the Common Core-aligned tests could be charged with aiding and abetting a crime.

A memo from South Carolina state education Superintendent Molly Spearman to districts bluntly declared there is "no statutory provision for parents to opt their children out of testing."

Dino Teppara of the state agency's public information office denied any threats were made and also denied that Carpentier said parents can be held criminally liable if they remove their children from school on testing days, insisting she "simply noted the truancy provisions in state statutes."

In any case, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has clearly warned that if states don't fix the problem of parents opting out, the federal government will "have an obligation to step in."
Despite the insistence of supporters that Common Core is a state-driven education program, last week Duncan criticized parents who opt out of testing, charging they are hurting minorities and the disabled.

National Review Online reported Duncan's position is that in the past, English language learners, students in special education and racial minorities were "swept under the rug."

"Folks in the civil rights community, folks in the disability community, they want their kids being assessed. They want to know if they are making progress or growth," he said.

In 2013, Duncan chalked up the opposition to Common Core to "white suburban moms who – all of a sudden – [realize] their child isn't as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn't quite as good as they thought they were."

Resistance to Common Core, which has been adopted by 46 states, is building.

In Arkansas, a mother confronted the Arkansas State Board of Education about the program's absurdly high demands, a high-school honors student in New Jersey blasted the testing publicly and an award-winning teacher in Ohio told a stunned audience she's quitting because of Common Core.

Commenting on the resistance in New York state, where 184,000 of 1.1 million eligible students refused to take Common Core English exams earlier this month, renowned educator Diane Ravitch asked, "What if they threw a test and nobody took it? New York is about to find out," the Long Island Press reported.

Common Core opponents have leaked a copy of an examination, and a number of states are formally taking action to withdraw from the requirements.

"Crimes of the Educators" reveals how the architects of America's public school disaster implemented a plan to socialize the U.S. by knowingly and willingly dumbing down the population, a mission now closer to success than ever as the Obama administration works relentlessly to nationalize K-12 schooling with Common Core.

A parent in South Carolina, Artie Allen, has a Facebook page encouraging "Stop Common Core in South Carolina."

He has no sympathy for state and district school officials fretting over funding-cut threats from the government.

"We got the sob story from one of our 3 kids schools that we kept our kids home from [testing] today that we could cause them to lose federal money. Maybe you should have thought about that before you took the money in the first place!! See what happens when you sleep with the devil."

National Review Online pointed out that in Colorado, which voted for Obama twice, the state board approved a resolution that districts cannot be punished for test-taking rates, and lawmakers were working on a bill to protect parents who opt their children out of such tests.

The Home School Legal Defense Association noted Duncan did not clarify what he meant by "stepping in."

"Duncan's statements reflect a growing pressure on education bureaucrats to keep states locked into the Common Core," HSLDA said. "Students nationwide are still opting out of voluntary benchmark assessments, which are meant to prepare them for all-day Common Core tests."

HSLDA said it is "concerned that federal officials will again resort to financial incentives – or threaten to withhold funding – to coerce students into participating in these tests."

"As demonstrated empirically by 2009′s 'Race to the Top' grants, state governments have a track record of prioritizing federal funds over their own sovereignty. Lured by the promise of funding, many cash-strapped states could not or would not resist the offer of billions of dollars in exchange for what seemed, at the time, a small sacrifice: adhering to a set of K-12 learning standards."

The HSLDA report said that as "grassroots movements and parental opposition continues to dismantle Common Core piece by piece, concerned citizens should remain vigilant and take Duncan's threats seriously."

"Whenever the government threatens to 'step in,' the right of parents to be involved in their children's education is bound to suffer," the group's report said.

Commentator Alex Newman, co-author of a new book, "Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America's Children," with Sam Blumenfeld, wrote recently that the Obama administration "has made no secret of its desire to control your children's education from 'cradle to career,' as Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan often puts it."

"Top officials have also been very specific in terms of the radical ideas and values they plan to hammer into the pliable minds of America's children."

The U.S. Department of Education, he noted, says it is "taking a leadership role in the work of educating the next generation of green citizens and preparing them to contribute to the workforce through green jobs."

Duncan boasted in a 2010 speech to a "sustainability" summit.

"Do you send your children to school to get indoctrinated as 'green citizens' so they can have 'green jobs'? If you are like most parents, the answer is no," Newman said.

"But that matters little to the Obama administration and its extremist allies in 'education reform' – the United Nations, crony capitalists hoping to profit, population-control zealot and Common Core financier Bill Gates, and the whole corrupt educational establishment. Using taxpayer-funded bribes, Obama's Education Department has been very successful so far in imposing its controversial 'Common Core' national standards across most of America."


Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/state-threatening-anti-common-core-parents-with-jail/#1JHUzP5Kq22WT2aH.99