Common Core Education And More About Federal Government Control

[redcliffsw]

It was after the northern yankee socialist victory in 1865, that they created and secured public education to be under the Fed's control.





   

[redcliffsw]

Gee Whiz. On Thursday, The Newark Center for Creative Learning, a Montessori -like private school is coming to the fire house to see how we terrible socialists serve the community and put out fires and run the ambulance. They are also going to the police station and the little local urgent care facility. Aren't they afraid the kids will be brain washed? They are doing a unit on Communities. I can't wait to see how you attack this. HA!

Why don't you ask the private school instead of me.  Ask them why they would bring the kids to observe how you socialists serve the community.

By the way, Obama was not the first "community organizer".  It's been a Republican thing since the party's inception and still is.

[Ross]

What's in Your Childs Classroom?

Utah school homework assignment
to make
propaganda poster
for jihadi groups:
"JOIN ISIS!"

ByPAMELA GELLER on November 20, 2015
ISLAMIZATION OF THE WORKPLACE 59 Comments

This is what public school has come to — training our children to be caliph cubs — just like ISIS.
Homeschool your kids — rational parents should be abandoning public schools and Common Core in droves. Why enslave yourselves and your children to the left-fascists?

"Utah school apologizes for homework assignment to make propaganda poster for terrorist group," FOX 13, November 20, 2015

SALEM, Utah — Students in ninth grade at Salem Junior High School were given a homework assignment where they were told to draw a propaganda poster for a terrorist organization.

After parents complained, the assignment was canceled. However, many students had already completed it, leaving some parents concerned about what they had been exposed to in the process.

Annie Langston couldn't believe her 14-year-old daughter Mikalia was given the assignment. Nebo terrorism assignment poster 1

"My initial response was, 'there's no way you're going to do this assignment,'" Langston said.

To complete her assignment, 9th grade Mikalia ended up on the Internet, where she typed in, 'how to recruit for ISIS' into Google. Her mother thinks it's an inappropriate topic for her teenager to explore while the world remains on high alert after recent threats from the deadly terrorist organization. She decided to write a letter to the teacher and the principal, asking for an explanation.

Langston said: "In light of what happened in Paris, is that the reason for this assignment? I feel a different assignment or report could've been chosen or a discussion in class about the tragic events."

Langston received a response from the teacher soon after, apologizing for the misunderstanding and informing her the assignment had been canceled. She also received a phone call from the principal. Nebo terrorism assignment poster 2

"They've sat down with this particular teacher, and it has been taken care of," Langston said. "The assignments that have already been turned in, they have been shredded."

Mikhail never turned in her poster, and she brought it home to show her mother.

"When I found out she kept it, I told her rip it up," Langston said.

The assignment was given by a first year teacher, but Annie Langston doesn't want to see anything bad happen to her. She believes it was an honest mistake and in every other respect, this is a good teacher for her daughter.

Nebo School District Communications and Community Specialist Lana H. Hiskey sent Fox 13 this statement Friday:

"Salem Junior High recently learned from concerned parents of an assignment regarding extremists use of propaganda to spread untruths and misunderstandings. Upon learning of this assignment, the administration reviewed the concerns with parents and teachers. After consultation, the assignment was immediately withdrawn. If parents have any concerns, please call the administration at Salem Junior High."

- See more at: http://pamelageller.com/2015/11/utah-school-homework-assignment-to-make-propaganda-poster-join-isis-for-terrorist-group.html/#sthash.iBLO24rH.dpuf

[Ross]

Category Archives: Islamization of the Workplace

ISLAMIZATION OF THE WORKPLACE 60 Comments

Utah school homework assignment to make propaganda poster for jihadi groups: "JOIN ISIS!"

This is what public school has come to — training our children to be caliph cubs — just like ISIS. Homeschool your kids — rational parents should be abandoning public schools and Common Core in droves. Why enslave yourselves and your children to the left-fascists? "Utah school apologizes for homework assignment to make propaganda poster

http://pamelageller.com/category/mosqueing-the-public-square/mosqueing-the-workplace/

[Ross]

SCHOOL PULLS BACK PLANS FOR
TRANSGENDER PROMOTION

Was warned 'no one has a moral right to compel others to participate in a fiction'

A school in Wisconsin has abruptly dropped what critics suggested was a stealth plan for a promotion about transgenderism after parents objected – and called in a team of lawyers to help them fight off a plan that was being sprung on them with only a day's notice.

The decision was made by the Mount Horeb Elementary School in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, to withdraw plans to promote the pro-transgenderism book "I Am Jazz" to grade-school students after school officials were warned by officials with Liberty Counsel that the district's claim it had a student with a "girl brain and a boy body" was "completely at odds with the rationale for equality between the sexes: there is no difference between male and female brains or mental abilities, and this this idea fosters gender stereotypes."

Further, the team of lawyers at Liberty Counsel told the district its plan to support a student with gender confusion by requiring students to call a boy "her" and "she" ... "infringes upon the other students' rights to tell the truth, in accordance with their religious convictions, and reality."

"No one has a moral right to compel others to participate in a fiction (including compelling teachers and others to use pronouns that do not correspond to objective biological sex)," the letter from Liberty Counsel to the district said.

Officials with Liberty Counsel said an alert parent of a student at the Wisconsin elementary school told the organization about a notice from the school that officials planned to promote "I Am Jazz" by LGBT activist Jessica Herthel to young students.

See what American education has become, in "Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America's Children."

"'Jazz' Jennings," LC reported, "is a gender-confused male, who has been permitted to undergo harmful gender reassignment drug therapy and hormone blockers, resulting in permanent physical changes to his body."

For grade school students, the attorneys explained, the book not only is misleading, but "is wholly inappropriate and disturbing."

"Transgender education substitutes the beliefs of the principal and school psychologist for those of parents. Bringing transgender activism into schools undermines the privacy rights of students, the free speech rights of teachers who cannot in good conscience address a child by the opposite sex pronoun, and the religious rights of families," the lawyers said.

They continued, "No credible medical authority establishes the proposition that biological sex can be changed. Dr. Paul McHugh, former chief psychiatrist for Johns Hopkins Hospital, wrote in a June 12, 2014, Wall Street Journal op-ed, 'Policy makers and the media are doing no favors either to the public or the transgendered' by refusing to treat transgender confusions 'as a mental disorder that deserves understanding, treatment and prevention.' While students suffering from gender confusion should be treated with kindness and respect, schools should not, by their policies or practices, attempt to coerce other students and teachers into participating in what amounts to a harmful delusion."

LC attorney Richard L. Mast Jr. told school board President Mary Seidl, "The district is not free to override parental rights and religious beliefs by subjecting impressionable children to confusion about something as important as gender and sexuality. The reading of 'I am Jazz' and following discussions about gender confusion and sexuality are the first step toward remaking the moral beliefs of district students, which the district may not do."

The situation developed when the parent contacted Liberty Counsel about the notification from the school that Principal Rachel Johnson, school psychologist Nicole Tepe and counselor Emily McKee planned to promote the transgender book.

They gave parents only one business day's notice and Liberty Counsel said it appeared the move by the school was "designed to catch parents off-guard, to prevent them from opting their children out of this reading."

The lawyers asked for the event to be canceled, and said that happened, but also that the district appeared to be ready to continue pursuing the teaching.

The book, Liberty Counsel said, "is a false and misleading book" and will harm students by promoting controversial assumptions about gender, "which is neither the right nor business of government schools to do."

The plan also would substitute the beliefs of the school officials for those of parents, undermine modesty and privacy rights of students, under religious free exercise rights, and leave students confused.

Courts have approved restrictions on single-sex only facilities, the letter explained, and "Boys should leave a bathroom if a girl enters, and girls should leave a bathroom if a boy enters. Boys and girls should not be compelled to use facilities intended for private acts in the presence of those of the opposite sex."

Liberty Counsel said its options included a federal lawsuit against "teachers and staff in their official and individual capacities for violation of parental rights."

The school did not respond to a WND request for comment.

See what American education has become, in "Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America's Children."

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/11/school-pulls-back-plans-for-transgender-promotion/#zDqF2pC3ZsUoOGbu.99

[Ross]

When do Kansas Legislature, School Boards,
School Superintendents and Educators
Wisen Up?

In my opinion when something stinks as long as
Common Core has
an educated reasonable person
should recognize the stink !

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Massachusetts Ditches
Common Core

Soon, schools in Massachusetts will be free of the pernicious standards.

There seems to be a recurring theme of liberal, New England states regretting the big government programs they implement. First, Vermont was forced to abandon its plans for a single-payer health care system upon finding that there was no way to pay for it. Now, Massachusetts is dropping out of the Common Core education standards that don't work and that nobody likes.

While it's surprising that a state like Massachusetts would see the light more quickly than many others, it's not surprising that the standards have been a failure. A top down approach to education, from bureaucrats in Washington straight to your children's ears, was always destined to be a disaster, due to a complete misunderstanding of how children learn.

The response to the imposition of these standards has been negative almost across the board. Students have opted out of the required tests in droves. The number of homeschoolers leaving the school system entirely is at a record high. Even the new education authorization bill working its way through Congress has included anti-Common Core language as a response to massive anger against the standards.

This anger has not just come from students and parents. Fewer than half of teachers approve of the standards, and several prominent teachers' unions, the most unlikely of allies in this fight, have come out in opposition to Common Core.

In Massachusetts, the school board's decision to withdraw was partially motivated by the state's declining test scores after adopting the standards, a pattern that has been repeated in other states as well. For those always harping on the need for testable, empirical progress in education (a need which, frankly, I'm not convinced exists), this should be all the evidence they need that high stakes testing and one-size-fits-all standards don't work to achieve their goals.

If even a liberal stronghold like Massachusetts can see the error of Common Core, and work to come up with a better solution, there's no excuse for the rest of the country continuing to hold back. There's no reason why conservative states like Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana should still be stuck with a big government program that makes their students worse off when they should be given the freedom to soar.

States like Oklahoma, Missouri, and South Carolina have already withdrawn from the standards, but Massachusetts is only a little late to the party. There is still much work to be done in the states where Common Core persists.

http://www.freedomworks.org/content/massachusetts-ditches-common-core

[Ross]

Ten things about the new federal education law 

by David Dorsey on Thursday, December 31, 2015

It seems everybody loves a list, especially this time of year, whether it's an obligatory best movies of the year or one as inane that predicts popular baby names for 2016,. In the spirit of the season that thrives on listicles while avoiding icicles, the following are 10 Things You Should Know About the New Federal Education Law, in no particular order of importance (and without those irritating pop-up ads!).

1. No Child Left Behind has been officially left behind.

The new law is known as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and replaces the much maligned and unrealistic No Child Left Behind (NCLB). NCLB was due for reauthorization several years ago, but Washington gridlock put the kibosh on that, leading to the unintended consequence of unprecedented powers ceded to the U.S. Department of Education; powers that ultimately allowed federal bureaucrats to expand their influence over the states that gave rise to Common Core State Standards.

2. Common Core Standards.

Speaking of Common Core, under the new law states will still be required to have "challenging" standards, but the feds will no longer be able to force states to adopt, or keep, Common Core. In fact, the law expressly prohibits the Secretary of Education from such shenanigans, as former Secretary Arne Duncan executed through the NCLB waiver process (which is also history!).

3. Testing.

States are still required to test annually, but the law gives states the option to use more than one assessment to report student outcomes. The details are a little too wonky to present here and concerns have already been raised, but look for a blog post if the State Board of Education decides to use multiple tests. My guess is that they won't, so testing of Kansas students will probably remain pretty much the same under the new law.

4. Low-performing schools and struggling students.

States will still be required to address the lowest five percent performing schools and districts will be required to make plans for improving the outcomes of subgroups of students who are falling behind. Unfortunately, the school choice provision for those students stuck in failing schools appears to be weak, with too much emphasis on trying to make the school better instead of assuring the best education opportunities for the students.

5. Title I portability.

One of the most hotly debated issues that didn't make it into the law is the concept of Title I funding following the student. Title I is essentially federal dollars to schools with low-income students (similar in concept to the Kansas At-Risk program). Key congressional Republicans called for Title I funds to follow students if they changed schools, but congressional Democrats were opposed. Ultimately, it was the "devil is in the details" that doomed the idea. Apparently, the Republicans backed away when shown the complexities of administering such a plan.

6. The School Improvement Grant (SIG) program has been eliminated.

The multi-billion dollar boondoggle that was created under NCLB to turn around low-performing schools was rightly abolished. The controversial program poured millions into poor performing schools with little or no positive results. For example, a multi-year SIG was granted by KSDE to a Topeka USD 501 elementary school that is scheduled to be closed pursuant to a district-wide reorganization. Seriously.

7. The impact on teachers.

ESSA will likely have little impact on the day-to-day life of a teacher. Perhaps the biggest change from what came down the pike from the feds is that states are no longer required to include student achievement as part of the teacher evaluation process. What was to be a pillar of the waiver conditions, tying evaluations to student outcomes, according this report, never materialized. Ultimately, the states couldn't enforce the requirement and the feds chose to look the other way.

8. States will have more control over education.

Overall, the feds have given back some of the control they usurped during the NCLB era. From testing to standards to accountability, the feds have widened the parameters in which state education systems operate pursuant to the new law.

9. There is still too much federal control over education.

The federal government usurped a great deal of education authority during the NCLB era. Despite the new law, the federal government continues to have too much influence over what is constitutionally a state function. From testing to standards to accountability, the feds' parameters are still too wide.

10. Don't expect much change in Kansas.

Regardless of federal overreach, educating students is still a state function. More than 90% of all education funding comes from within the state's borders. Given the effort the State Board of Education has put into testing, the SBOE is unlikely to make any major changes in assessing and reporting student outcomes. And they will continue to monitor low-performing schools.

The best opportunity for change is in the arena of educational standards. The current College and Career Ready Standards are up for renewal in 2017, so now would be an excellent time to begin focusing on a transition from federally imposed standards to ones that better reflect the needs of Kansas students becoming successful.


http://www.kansaspolicy.org/KPIBlog/130894.aspx

[Ross]

FreedomWorks
5 days ago 4 min read

Government Control of Education Is Starting to Backfire

Who should be responsible for your child's education: you, or the government? It's a debate that has been raging for centuries, but it is only recently that government control of education has become so intrusive as to inspire real backlash. The alternative education movement in America has been around for decades, but these days it seems to really be picking up steam, and it is not a stretch to attribute at least some of its rise in popularity to the ever-lengthening arm of the government education bureaucracy.

The history of government control of education in the United States is a long and complex one, beginning with the adoption of compulsory schooling laws in the late 19th century. Before that, most children were taught by their parents, in voluntary community schoolhouses, or by the church. Libertarian economist Murray Rothbard offers a quick summary of how compulsory schooling came to be standard practice in America:

In 1850, all the states had public schools, but only Massachusetts and Connecticut were imposing compulsion. The movement for compulsory schooling conquered all of America in the late nineteenth century.
 
Massachusetts began the parade, and the other states all followed, mainly in the 1870s and 1880s. By 1900, almost every state was enforcing compulsory attendance.

At the time, this appears to have been a relatively uncontroversial step, but it proved to be only the beginning. The Constitution notably omits educations from the enumerated powers designated to the federal government, meaning that under the Tenth Amendment the government's powers of regulating education should be limited to the individual states. All this changed in the 1970s with the establishment of the federal Department of Education, a flagrantly unconstitutional move that has somehow been allowed to stand by the courts.
Thus began a series of federal interventions in education that have stripped control away from parents, teachers, and local communities, while simultaneously failing to demonstrate any measurable improvements in education outcomes. Head Start has been a demonstrated failure in early childhood education. The No Child Left Behind power grab with its focus on high stakes testing has wrought nothing but frustration. Race to the Top paid for the near universally reviled Common Core standards. None of these things has made our children any smarter.

Meanwhile, government interference has gone further than just setting curricula and performance standards. Well-meaning busybodies have gone so far as to dictate what our children can eat, while harassing and bullying kids trying to enjoy the innocent pleasures of childhood.

Drugs are pushed onto students who refuse to conform, and individual schools are punished for their attempts to reject oppressive testing mandates.

Even while not in school, children left to play on their own are being scooped up and taken from their parents by glorified dogcatchers.

All this has left parents frustrated and looking for alternatives. Hard as it may be for federal bureaucrats to believe, mothers and fathers tend to really care about the wellbeing of their offspring, and they will take extraordinary measures to do what's best for them, even while apathetic on other political issues. This is why we have seen the ranks of the homeschooled swell in recent years, with an increasing number of parents opting out of traditional school structures.

Increases in technology and the rise of a class of forward thinking entrepreneurs have accelerated this shift. Everyone is familiar of stories of high school dropouts like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs going on to experience revolutionary success with formerly undreamt of technological innovations. Now that model is begin to mature, as Silicon Valley types recognize the need for more individualized education strategies.

Notably, Elon Musk, the billionaire behind SpaceX and Tesla, has founded his own school using the unschooling model that stresses allowing children to explore their natural curiosity rather than forcing certain subjects upon them at predetermined ages, but he is far from the only one to embrace alternative education. In fact, it's a movement that has been sweeping the entire Silicon Valley community, embracing the educational theories of writers like John Taylor Gatto and John Holt.

All this has a natural appeal for libertarians and those who embrace human individuality, as evidenced by the fact that libertarian standard-bearer Ron Paul has released his own homeschool curriculum designed to encourage free thinking rather than the indoctrination all too many students face at public institutions. Why must all children learn the same things, at the same time, in the same way? Doesn't that run contrary to everything we know about psychology and the variability of the human mind?

Where many legislators and bureaucrats have been holding up China as a model based on that country's consistently high test scores, they neglect to mention that the rigid uniformity and lack of opportunity in that country have resulted in a dearth of creativity and innovation. Not only does a collectivist system of child rearing not produce the kind of progress we have seen in the United States, it's also deeply unsuited to an American culture that has always thrived on individualism.

It remains to be seen how far the alternative education movement will go, but what is clear is that the federal government's attempts to tighten its grip on how children learn are inspiring no small amount of backlash. Traditionally, conservatives have rallied around the school choice movement, focusing on charter schools and voucher systems. What else is alternative education but school choice taken to its logical conclusion? We may well be moving towards a society in which every family is free to choose the educational approach that works best for its individual circumstances. Provided, of course, that we can keep government out of the way long enough for that to happen.

Logan Albright is the senior research analyst at FreedomWorks.

https://medium.com/@FreedomWorks/government-control-of-education-is-starting-to-backfire-by-logan-albright-freedomworks-senior-d8dd6ad666db#.11q5qkagu

[Ross]

January 12, 2016, 12:48 pm

James O'Keefe takes aim at
Common Core
in new undercover video

By Rebecca Savransky

Conservative activist James O'Keefe has found a new target: Common Core education standards.

O'Keefe's conservative Project Veritas on Tuesday released an undercover video where an executive at a publishing company said Common Core is "all about the money."

"You don't think that the educational publishing companies are in it for the education, do you?" said Dianne Barrow, a former accounts manager at Houghton Mifflin, in the video. "No, they're in it for the money."
Barrow said in the video that she just wants to sell books. 

"I hate kids," she said. "I'm in it to sell books. Don't even kid yourself for a heartbeat."

Linda Zecher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's CEO told The Daily Mail on Tuesday that Barrow's statements do not reflect the views of the company. Barrow is a former employee, she said, who had been with the company for less than a year.

Zecher said the company is appalled by what Barrow said, adding that it has more than 4,000 employees "who dedicate their lives to serving teachers and students every day."

The Common Core standards are used in more than 40 states, and have become a top issue in the Republican presidential race, with many of the candidates vowing to roll them back.

Project Veritas says it went undercover to find out more about the Common Core, talking to a teacher and a publishing executive.

In the video, Barrow says textbook publishers can't sell anything unless it's aligned to the Common Core standards.

She also criticizes home schoolers and charter schools and referenced GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump, who called Common Core a "disaster" and said it needs to be ended.

"Who is listening to Donald Trump," Barrow said. "He doesn't know policy, he doesn't even — has he ever read the Constitution?"

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/265563-james-okeefe-takes-aim-at-common-core-in-new-undercover-video


See Video on YouTube:  
     

[Ross]

Common Core is bad
for Ohio
and bad
for you

BY MALLORY READER
5 hours ago

Six years after ranking fifth in the nation, Ohio's public education system has fallen to 23rd. The annual Quality Counts report by Education Week includes indicators such as test scores, education finance, and graduation rates to determine a score out of 100. The best state in each category receives 100, and all other states are graded relative to that state. Ohio received a score of 74.9, a C.

What is most interesting about this drastic decline is the year Ohio was ranked fifth, 2010, is the same year the state went on to adopt the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Furthermore, five of the eight states that have either rejected or not fully implemented Common Core scored above Ohio in the 2016 report. Two of those states, Minnesota and Virginia, are in the top 12. This simple fact suggests the education systems in nonconforming states outperform those who have been plagued by federal influence.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative began when the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Broad Foundation, the National Governors Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and Achieve Inc. all teamed up to push for nationally uniform education standards in 2007. These groups labeled students as "human capital" rather than valued individuals, and their end goal is high test scores rather than learning. The standards use international benchmarks to determine where American students should be in the subjects of English and mathematics to compete globally. They were published in 2009, and by 2010 the federal government had gone so far as to exploit cash-strapped states by linking funding with the adoption of Common Core through the Race to the Top grant program while maintaining the claim that states' freedom is intact.

Special interest groups – see textbook producers and standardized test developers – are strong proponents of the standards. These groups use their power and money to effectively bypass state autonomy in an effort to gain more power and money. Just this week, a video emerged with a senior Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt sales executive saying, "it's all about the money". Parents, teachers, and students – those most affected by the education system – oppose Common Core. In fact, a Columbus Dispatch poll found that 42% of Ohio voters do not want the standards in their state, with a mere 26% in favor of them.

Americans across the country need to join movements, like Ohio United Against Common Core, to advocate for both state autonomy and parental rights within their education systems. These groups campaign for state-level repeals of the standards. Education is a personal matter, and individuals should have the freedom to decide the details of their children's schooling. Stop letting Washington dictate how and what our children learn. Common Core began as an application of evidence-based research into education. Well new evidence is in, and Common Core is out.

http://www.cascity.com/howard/forum/index.php?action=post;topic=15765.420;last_msg=228132