Common Core Education And More About Federal Government Control

[Ross]

NOT EVEN COMMON CORE

Student: Prof Taught Wrong Course All Semester

Lauren Firmin says her grades suffered
due to teacher's mistake

By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 31, 2014

http://img2-cdn.newser.com/image/973711-0-20140331074822.jpeg

(Newser)  – A college professor was apparently teaching above her students' pay grade, and one former straight-A student is more than a little upset about it, KHOU reports. Lauren Firmin claims she struggled all semester in her introductory chemistry class at Texas' Lone Star College at University Park, and was left with an F grade as she neared the final exam. But then, one class suddenly made her semester-long struggle a lot clearer: Her teacher, Thao Shirley Nguyen, admitted to the class she'd been teaching the curriculum for a more advanced chemistry course the whole time, Firmin says.

"She told her mistake in class to all of the students," says Firmin. "She was teaching general chemistry, another course, all semester." To make up for students' poor performance, Nguyen said she'd boost the grades, turning Firmin's F into a B—but even that still ruined her 4.0 average, the student says. The executive director of college relations, however, says, "They were taught the right class," noting Nguyen "followed the syllabus and taught from the 1405 textbook." But an email Firmin received from the head of Lone Star's science department reads, "This was not intentional on Ms. Nguyen's part ... She was new to the introductory level." Nguyen's response? "No comment".

http://www.newser.com/story/184560/student-prof-taught-wrong-course-all-semester.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=united&utm_campaign=rss_topnews

[Ross]

Before math gets too complicated,
Common Core publishers should
learn to count to 20

April 1, 2014

Kyle Olson founded Education Action Group in 2007.
Find Kyle on Twitter. 

COLUMBIANA, Ohio – How are parents supposed to help their children with Common Core math when it's just flat-out wrong?

Parent Mina Boyd's kindergartener was given an assignment to count the number of apples on the page and write the number. The worksheet is titled "Count and Write 20," so presumably, there would be 20 apples to count.

Except there's 19.

"They ask her to count and write 20. So she counts...counts again and again. And says mom, 'there's only 19,'" Boyd wrote on the Parents and Educators Against Common Core Standards Facebook page.

"I'm just glad she was smart and said 'they' messed up. If they are going to enforce this then they better double and triple check their work books so they are accurate," Boyd wrote.

But apparently they're not – or even the publishers are having difficulty with kindergarten math.

The lesson is part of a "Go Math" Common Core-aligned curriculum published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

http://eagnews.org/before-the-math-gets-too-complicated-common-core-publishers-should-learn-to-count-to-20/

Under remarks:

Donna Tramel Davis ·
Tennessee Technological University

Typical of the confusing format being used in workbooks and textbooks. Even if the apple in the upper left is supposed to be apple # 1, why is it not numbered and put with the rest instead of out in left field. It seems the purpose in most of the lessons is to trick and confuse, not to teach.

Thundar Roberts ·
Doggy university

the 20th apple is in the upper left ...still get rid of the common core crap and get back to basics ....

I think there is a lot of frustration out there about the government trying to take control of
everything, especially when they screw it up so well.

[Ross]

[Diane Amberg]

I know you don't get it, but the circle of apples shouldn't have bothered anybody who was taught anything about critical thinking and word problems. When one starts, one is supposed to scan  all available information, to see what's there. What did those parents think that extra apple marked "one" was for? That is part of early critical thinking skills. It's not a trick. I don't know of course, but I'll bet lots of kids did get it!

[Ross]

I know you don't get it, but the circle of apples shouldn't have bothered anybody who was taught anything about critical thinking and word problems. When one starts, one is supposed to scan  all available information, to see what's there. What did those parents think that extra apple marked "one" was for? That is part of early critical thinking skills. It's not a trick. I don't know of course, but I'll bet lots of kids did get it!

I get it, but apparently you don't get it.
They are dealing with very young, children ---- most during their first year of school!
The lessons should be kept crystal clear and not have even a hint of confusion.
As you so aptly seem to point out about anyone that suggest other wise.

I suppose all kindergarteners are suppose to start grade school fully equipped with critical thinking skills.

Hell, we have organizations they refuse critical thinking by saying, "Be positive."

We even have school board members that fail at critical thinking.

But yeah, kindergarteners in their first year of school are expected to have critical thinking.

Excellent critical thinking Diane!

[Ross]

Thanks Warph

Tuesday, 25 March 2014 17:03

Indiana Replaces Common Core ...
With Common Core

Written by  Alex Newman

Celebrations by parents, teachers, and taxpayers across the political spectrum over the purported death of Common Core in Indiana may have been premature. When legions of outraged Hoosiers forced lawmakers to pass legislation dropping the Obama administration-pushed nationalization of K-12 education, which Republican Gov. Mike Pence signed on Monday, they thought that would be the end of the deeply controversial standards. However, now that drafts of Indiana's "new" standards have emerged, it is clear that they were largely copied and pasted from the scandal-plagued Common Core. 

Officials still celebrated the bill, perhaps hoping nobody would notice or care. "I believe our students are best served when decisions about education are made at the state and local level," Gov. Pence claimed in a statement this week. "By signing this legislation, Indiana has taken an important step forward in developing academic standards that are written by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers, and are uncommonly high, and I commend members of the General Assembly for their support."

Despite the new law supposedly aimed at stopping Common Core in Indiana, though, suspicion and outrage is still building as Hoosiers learn about the supposedly "new and improved" standards. According to education expert Dr. Sandra Stotsky, who refused to sign off on the national standards while serving on the Common Core Validation Committee and was hired by Indiana to review the state's "new" proposed standards, what is happening is tantamount to "grand deception."

The retired University of Arkansas professor explained that the draft standards proposed as a replacement for Common Core in Indiana, in fact, are almost the same as the national scheme that sparked the public uproar in the first place. Incredibly, internal government documents actually reveal that as much as 90 percent of the "new" standards were taken from Common Core, meaning the "new" is essentially a repackaged version of the old.

Dr. Stotsky recently released an Indiana Department of Education report that blew the lid off what is happening. According to the document, cited in multiple news reports, more than 70 percent of the "new" Indiana standards for grades six through 12 were taken directly from Common Core. Another 20 percent of the standards were simply edited versions of Common Core. About half of the new standards from kindergarten through fifth grade were also lifted from the national scheme.       

"It makes a fool of the governor," Dr. Stotsky, one of the premier national experts on Common Core, was quoted as saying by Fox News about Indiana's allegedly "new" standards. "The governor is being embarrassed by his own Department of Education if the final version is too close to Common Core." Based on the legislation rejecting Common Core, the Indiana Board of Education is set to vote on the proposed "new" standards in late April. It was not immediately clear whether they would be approved, but opposition is building as the public slowly realizes it has been taken for a ride. 

Stotsky, the former 21st-century chair in teacher quality at the University of Arkansas's Department of Education Reform, also told The New American last year that Common Core standards should be scrapped entirely. Among other concerns, she said the national standards reduced opportunities for the development of critical thinking in students, scaled back literary study, and were "written hastily by people who didn't care how poorly written they were." The math subject-matter expert on the Common Core Validation Committee also refused to sign off on that component, citing, among other concerns, incorrect math.

Veteran Indiana educator Mary Black, who has been teaching for 40 years, also lambasted the attempted deception taking place in her state. "The truth about Common Core in Indiana is that we still have Common Core; it is just renamed," explained Black, who currently serves as Curriculum Director for FreedomProject Education, an online K-12 school dedicated to classical education and Judeo-Christian values. "The commission established to write the new Indiana standards 'by Hoosiers and for Hoosiers,' as Gov. Pence put it, was filled by publicly known proponents of Common Core."

One member of the commission, Black told The New American, was a representative of WestEd, a controversial organization connected to the federally funded Common Core testing regimes that also provides schools with a widely criticized data-collection scheme known as "Positive Behavioral Intervention System" (PBIS). In mid-April, meanwhile, the draft Indiana standards will go to an education "Round Table" which is expected to include representatives of the federally funded National Governors Association and billionaire Common Core financier Bill Gates — both of which played a key role, along with the Obama administration, in foisting the controversial standards on America.

"We have renamed Common Core standards, but are still bound to implement them by the federal government's waiver to [the unconstitutional federal education plot known as] No Child Left Behind, and have funding for the development of a state-wide data system for our schools," Black added, referring to the massive, federally funded information-collection regime targeting students. "Indiana has not dropped out of Common Core. Opponents of Common Core will have a difficult time convincing people that we have to get rid of it because so many have now been tricked into believing it is gone."

The education expert also offered some background on how it happened. The original legislation to stop Common Core in Indiana, she said, in addition to establishing a commission to create new standards, would have repealed the Obama administration's lawless waiver from the Bush-era No Child Left Behind mandate. As the bill worked its way through the legislature, however, the measure to repeal the NCLB waiver was dropped, causing the original author of the bill, State Senator Scott Schneider, to withdraw his support. He voted against the final version, too.   

For the governor, it may be about slick politics. "Governor Pence, a neocon, is using this so-called victory over Common Core to deceive Hoosiers into thinking he took a stand against the standards for political gains," Black continued, adding that despite the rhetoric, the reality on the ground suggests the governor is just playing games with the public for his own purposes. "His ambitions to become president are well-known."

In 2010, Indiana became one of the first state governments in the nation to accept Obama administration bribes in exchange for foisting the controversial national standards on schools. It was done very quietly, and as in most of the 45 states that eventually capitulated to Washington, D.C., almost nobody noticed at the time. Once parents and teachers began catching on, though, Indiana, along with the rest of America, was in open revolt against the usurpation of education by unaccountable establishment forces.

The pressure to withdraw from the Big Business- and Obama-backed scheme eventually boiled over in Indiana, contributing to the fact that it became the first state to adopt Common Core and then "officially" withdraw. The process began last year, when lawmakers passed legislation to "pause" the implementation of the controversial education takeover. It all culminated with a bill this year that required State Board of Education officials to develop new benchmark standards for Indiana — standards that, again, were apparently copied and pasted from Common Core for the most part.

In signing the bill to formally kill the standards, Gov. Pence suggested other states would follow Indiana's lead. "I believe when we reach the end of this process there are going to be many other states around the country that will take a hard look at the way Indiana has taken a step back, designed our own standards and done it in a way where we drew on educators, we drew on citizens, we drew on parents and developed standards that meet the needs of our people," the governor was quoted as saying.

Indeed, Pence may be correct, although not in the way he presumably meant it. Across America, facing a tsunami of trans-partisan opposition, embattled state officials are desperately seeking to placate the outraged masses but, at the same time, keep the Obama administration bribes flowing and the pro-Common Core establishment happy. To that end, governors and policymakers are increasingly turning to deception rather than real action — in many cases simply slapping a new name on Common Core in an effort to deceive the public.

However, the American people may not be as gullible as the establishment believes, as evidenced by mounting outrage over Indiana's half-baked attempt to re-package the deeply controversial and poor-quality national standards under a new name. With the nationwide uproar against Common Core gathering momentum even in the face of a new Big Business propaganda blitz, officials in Indiana still have time to take real action against Common Core. In other states, meanwhile, as the battle between the public and the establishment intensifies, it will become increasingly difficult for officials to dupe the citizenry. (emphasis mine)

[Ross]

The items in red are my emphasis.
Yes, you are still the parent, not the school and have every right to make the decisions for your child/student.
*********************************************************************************************************

ROBERT M. PENTA:
Opting out of the
Common Core/PARCC exam

By Robert M. Penta
Posted Mar. 28, 2014 @ 8:45 am

MEDFORD 
Know about your children's rights regarding the upcoming Common Core/PARCC assessment exam.and your right to "OPT OUT!"

This Common Core/PARCC issue I'm discussing is vitally important to every parent in Medford and in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, so I urge you to take the time to read and consider this article I have put together.

Throughout this essay, I shall present in simple terms my thought process. It is one that I have not taken lightly.

To be fair, there are people who will agree and disagree with me on this matter, and that will be their right.

During the past five weeks, I have been speaking out at the City Council on Medford's upcoming Common Core/PARCC field testing. The testing is scheduled for some randomly pre-selected grades and students within our Medford Public Schools.

If Common Core and the PARCC field assessment test is accepted after the next two year tryout, then the whole Common Core undertaking and implementation will present a major educational change and huge financial demand upon our community.

As such, I believe it important and necessary to speak out early about this extremely important matter.

At the Thursday (3-20-2014) public forum held at the Carron Theatre, Medford High School, there were interesting comments and positions presented regarding Common Core and PARCC.

Participating at the forum were personnel from Medford's School Department led by Superintendent of Schools Roy Belson, the State Department of Education, parents and a group of Medford elected officials, including myself.

For the purpose of this writing, I wish to comment on one particular issue out of the many that were discussed that evening ... that being a parent's right to not have their child take this exam or as it is better known as "opting out."

I believe that we can all agree that smart and informed parents want strong public schools in their communities. There now comes from Washington a top down federal to state mandate claiming the alleged problems in public education in the U.S. can be corrected through Common Core and PARCC testing.

In January, at a Medford School Committee meeting, Caldwell emphasized that "it will be difficult for our students ... and further ... we're a little bit concerned about the instructional time our kids will be losing."

Additionally, she stated, "It's just a lot of pressure on our teaching staff and our kids."

Knowing that neither the teacher, the parent, the student nor the school will be able to attain any scores and/or results compounds the Common Core PARCC agenda, one may ask why?

The results will be put into a melting pot assessment of all the kids throughout our state, at minimum, to come up with a standard that is universal for all... if Common Core is to be adopted according to Common Core/PARCC state education bureaucrats.

Personally, that to me is wrong and carries a complete load of bias against any other student's knowledge who never takes the exam.

As a further reference point of concern, it has been noted that PARCC tests will not be in sync with MCAS and local curriculum standards. MCAS and PARCC testing have major important differences, including the timing of tests, the availability of individualized graphic organizers and reference sheets, the availability of new accommodations for ELL students and the expansion of some MCAS accommodations for all students taking PARCC.

The untested and unproven Common Core and PARCC field testing assessments goes hand-in-glove with the Common Core State Standards Initiative, which was developed initially by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), with financial incentives provided by the federal government through the 2009 Race to the Top funding.

From the 45 states that originally signed on, there are less than 19 left who are participating, and Massachusetts is one.

The National Federation of Teachers have ended their five year multi-million dollar annual relationship with the Bill Gates funding for Common Core after rank and file national union members have expressed a deep distrust of the Common Core approach to educational reform.

Additionally, another major organization, the National Teachers Association and Union, has come out saying that a course correction is needed to slow down this push toward Common Core.

As such, this matter has presented interesting issues of law because the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the 1970 General Educational Provisions Act and the 1979 law establishing the U.S. Department of Education all prohibit a national curriculum law for which Common Core and PARCC is a federal to state mandate.

Medford parents dilemma

At this point without discussing the pros and cons of Common Core and PARCC any further (I'll keep that for a future writing) is the at- present dilemma of Medford parents as well as others throughout our state and country "does my child have to take this exam and is there a penalty if he or she 'opts out?'"

This, eventually will include increased regulations, federal standardized testing requirements, and mandates regarding what and how our children should be taught .

Since those Medford students selected will also be taking the MCAS test at approximately the same time, the questioning has been presented as to teacher and student preparing for both tests knowing some other class subject has to be forfeited.

As was stated at the March 20th meeting by Assistant Superintendent Diane Caldwell, Medford is putting in an inordinate amount of time to prepare for a sampling field test.

Bickerton stated further, "Parents, if they withhold their child from participating in school (regarding this exam) there is a truancy law and I am not invoking that here...what I am saying here we are not going to force people ...its just common sense"

That meeting can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mass-Parents-Opt-Out-of-PARCC-Pilot-Testing/168197043382200

With that said and with no Medford School Committee official position as yet coupled with the comment from Belson at the March 20th public forum on Common Core and PARCC wherein he stated (paraphrasing): "... that if a parent wished to not have his or her child take the exam," he would entertain such a request.

Public school awareness to this issue should be communicated to all participating parents and school principles of the pre-selected grades and students.

Parents and guardians of all students involved have a right and responsibility to let their school committee know their position on what could be an over demanding and financial nightmare for Medford and every other city and town throughout our United States if Common Core/PARCC becomes adopted.

I conclude that it is never too early to request of your elected representatives to have their opinions and votes on this most important city issue.

To tell or lead a parent/guardian to believe that their child doesn't or cannot have an "opt-out" position is unfair and wrong.

http://medford.wickedlocal.com/article/20140328/NEWS/140328106/12456/OPINION?tag=4

[Ross]

Common Core Opponents
Another Step Closer to
HUGE Win in Oklahoma

Apr. 1, 2014 6:16pm   Jason Howerton   

The Oklahoma Senate voted Tuesday to repeal the controversial Common Core State Standards from the state's curriculum.

Under the bill, the state Board of Education would draft new standards specifically tailored for Oklahoma students to replace Common Core, which has been adopted by 45 states so far.

"The Republican-controlled Senate voted 37-10 on Tuesday for the bill repealing the standards over the objections of some Democrats who argued it is a political decision to roll back Common Core, which has faced fierce resistance from grassroots conservative groups," the Associated Press reports.

The bill, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Josh Brecheen, would direct the state BOE to join forces with higher education officials as well as career and technology professionals to adopt new standards by August of 2015.

The bill now heads back to the Oklahoma House, which could move to accept Senate changes or reject them and send them to a conference committee, the Tulsa World reports.

Read the bill here. http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2013-14%20COMMITTEE%20SUBS/SCSH/HB3399%20SCSH.PDF

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/04/01/common-core-opponents-another-step-closer-to-huge-win-in-oklahoma/

[Diane Amberg]

  . What is so special about OK kids that they need a special cirriculum? OK city kids? country kids? ranch kids? oil field kids?
English and reading are English and reading. How different can they be? Isn't math math, no matter what state it's in? If all paths take one to the correct answer,what's the problem? Personally I'd prefer to teach the way that gets there the fastest, but most competant, because the day is so stuffed with information to be taught.
One of the problems that started all this fuss had to do with schools teaching different things in different grades. If one school teaches biology in 10th grade and chemistry in 11th, what happens to the child who comes in from Texas whose school chose to teach it the other way around? They would take one course twice and the other not at all? The same thing could happen with geometry and algebra. There needs to still be some coordination within schools ,Common Core or not. As I said before and was ignored,those countries who are supposedly beating our kids in academics are using Gov't. produced cirricula. If it works for them, why are we so special?

[Ross]

. What is so special about OK kids that they need a special cirriculum? OK city kids? country kids? ranch kids? oil field kids?
English and reading are English and reading. How different can they be? Isn't math math, no matter what state it's in? If all paths take one to the correct answer,what's the problem? Personally I'd prefer to teach the way that gets there the fastest, but most competant, because the day is so stuffed with information to be taught.
One of the problems that started all this fuss had to do with schools teaching different things in different grades. If one school teaches biology in 10th grade and chemistry in 11th, what happens to the child who comes in from Texas whose school chose to teach it the other way around? They would take one course twice and the other not at all? The same thing could happen with geometry and algebra. There needs to still be some coordination within schools ,Common Core or not. As I said before and was ignored,those countries who are supposedly beating our kids in academics are using Gov't. produced cirricula. If it works for them, why are we so special?

Perhaps we should become communist like some of the other countries?
Or perhaps we should have more teachers that actually teach using some enthusiasm and interest in what the subjects they teach.

I'd also suggest that school boards do their jobs and use their guidance tool to improve teaching standards instead of building un need gymnasiums and instead of calling picnic's school board meetings. Schools are getting good grades from the state on sub-standard educational standards and it didn't happen over night.

But, I guess you would prefer Obama Care and Obama Common Core and Obama Gun Control and maybe an Obama Village to live in.

But read the following article, Diane and learn the difference between us and other countries.

Small Government,
Free Markets,
and
Traditional Values.

The rebellion against the federal education standards known as "Common Core" is quickly spreading across the states.

The process under which it was created was very secretive and had little to no state input.  Big corporate interests were heavily involved in the process, and they worked with federal bureaucrats to create these standards, which were foisted upon the states using the coercion of federal funding.

Desperate to obtain the funds during the severe recession, states quickly adopted the standards with little to no hesitation.  But the more we find out about just how bad Common Core is, the more states are moving in the direction of full repeal of the standards.


  http://conservativetribune.com/Oklahoma-to-repeal-common-core/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

During financially desperate times people, act irrationally and tons of money is a great coercive tool.

We saw the Obama hopey changy thing happen right here in Elk County over the wind farm money that people wanted to control out side of the County Government for their own desires.

They said be Positive, the only thing wrong with that is the lack of critical thinking and it makes it much easier to manipulate people. However the people of Elk County became wise to the plot.

This Obama Common Core and ObamaCare also lack the critical thinking factors when started, but that has also turned around. The lies behind keep it positive are coming out.

I wish you a great and positive thinking and liberal day Diane.

The colors red and blue are my emphasis.