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#CANiSEE ™© SOLUTIONS CONFERENCE – COUNTERING COMMON CORE – JUNE 20 – 21, 2014 – AUSTIN, TEXAS

 

http://www.educationviews.org/canisee-solutions-conference-countering-common-core/

 

Because the pro-Common Core National PTA planned to have its convention in Austin, Texas, a group of educators and parents decided to hold a counter event. It is called #CANiSEE ™© Solutions Conference and will be held in Austin on June 20 – 21, 2014 in the downtown area close to the convention center.

 

The #CANiSEE hashtag means:

#CanISee™© WHAT you are teaching my child? 

#CANISEE™© HOW you are teaching my child?

#CANISEE™© WHO is financially benefiting from the curriculum on which my child’s teacher is being evaluated?

 

 

 For information and to make reservations:

http://womenonthewall.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/At-the-Core-CanISee-Sponsor-a-Mom.pdf

 

To give a donation:  https://secure.piryx.com/donate/zS27Wsi7/WomenOnTheWall-Org/

 

The Heritage Foundation is one #CANiSEE ™© Solutions Conference sponsor.

 

Lined up to speak are many of the nation’s best anti-Common Core voices to speak at our #CANiSEE ™© Solutions Conference,  to speak at the same time as the National PTA is bringing #FedLedEd Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to town.

SPEAKERS

 

Dr. Sandra Stotsky – Professor Emeritus, University of Arkansas

 

Dr. James Milgram — Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Stanford University 

 

Jane Robbins – Attorney and senior fellow with American Principles Project

 

Dr. Peg Luksik – Founded on Truth

 

 

WORKSHOPS

 

Alice Linahan – Moderator, Women on the Wall

 

MerryLynn Gerstenschlager – Texas Eagle Forum

 

Mary Bowen – Current Texas classroom teacher

 

Jeanine MacGregor – Writer, researcher, cognitive learning expert

 

Nakonia (Niki) Hayes – “The Story of John Saxon” – Saxon Math

 

Henry W. Burke — EducationViews.org Contributor

 

Jenni White – ROPE – Oklahoma

 

Anita Moncrief – True the Vote

 

Lisa Benson — National Security Radio

 

Karen Schroeder – President of Advocates for Academic Freedom 

 

 

NOTABLE LEADERS WITH VIDEO MESSAGES TO SHARE WITH AMERICA

 

Dr. Terrence Moore — Author of “The Story Killers: A Common Sense Case Against the Common Core”

 

Dr. Chris Tienken – Co-author of “The School Reform Landscape: Fraud, Myth, and Lies”

 

Dr. Duke Pesta — Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, and the Academic Director of FreedomProject Education

The #CANiSEE ™© Solutions Conference will be highly attended, videotaped, and shared widely across this nation through DVD’s, MP3’s, On Demand, and Pay-Per View.

 

“Arne Duncan does not own our children; we do; and we are not ready to surrender their hearts and souls to the dumbing down and indoctrination of #FedLedEd.  We believe that with the ever-growing backlash all across the country against Common Core that our COUNTER EVENT will draw more interest from grassroots moms, pops, grandparents, and citizens than Arne Duncan can generate. Even people attending the PTA convention across the street may come to our event to find out what is really happening in our nation’s schools,” organizers wrote.

 

If you wish to volunteer to help at the #CANiSEE ™© Solutions Conference,  please contact Rebecca Forest who can  arrange for your 2-day admission ticket to be paid:  Rebecca@womenonthewall.org. 

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 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

*Subject to Change

Friday, June 20, 2014

Day 1 — #CANiSEE the Reality on the Ground

TIME	TOPIC	SPEAKER
9:00 – 9:05	Prayer, Pledge, Opening Remarks	Alice LinahanRebecca Forest
9:05 – 10:00	The Battles Fought and Won, The Story Called Common Core Begins (Video Message)	Dr. Peg LuksikPhyllis Schlafly
10:10 – 11:10	Common Core Validation Committee	Dr. Sandra StotskyDr. James Milgram
11:20 – 12:00	Common Core Implementation Costs, Type #1 vs. Type #2 Education	Henry W. Burke
12:00 – 1:00	LUNCH	—
12:00 – 1:00	Vendor Booths and Exhibits Open	—
1:00 – 1:20	(Video Message)	Dr. Terrence Moore
1:30 – 2:30	The Story Behind Saxon Math	Nakonia Hayes
2:40 – 3:50	Reality on the Ground: Panel of Teachers Panel of Parents Panel of Students	Mary BowenDr. Stan Hartzler Jeanine MacGregor Andrew Bennett Paul Swartz Students
4:00 – 5:00	Reality on the Ground – Is Fed Led Ed a National Security Threat?	Frank Gaffney
5:10 – 6:10	The Big Picture – From Fed Led Ed to the Reality for Our Children’s Data Collection, Questions and Answers	Jane Robbins

#CAN I SEE SOLUTIONS CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Day 2 — #CANiSEE What Is Your Role?

TIME	TOPIC	SPEAKER
9:00 – 9:05	Prayer, Pledge, Opening Remarks	Alice LinahanRebecca Forest
9:05 – 9:40	Special Audio Messages from Experts	Dr. Duke PestaDr. Chris Tienken
9:50 – 10:40	Questions and Answers with Experts	Jane RobbinsDr. Sandra Stotsky Dr. James Milgram
10:50 – 11:30	Huge Success in Oklahoma – Repeal of Common Core	Jenni White
11:40 – 12:30	Policy Think-Tank Panel	Jane RobbinsLori Mashburn Glyn Wright Sarah Perry
12:30 – 1:30	LUNCH	—
12:30 – 1:30	Vendor Booths and Exhibits Open	—
1:30 – 2:30	Creating Change by Asking Questions	Mary BowenJeanine MacGregor
2:40 – 3:40	Creating a Local Initiative – Building the Ground Troops	Anita MontcriefAlice Linahan
3:50 – 4:50	Taking It Local, Parental Rights LegislationKeys to Testifying at Your State Capital	Karen SchroederMerryLynn Gerstenschlager
5:00 – 6:00	Where Do We Go from Here?How Do We Take It Local?	Mary BowenNakonia Hayes Carole Haynes

 

 

Mission Statement

Agency Based Education (ABE) is an important organization started by Oak Norton, the same man who is the webmaster for Utahns Against Common Core.

ABE holds yearly conferences attended by parents, teachers and legislators who want educational freedom.  (Agency here means free agency— not a government agency.)  It teaches the average person what should be widely known, but isn’t, about individual agency in education.

ABE’s site states:

Our mission is to provide an opportunity for the parents and children of the state of Utah to choose an Agency-Based Education.

Principles of an Agency-Based Education

1. Must be based in choice and not compulsion
2. Helps develop an internal moral compass as one fosters a recognition and love of truth
3. Recognizes that truth best inspires when sought from original source materials
4. Should be individualized to allow children to identify and develop their gifts and talents and discover their life’s missions
5. Must recognize that parents have the sovereign stewardship to guide their children’s educational journey

Our Organization’s Purpose

This is an educational organization that teaches parents:

• Their natural rights
• Principles of a higher quality education
• Current laws on education (Utah)
• What is wrong with compulsory education and why we want change
• What education options are currently available and what they could be in the future
• How to get involved with us

 

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HELPING AGENCY BASED EDUCATION

ABE’s asking friends of the cause for help.   I am a friend of ABE and I signed up.  It cost me nothing and it helps ABE.  You can help, too.

Rather than holding a traditional fundraiser, ABE is asking people to simply sign up for a free account here, so that ABE can receive points (and money) from the retailers who have agreed to pay ABE for the referral.  For details on how it works, just click here.

For more information about why ABE’s educational mission is so important, click here.

Here’s a portion of and ABE article that defines the term “agency based education.”

 

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Defining “Agency-Based” Education

By Rebecca Bocchino

What is “agency-based” education as opposed to constructivism and behaviorism, and is there any scientific research supporting these methods?  Addressing these questions requires that we consider the various underlying assumptions of the nature of man, upon which are based the intellectual, moral, and cultural foundations for our differing views of the nature and purpose of education.  It might also help to put the issue of “scientific research”, with its emphasis on measurable, quantifiable, observable, and replicable behaviors, into a more Judeo-Christian perspective.

Behaviorism, as articulated by John Watson and B. F. Skinner, sees man as an object that is only capable of responding to external stimuli.  It claims that man acquired sense organs through evolution, not Divine design, and these sensory organs receive and transfer the environmental stimuli which then act upon the human “object”, causing a response.  Thus, choice and action are determined by the process of controlling and manipulating stimuli, which can be reduced to a science in a laboratory.

In his book, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, B. F. Skinner dismisses any belief in the free will or agency of man, claiming instead that

man does not act upon the world, the world acts upon him. … Freedom and dignity…are the possessions of the autonomous man of traditional theory, and they are essential to practices in which a person is held responsible for his conduct and given credit for his achievements.  A SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS [BEHAVIORISM] SHIFTS BOTH THE RESPONSIBILITY AND THE ACHIEVEMENT TO THE ENVIRONMENT. (emphasis added)

It is upon this humanist moral foundation that behavioral methods using operant conditioning are based.

Constructivism or progressivism takes the concept of free will to the other extreme by operating on the assumption that man is not only a “self”, but that he possesses within himself all the wisdom and individual determination needed to progress.  InSummerhill, the British educator A. S. Neill counters the behaviorist assumption by suggesting that…

we should allow children to be themselves…renounce all discipline, all direction, all suggestion, all moral training, all religious instruction…a child is innately wise and realistic.  If left to himself, he will develop as far as he is capable of developing.

From this extreme springs methods such as “whole language” and “fuzzy math”.

Many are united in their rejection of constructivism and progressivism as one extreme, but controversy still exists between the humanist underpinnings of behaviorism and the Judeo-Christian belief in redemption and the nature of man.  Differences arise in how we define the capacity and nature of man:  whether he is a moral agent accountable to a higher, divine law, or a non-redemptive organism to be manipulated, controlled, shaped, and used by an external environment….

Read the rest here.

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I was among many happy in our country this week.  We were dancing on the tables to see that a bipartisan group had finally passed a Stop Common Core bill in Oklahoma!

But then I learned there is more to the story; the struggle isn’t over there yet.   It hangs on one thread called Governor Fallin.

If Oklahoma’s Governor does not sign the bill by June 2nd, it will die.

Common Core would then retain its stranglehold on the students and teachers in that state.

And the situation’s sticky because Governor Fallin happens to be a leading player in that NGA club –the group of (some, not all) governors that co-created and co-copyrighted Common Core in the first place.

If Fallin signs it, she makes enemies at the National Governors’ Association.  Can she stand up to that pressure?

That’s why I’m posting the contents of email (below) which I had forwarded to me today.    Please put some pressure on Governor Fallin.  An email or a phone call can be short but she needs to hear from hundreds of thousands of us before June 2nd.

Her  email  and her office’s phone number, 405-521-2342 are here.  Please influence her to sign the Stop Common Core bill and restore local control to Oklahoma.  Thank you.

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May 27, 2014 Common Core is on the defensive across the country, but Oklahoma has an opportunity to score the biggest victory against it yet! HB3399 would immediately repeal Common Core and return control of education standards to the state. It has been vetted by opponents of Common Core to ensure that it is a genuine repeal and not a political stunt. Although this bill passed the state legislature overwhelmingly, Gov. Mary Fallin has not announced her intentions. If she takes no action by June 2, the bill dies. If she signs it, Common Core disappears from Oklahoma. Gov. Fallin needs to hear from concerned citizens everywhere. Oklahoma students will benefit immediately, but other states will see that repealing Common Core is achievable and will be inspired to follow suit. Since Gov. Fallin is the chair of the National Governors Association, which is a key supporter of Common Core, her repudiation would seriously damage Common Core’s credibility. This is a matter of national importance, so Gov. Fallin needs to hear from you. Contact her today and urge her to sign HB3399. Take Action Please contact Gov. Fallin by email or by her office’s phone number, 405-521-2342. Tell her to sign HR3399 and end Common Core in Oklahoma. Also, if you have not already done so, sign the petition to Gov. Fallin asking her to oppose Common Core at http://ngaendcommoncore.com/. Suggested message: Dear Governor Fallin:We urge you to sign HB3399, the bill to repeal Common Core, and replace it with state-based standards. This measure would be a victory for educational quality and accountability all across the nation. Although I am not an Oklahoma resident, I share the concerns of many Oklahomans that the federal government and private interest groups have taken control of our education system. Their voices are drowning out those of parents and teachers, who are the most invested in the success of our children. Because HB3399 gives control of education back to the state and communities, we urge you to sign this bill because it has national implications in placing our education system back on the right track.

 

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Here are several important news/action  items for those concerned about stopping the Common Core “reforms” and restoring freedom in education:

1. Michelle Malkin has joined American Principals Project and others on a letter-signing campaign aimed at governors, insisting that they break free of Common Core.  Read and sign here.

2.  The Utah State Office of Education is permitting people to give public comment on the new common library book standards.

I urge you to comment; the survey takes very, very little time.  Also, send a personal letter to the USOE on this issue, to these addresses for the board:  librarycomments@schools.utah.gov      and    Board@schools.utah.gov

Here is one of the library standards: 1.2.4. Maintain a critical stance by questioning the validity and accuracy of all information. 

This simple little sentence begins with “maintain a critical stance” –implying having good critical thinking skills, but then it veers into idiocy by “questioning the validity and accuracy of ALL information.”

Are children to doubt the existence of any truth?  Yes, according to the state school board’s library standards.

Classical (very pre-common core) education taught children to confidently and logically pursue truth.  But “progressive” education teaches children that there is no truth, no morality, no known anything.  Thus all information is of equal importance and any library book is of equal worth:  reading the rantings of Joe the communist pedophile may be as worthy a way to spend class time as studying what Washington, Einstein and Shakespeare wrote. What a terrible “standard”!

Of course there is truth; and there are facts. Doesn’t our existence on earth depend on the  truth that the earth is a certain, precise, indisputable distance from the sun?  If it were not so, we’d freeze or burn! That library standard has got to go.

Utah Standards for Library Media are posted;  comment  please. (The USOE Web site is hosting the public comment  –before Aug 17, 2014.  Also widen your audience by posting your opinion of the library standards to   librarycomments@schools.utah.gov      and    Board@schools.utah.gov as well as to your local newspapers and radio stations.)

 

3.  Jenni White of Oklahoma’s ROPE has this blog post:  If you do nothing, nothing happens!

4. Governor Herbert has approved government preschool in Utah, and President Obama is pushing for federal preschool for all,  but is anyone questioning the wisdom of such a move?  What are its impacts on the business of private preschools?  What are its impacts on little ones who would stay home with their families if not for the big government push to put them in rigorous preschools? Jonas Himmelstrand’s my favorite opponent of this push.  This Swede has spoken to countless groups in many countries about the disintegration of families, mental health and academic success when government daycare becomes the norm.  He speaks from experience.  Himmelstrand’s voice needs to be more widely heard.  Please read  more here and here.

 

5. If you haven’t already seen them, see these news links, published by Oak Norton at Utahns Against Common Core today:

Pioneer Institute Study Finds That New Technology, Relaxation of Protections Threaten Student Privacy A must read press release: you can also download the full Pioneer Institute study. 

Here’s a relevant clip: “These expansive data structures are intimately connected to the Common Core State Standards Initiative and national testing. Any information from the data initiatives mentioned above that is given to the two federally funded national assessment consortia aligned with the Common Core State Standards will be made available to the USED. The national standards will also create a unified “taxonomy” that facilitates creation of common instructional materials and data-collection technology. Because Common Core focuses not on academic knowledge but rather on “skills” that involve attitudes and dispositions, it paves the way for national assessments and digital platforms that measure such attributes.” http://pioneerinstitute.org/featured/study-new-technology-relaxation-of-protections-threaten-student-privacy/

 

Massachusetts Teachers Association Elects Anti-Common Core President We’ve already had the NY and Chicago teachers unions take anti-CC stances, but for a strong teachers association to join in is a great step. “The Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), a union that represents about 110,000 teachers in the Bay State, elected an anti-Common Core president on May 10 in a hotly contested and close election. Barbara Madeloni, a clinical psychologist turned teacher, beat a Brockton teacher by 681 to 584 votes. A proponent of local control, Madeloni opposes high stakes testing and nationalization of educational standards.” http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/ma/201405130.asp

Saber-Rattling on Common Core (Utah) This is why we want legislators who understand Common Core issues. “On Wednesday, education officials climbed Capitol Hill to inform lawmakers of the progress they’re making on implementing the Common Core education system into Utah’s K-12 schools. But the educators were met with an extremely hostile welcome, as Republican lawmakers expressed their animosity towards the Core changes, which have grown increasingly unpopular among conservatives nationwide.”

http://utahpoliticalcapitol.com/2014/05/22/saber-rattling-on-common-core For the audio go here: http://le.utah.gov/asp/interim/Commit.asp?year=2014&com=INTEDU

Conflict: Common Core Testing Company VP Evaluating NCLB Waivers Utah mom Autumn Cook dug this interesting tidbit out showing a Vice-President of AIR (the SAGE test company) was selected to review NCLB waivers. http://www.utahnsagainstcommoncore.com/conflict-common-core-testing-company-vp-evaluating-nclb-waivers/

 

Student-centered or subject-centered education?

This article by Lynn Stoddard in the Standard contains a great story about a mom who noticed what her struggling autistic child was good at, and now, as a 15-year old, the child is being considered for a Nobel prize. For that full story here’s a link (http://themotherlist.com/mother-tore-label-nurtured-sons-hidden-genius/) http://www.standard.net/Opinion/2014/05/08/Student-centered-or-subject-centered-education.html

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This letter was sent this week from a Los Angeles teacher to Donna Garner, an education news writer.  

It is published here with permission, but without the name of the teacher.

 

 

Hi Donna,

 

I’ve been following your emails regarding Common Core, and the situation certainly is not pretty. Thanks a million for all you do. Many of my liberal friends are no longer liberals. They’re being screwed, and now they know it. We teachers had a meeting with the man who is basically in charge of all school programming, and it isn’t pretty. He’s leaving since they want him to reapply for a job; but he knows his job is being cut. He will be gone. More on that in a minute —

 

Hopefully Common Core can be neutered. I heard that 35 states have legislation to either restrict or eliminate Common Core. WOW!

 

Most of our math teachers are puzzled themselves by what they have seen in CC.

 

Our dept. chair (who is a vocal liberal and was a proponent of CC) came back from a district-wide meeting. He said the entire CC plan was so illogical that his hands were literally shaking after the meeting was over.

 

I personally don’t think we have seen the worst of CC as of yet, just a mild prelude. That’s why it needs to be eliminated and right now! Anyway, thanks ever so much for the emails and updates. I share them with my fellow teachers.

 

I learned today that LAUSD is eliminating the Special Ed. dept. altogether. I have no idea what they are doing, but it sounds crazy.

 

Our staff was asked to “apply” for a new school daily operations plan, whereby we could hire our own principal and have a say in the day-to-day operations. That has all backfired as of today, and one of the teachers said she would sue if she has the option. They have made it a living hell for teachers.

 

LAUSD is also getting rid of all Advanced Placement teachers. They have to reapply to get a job – now teachers will be called “Instructional Advisors” instead of teachers. Welcome to the real Common Core. Welcome Facilitators. We are no longer to be considered teachers.

 

People don’t understand the forethought into Common Core and what the feds want to implement. I’ll work at Home Depot or Wal Mart if it gets me out of here “yesterday.”

 

I am leaving California and moving to Texas. I would have left this year but because of health problems, I could not afford to leave my insurance. However, I am in the process of trying to get my Texas teaching certificate… At first, the Texas assessments were only given in Texas, but now they are available in San Diego. I’ll try and take them, but…we’ll see. I used to be a salesman, and I can do that again. I will do anything to get out of LAUSD.

 

Donna, please keep letting people, teachers, and parents know what is going on in the schools here. If parents really knew, they would be utterly shocked. This is where the education is heading. Complete control by the Feds. They are doing it to the teachers right now, yet the unsuspecting public is like the proverbial “frog in boiling water.” It’s over with here!

 

Anyway, just thought I’d let you know where Common Core is going. We in LAUSD are at the forefront. I’m going to try and document as many of the changes as possible so that I can send it to you. Maybe you can use it to alert the rest of America.

 

Take care, Donna, and thanks for helping me see some of the CC stuff; the whole picture is clearly coming into view now. I hope Texas is a better place for me to live and teach.

 

XXXXX

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Nothing real supports the  outrageous, increasing, ongoing federal overtake of schools. Federal bluffing and federal pretense to education authority continues because it is upheld by the stupored, undefending millions of us who aren’t aware of our right to control education locally  –and who do not defend it.

Two federal overtake moves stand out in my mind today as heart-stoppingly wrong.  These are things that we should firmly, loudly oppose.

• The first is Secretary Arne Duncan’s mandatory preschool.  In his “Statement for the Record” to Congress concerning the new education budget request, Duncan lay aside the former practice of calling federal preschool voluntary.  In this recent (April 29, 2014) speech, Duncan called for mandatory preschool:  “The third major priority in the 2015 request is to continue the President’s commitment to expanding educational opportunity for millions of children through a $75 billion mandatory Preschool for All program…” he said.

 

• The other is the Department of Education’s principals’ re-education program, aka “Principal Ambassador Fellowship” (PAF).  Do you like the idea of federally-approved-and-groomed, model “Fellowship” principals, teaching your local principal how to “engage with” federal policies?  Me neither.

From the Department of Education’s site, learn why the PAF program exists: —“principals should have meaningful opportunities to both contribute to and understand the  [federal] policies” —“to implement needed reforms, all stakeholders… must understand the intent of [federal] policy…” —“PAF’s will spend time gaining greater knowledge of the content of key federal programs and policies…” — “Principal Ambassador Fellows (PAF) are hired.. to facilitate cooperation between the Federal Government and the non-Federal entity…”

The Department of Education Secretary said, on the very same page where he announced the PAF program, that “The best ideas in education will never come from me or anyone else in Washington, D.C.  They’re always going to come from a local level.”  Yet principals are also told to understand and engage with federal policies.    Such doublespeak. It is pretty unlikely that principals lack or need “greater knowledge” of the federal agenda.  Given the increasing number of examples of defenders, notably schools like Maesar Prep in Utah, superintendents like Joseph Rella in New York, or the example of the state of Washington, which recently refused to tie teacher evaluation to Common Core student testing and got punished by Arne Duncan’s yanking of the state’s NCLB waiver– given these examples, it is more likely that principals are showing signs of resistance to the federal standardizations being shoved down their throats. Good for them.

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Mercedes Schneider has written another detailed, rich article exposing the “unprecedented education profiteering” scandal that is Pearson Education’s partnership with the U.S. Department of Education.

Read it:     Incompetent Pearson “Wins” PARCC Contract. Big Surprise..

 

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Update:  here is a list of articles documenting the increasing surge in resistance to governmental/school-based mandatory standardized testing.

Is Opting Out of Common Core Tests a “Crime” in Alabama?  No!
http://dailycaller.com/2014/05/05/is-opting-out-common-core-tests-a-crime-in-alabama/
http://blog.al.com/live/2014/05/mobile_baldwin_school_official_1.html

Strong Critic of Standardized Testing Elected to Lead Los Angeles, California Teachers Union
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-caputo-pearl-teachers-union-election-20140429,0,216089.story#axzz30JP8ervu
Students Blow Off California Smarter Balanced Pilot Exams
http://www.scotscoop.com/39589

Why My Kids Played Hookey From This Year’s Colorado State Tests
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_25684942/why-my-kids-played-hooky-from-school-tests

Many Connecticut Students Skip New Common Core Tests
http://www.theridgefieldpress.com/29072/some-students-skip-new-common-core-tests/
Alternative to Connecticut’s Failed Tests is Not More Tests
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Lecker-Solution-to-failed-tests-is-not-more-tests-5449394.php

Meet the New Florida Test, Same as the Old Test With a Different Name
http://folioweekly.com/MEET-THE-NEW-TEST-SAME-AS-THE-OLD-TEST,9636
Florida Legislature OK’s One Year School Grading Pause
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/30/4089448/fla-legislature-oks-1-year-pause.html

Time to Opt Out of Georgia High-Stakes Tests
http://onlineathens.com/opinion/2014-05-03/hilliard-opting-out-high-stakes-testing
Sample Georgia Opt Out Letter
http://www.madisonjournaltoday.com/archives/6898-LETTER-Refuse-to-have-children-subjected-to-standardized-testing-craziness.html

Missouri Families Begin to Opt Out of Standardized Tests
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/have-schools-reached-testing-overload/article_1799715d-7729-5b2c-80ce-e479a9a967e9.html

New Jersey Testing Revolt
http://www.myveronanj.com/2014/05/02/testing-revolt-montclair-bloomfield/

New York Senate Bill Filed to Require Disclosure of Common Core Test Questions
http://www.nysenate.gov/press-release/senator-ken-lavalle-renews-push-common-core-truth-testing-legislation
New York Must Make New Tests Open to Public Review
http://www.lohud.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/05/01/ela-math-tests-common-core-grade/8582131/
New York Postpones Deadline for New Teacher Assessment
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2014/04/NY_delays_licensing_test_deadline.html
Test Prep Endures in NY Schools Despite Calls to Ease It
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/01/education/test-prep-endures-in-new-york-schools-despite-calls-to-ease-it.html
Teachers Refuse to Give Tests at High School for New Immigrants
http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/teachers-refuse-to-do-standardized-tests/
Thousands of New York Families Opt Out of Standardized Tests
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/economy/education/new-york-parents-opt-out-high-stakes-tests
The Big Lie About “Social Promotion” in New York
http://www.alternet.org/education/big-lie-reformers-are-telling-about-social-promotion-nycs-schools

Some North Carolina Students Refuse to Take State Tests
http://wfae.org/post/refusing-take-nc-standardized-tests-can-cost-some-students
North Carolina Children Talk About Test Stress
http://wunc.org/post/sweating-over-bubbles-no-2-pencil-three-families-tell-their-stories
Politically Driven Third-Grade Reading Test is “Path to Failure” for North Carolina
http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/04/30/3823800/politics-driven-read-to-achieve.html?sp=%2F99%2F108%2F
School Board Member Calls North Carolina Testing Regime “Abuse”
http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/04/30/3821610/wake-county-school-board-member.html

Ohio Parents and Teachers Skewer State-Mandated High-Stakes Exams
http://www.toledoblade.com/Education/2014/04/30/Sylanians-skewer-state-mandated-testing.html
Parents Mobilize to Overhaul Third Grade Reading Test Requirement
http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2014/05/02/columbus-third-grade-reading-tests.html

Cutting Exams Will Save Pennsylvania Taxpayers Millions
http://www.dailylocal.com/social-affairs/20140504/limits-on-keystone-exams-will-save-money-dinniman
Letter: Opt Your Kids Out of Pennsylvania’s Classroom Diagnostic Test
http://www.ydr.com/letters/ci_25697503/opt-your-kids-out-cdt-test-letter

Rhode Island Legislature May End Grad Test Requirement
http://wpri.com/2014/04/29/senate-house-could-end-necap-grad-requirement/

Teachers to Sue Houston, Texas, Over Test-Score-Based Evaluations
http://blog.chron.com/k12zone/2014/04/hisd-teachers-to-sue-over-job-evaluation-system/
Texas Governor Candidate Supports Less Testing, More Performance-Based Assessment
http://www.myhighplains.com/story/d/story/davis-calls-for-reduced-emphasis-on-standardized-t/21306/QKeFDnuL3U-qHvuTLFYvfQ

Arne Duncan Will Soon Label Every Washington State School a Failure: Cue the Revolt
https://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/04/29
Washington School Board Member to Duncan: Take Your Waiver and . . . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/05/04/arne-duncan-can-keep-his-cynical-nclb-waiver-washington-school-board-member/

Pearson Wins Huge Common Core Testing Contract Despite Track-Record of Failures
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/05/05/pearson-of-course-wins-huge-common-core-testing-contract/

10 Things SAT Scores Won’t Tell You
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-things-the-sat-wont-tell-you-2014-05-02

Principal: Test-Fixated “Reform” Is Destroying Childhood
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-sheninger/education-reform-destroying-childhood_b_5235535.html

Standardized Exam Essay Robo-Graders Flunk the Test
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/04/30/standardized-test-robo-graders-flunk/xYxc4fJPzDr42wlK6HETpO/story.html

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This list was compiled by Bob Schaeffer of http://www.fairtest.org

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by  Whitne Strain and Christel Swasey

 

Long ago, the horrific invading soldiers of Genghis Khan used children as shields.  Seeing innocent children sandwiched between defenders and invaders, few defenders would continue a defense.

That  image, from “The Miracle of Freedom: Seven Tipping Points that Saved the World” comes to mind as we watch the U.S. Secretary of Education’s recent war against what he sees as a noncompliant Washington State.

Washington State became a thorn in Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s side when the state refused to comply with the federal agenda that would  tie teacher evaluations to students’ Common Core test scores.

Washington State’s leaders had listened to teachers and parents; they then stood up to the unconstitutional federal demands and just said no. They would not comply with the damaging policy of tying teacher evaluation to student scores.

The federal response was a punch in the face: Duncan stripped Washington of its waiver from ESEA (aka No Child Left Behind).

Why is that a punch in Washington State’s face?  Losing the waiver means that Washington now will get reburied in the absurd, impossible NCLB mandates —and  will lose funding.

Duncan not only punished Washington state; he especially punished the state’s neediest children.

According to the Washington Spokesman-Review, “Washington is the first state to lose control over federal dollars used to help students in the poorest schools. The result: Districts will be forced to set aside the $40 million they had been getting for those student services”.

We wonder: how does Duncan sleep at night?

Read his wordy, meaningless federal explanation letter here.  It is so verbiose and devoid of goodness that we won’t quote a single word.  But do read teacher Peter Greene’s clever and hilarious teacher’s translation of Duncan’s letter to Washington, it here  —  spot-on.

   Here’s Greene’s conclusion:

“Washington got to ignore its violation of federal NCLB laws if they agreed to install Duncan’s own untried, untested, unproven, unsubstantiated but very specific prescriptions about how to use CCSS [Common Core] tests to evaluate teachers and principals…    Duncan doesn’t just believe that CCSS [Common Core] test-based measures of teachers and principals are a good idea. He doesn’t just deny every stone on the mountain made out of evidence that he’s wrong. He has given CCSS test-based measurement the full weight of federal law.  

So what will happen to Washington, and who will do it? Or will the legislators freak out and panic, installing Arne’s junk science system at the 11th hour to win back his Kingly affection? You can bet a few other states will be watching… “ 

 

Thank you, Mr. Greene.  Yes, we are watching.