Dear Utah School Board, Last week, I asked a simple yes or no question.  I received one response, and that board member did not say yes or not, but said he’d forward my question to Judy Park’s secretary.  I still have no answer. The question is simple:  Is it possible for a student in Utah […]

    Tonight, Utah’s Governor Gary Herbert will take questions on KBYU TV.   The public may submit questions via Twitter, Facebook, phone or email.  askeleven@byu.edu is the email address.  Click here for additional ways to submit questions. Feel free to use my questions in your own words if you like.   1.  Will you veto SB […]

The Emperor Is Wearing No Clothes  Why Won’t the USOE Legal Dept. or SuperintendentShumway Answer These Questions? Please join other parents and teachers in requiring answers to these questions from state educational leaders: ·       Why was no cost analysis done before Utah adopted Common Core? http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/pdf/120222_CCSSICost.pdf ·        Why was there never public, teacher or legislative input […]

It’s a good day to call Congress. It’s a good week to call repeatedly. I hope thousands will pick up their phones to call (202-224-3121) to halt the student/citizen privacy-torching bills that are now up for a vote.   Here’s why. Bills that destroy privacy in the name of research are right now, quite incomprehensibly, being […]

I am so annoyed.  Those words actually came out of the mouth of the CEP Commission leader:  “Ripping the Band-Aid (of data privacy and control) probably would not fly.” But pulling it off using (in his words) “baby steps” is the CEP’s plan, he said in the video of yesterday’s meeting. Four-hour federal meetings posted […]

Governor Herbert surprised a lot of people this week, including me. After spending the past six years promoting,  marketing, and providing workforce alignment strategies to serve Common Core, and after rising to the throne of Common Core’s organization, National Governors Association, to become its chair, and after going out of his way to have the Utah Attorney General provide […]

My husband often says, “Truth is truth, whether people believe it or not.” Here’s the truth that even the Common Core’s lead architect, David Coleman, and its main funder, Bill Gates openly admitted in the videos below:  The Common Core was never state led.  If it had been, it would have been constitutionally legitimate.  It […]

Please vote for Johnathan Johnson  for Governor of Utah.  Gary Herbert’s pretend-a-thon about Common Core has been growing increasingly desperate and despicable.  Johnson doesn’t pretend that the nationalization and standardization of all things educational is acceptable, or that it’s not happening. I actually keep the campaign mailers that Governor Herbert sends out, rather than sending them to the bird cage, because […]

Update on Utah education bills: The short version and the good news must come first:  HB 164 (a bill about no more opting out of SAGE tests) did not pass.  HB 264 (a bill about common sex ed) did not pass. Yesterday at the Capitol, the legislative education hearing was cram-packed with standing room only, and an overflow […]

Currently in the Utah legislature, poised to become law, is HB 0246. I read, in the Tribune, that Representative Brian King felt that the bill was important because, “Knowledge is power,” and “I don’t believe in keeping our kids ignorant.” They certainly won’t be ignorant– nor innocent; not a chance. With this bill, we meet its parent:  the Common Sexuality Education Standards movement.  Slightly […]

Florida, which bought and uses Utah’s SAGE/AIR test, has taken the phenomenally reasonable step of assessing its assessment: testing the standardized test–  something that Utah has not done. Florida hired Alpine Testing and EdCount to assess its (and Utah’s) assessment instrument –to see if the SAGE measures what it claims to measure.  The simple question was:  Is the test valid? The answer that came back […]

Primum Non Nocere:  First Do No Harm An Ethical & Psychology-Based Analysis of the U.S. Department of Education’s Change in Common Core Testing Policies for Divergent Learning Children in Public Schools by Dr. Gary Thompson Early Life Child Psychology and Education Center 10757 S. Riverfront Pkwy. #275 South Jordan, Utah 84095 Phone: 385-900-4020  E-Mail: drgary@earlylifepsych.com #SpecialEducationKidsMatter […]

        An anti-family bill, a communist’s dream bill, is sitting in the U.S. Senate right now.  It’s called S1787, The Full Service Community Schools Act (bill’s  full text is here; promoters’ talking points, here.) To take action to prevent it from becoming law, contact the U.S. Senate: contact information is here. This […]

    You can’t stick corks into the side of the Titanic to save the people on the ship, and you can’t stick amendments into evil bills and then in good conscience vote yes on them. We are building and voting for our own children’s cages in the belly of a sinking ship. Read the current ed […]

  Protecting our children from increasing oppressions and loss of freedoms will require not allowing federal S.1177 to pass. The name of S.1177, which now sits in the Senate on Capitol Hill,  is also: “The Every Child Achieves Act of 2015,” “No Child Left Behind – rewritten,” “Elementary and Secondary Education Act,” and is virtually […]

In the photo:  Jan Lenox, Lynne Shirk, Deb Yoa and Michelle Mellon, four unstoppable grandmothers of New Jersey who spearhead a group called Concerned Citizens of Southern New Jersey Jan Lenox wrote a letter that was published this week at the Cape May County Herald in New Jersey.   To the Editor: Concerned Citizens of […]

How will President Obama’s multiple initiatives increase federal control over American technology and data mining –and how will these initiatives affect children? There are several new initiatives to consider. I.  NET NEUTRALITY Yesterday the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed the Obama-approved definition of “Internet Neutrality.”  Proponents made it sound as if “neutrality” meant openness and freedom for […]

      This one is such a betrayal. I’ve never been so shocked and angry over a proposed Congressional bill that I burst into tears.  Not until tonight. I’d been quietly reading and taking notes on H.R. 5, “Student Success Act” (SSA) when my husband simply, offhandedly asked me how I was doing.   […]

Last Friday, my children and I were on an educational field trip to see Governor Herbert address the state school board in Salt Lake City.  We were learning how to use civic rights to free speech and expression.  I had hoped to influence the establishment to not renew the federal waiver (NCLB/ESEA) and hoped to […]

I was invited to speak on the Rod Arquette show today about the results of a poll published  by Utah Policy.  I’ve decided to write here what I won’t have time to fully say there. The poll’s questions narrowed the larger Common Core Agenda to a tiny fraction (just the academic standards, string free) so […]

Senator “Let’s-Don’t-Talk-About-Common-Core” LaMar Alexander  has proposed a bill to amend  ESEA (No Child Left Behind Act) in order “to restore freedom”. The bill is called the “Every Child Ready for College or Career Act of 2015“. I read the 387-pager after I learned that education experts, slated to testify against the bill, had abruptly been dismissed and were told […]

By JaKell Sullivan and Christel Swasey   Common science standards, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are gleefully trending all over the nation now, birthed by the same folks who pushed Common Core English and Math (Achieve, Inc., David Coleman’s baby and US Delivery Institute, Pearson CEA Michael Barber’s baby. Many states have rejected, or are wisely in the middle of […]

At the Provo mall theater  Tuesday night, people were being turned away because every seat was purchased for the Glenn Beck “We Will Not Conform” event.  The theater was overflowing with parents, teachers and grandparents wanting to know how to reclaim locally controlled education and a feeling of empowerment.  I  don’t know about the other […]

    The Utah Education Association sent out an email yesterday.  I’m posting it at the bottom (scroll down.) It’s sad evidence of the loss of open debate and the loss of freedom of conscience that the UEA pretends all educators agree with its pro-Common Core agenda. I’m a Utah credentialed teacher and I sure […]

  Did you know that even if you are lazy,  sick or out of town and won’t attend your local Caucus meeting –It’s THURSDAY FOR UTAH’S GOP– still, you can vote and you can even still RUN for an office!?  Just pre-file to vote or to run, here:   http://www.utgop.org (If you don’t attend that […]

Once again it seems necessary, unfortunately, to provide a fact-checking rebuttal to statements made by Utah’s Associate Superintendent Judy Park about student data privacy. In a letter given out to parents of children attending a St. George charter school recently, Judy Park was quoted at length.  Park, the Associate Superintendent of Utah, made the following statements that will be scrutinized […]

I laughed out loud a year ago, when I read what Governor LePage of Maine said upon withdrawing Maine’s membership in the National Governors’ Association. Along with citing the waste of taxpayer’s money on NGA “membership dues” ($60,000 per year) LePage described NGA meetings as “too politically correct and everybody is lovey-dovey, and no decisions […]

Yesterday the Huffington Post published “A Brief Audit of Bill Gates’ Common Core Spending.” I learned from this article. I already knew that Bill Gates spends billions implementing his personal version of education reforms –without any approval from American voters, without any authority other than his cash. I already knew that Gates had singlehandedly paid […]

When I saw, both in a Politichicks article and in a Blaze article, that it was on the recommended reading list of Common Core for 11th grade students to read “The Bluest Eye,” a book that graphically, vividly narrates sex crimes of a child molester in first person, I found it hard to believe that […]

Common Core proponents often say that the Common standards are “internationally benchmarked.” What an appealing concept– except that it’s not true. James Milgram, the mathematician who served on the Common Core validation committee and refused to sign off on the standards, said: “I can tell you that my main objection to Core Standards, and the […]

For anyone who can stand to plow through it, here’s another letter I wrote in response to Mr. Thomas’s response to my response to his response to my questions posted in the Deseret News op-ed last month. ____________________________________________________________ Dear Mr. Dave Thomas, Please remember that I am not your enemy. I am a fellow Utahn, […]

If we remain bound to the Common Core stranglehold, it will be because a low-information citizenry passively buys the unsubstantiated claims of the proponents of Common Core without doing their own homework on this crucial subject. Our state school board refuses to let go of its praise-common-core talking points. And it continues to call those […]

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56311293-78/standards-core-common-utah.html.csp I watched this video, where the Salt Lake Tribune reporter asked Utah School Board Chair Debra Roberts whether Common Core took away classic literature –see minute 15:40. Roberts laughed, said that she was an English major and would never support standards that were not strongly supportive of classic literature—  and then, without answering, took the conversation in the direction of how important […]

Utah’s Republican state delegates sent a clear message to the Governor, Utah legislators, and to the State Office of Education at Saturday’s GOP convention when 65% of the state delegates voted yes to support the resolution written by Utahns Against Common Core. Utah’s delegates are calling on Governor Herbert and the Utah State School Board to withdraw from Common Core, and […]

Yesterday I attended the Alpine School District meeting, where U.S.O.E. representative John Jesse, director of assessments, gave a presentation about the new Common Core testing system created by the American Institutes for Research (AIR).  I went with Alisa, Renee, my sister and others whose district is Alpine.  I wanted to compare the attitudes of parents and teachers […]

I received permission to post this letter from a woman in Illinois who is trying to rally others in the state to stand up against Common Core.  If you live in Illinois, please contact her at StopcommoncoreIllinois@yahoo.com Thank you, Heather.     Dear People of Illinois, Recently I’ve done some research on Common Core State […]

“Giving students problems to solve for which they have little or no prior knowledge or mastery of algebraic skills is not likely to develop the habit of mind of algebraic thinking. But the purveyors of this practice believe that continually exposing children to unfamiliar and confusing problems will result in a problem-solving “schema” and that […]

I’m reposting this article from the Home School Legal Defense Association:  http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/2012/201212170.asp It’s important for homeschooling families to realize that Common Core is a movement that is transforming education for every one who ever wants to go to a college or university.  It’s deleting freedom and innovation for everyone, not just public school attendees. December […]

I gave the speech below, at the Heber City council meeting tonight, asking the council not to adopt Communities that Care, right after three state employees gave speeches encouraging the city to adopt Communities That Care.  http://youtu.be/YtecukxKAhY  (Click to watch the video of the presentation) Please write our city council here: jbradshaw@ci.heber.ut.us erowland@ci.heber.ut.us rpatterson@ci.heber.ut.us phillips1005@msn.com manderson@ci.heber.ut.us amcdonald@ci.heber.ut.us I […]

The 9th problem with the Common Core standards -by Marion Brady From The Washington Post.  Full text: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-9th-problem-with-the-common-core-standards/2012/09/16/723d240e-0071-11e2-b260-32f4a8db9b7e_blog.html?wprss=rss_answer-sheet It’s an incredibly important argument between a smart, veteran eduator, Marion Brady, versus an extremist left-wing educrat, Marc Tucker (whose socialized-U.S -education plot with Hilary Clinton has been known and Congressionally recorded for decades.)  https://whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/anti-liberty-plot-for-american-education-full-text-of-the-letter-from-marc-tucker-to-hillary-clinton-2/ Marion Brady’s main […]

Why I Don’t Want my Children to be Educated for Sustainable Development: Sustainable Belief By Bob  Jickling  Yukon College Bob Jickling is instructor of environmental studies at Yukon College in Whitehorse. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 20th Annual Conference of the North American Association for Environmental Education Saint Paul, Minnesota, […]

Dear Lorraine, Thank you!  I appreciate you going to the effort to find the answer to my question. I have a follow-up question. The Associate Superintendent over data collection said that USOE does not release student level data; could you tell me how long that policy will remain in place and where I can find […]

  Professor David Wiley is to be applauded for engaging in actual debate on the Common Core/FERPA issue with people like me.  I appreciate it.  He is rare for being willing to discuss these things without resorting to dismissive name calling as others have done.  Here is what he posted today, along with what Kristen […]

You can read for yourself what Utah agreed to, in requesting a federal waiver from the law called No Child Left Behind, which was a restrictive and unpopular federal educational mandate. http://www2.ed.gov/policy/eseaflex/ut.pdf Today, Utah received a “yes” answer about the NCLB waiver, from the U.S. Dept. of Education. We got the NCLB waiver, so we […]

I like this article so I’m pasting it here.   It’s None of The Government’s Business by Phyllis Schlafly May 30, 2012     http://www.eagleforum.org/publications/column/2012-05-30.html   What is it about bureaucrats and school personnel that they want to pry into the personal life and habits of American citizens of every age? There seems to be no end […]

http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=10919 This talk was given in 1995 at BYU by Boyd K. Packer.  Elder Packer titled this talk from a dream  President Brimhall had: He saw several of the BYU professors standing around a peculiar machine on the campus. When one of them touched a spring a baited fish hook attached to a long thin wire […]

Dear Governor Herbert, As you are in the process of selecting some members of the State School Board, I ask that you do not select Leslie Castle for another term, based on two things: 1.  She does not know what the U.S. Constitution is about, nor does she value freedom for Utah. She fails to […]

A big difference between the pushers of Common Core and normal people is this: The Common Core pushers are experts on speaking in euphemisms and in acronyms. We ask for clarity, but this is never supplied by the pushers. Even state educators fall for the “eduspeak” and soon join the top Common Core pushers, who label those of us asking for […]

Excerpted from Retired Utah Judge Norman Jackson’s report on Utah’s Common Core Standards: Date: April 14, 2012 2:21:02 PM MDT Subject: Whether the State of Utah or the United States Department of Education Is Or Will Be In Control of “Common Core” Educational Standards?   … [T]he political pot on this issue seems to be overflowing into […]

April 15, 2012 Dear Teachers,   I’m a Utah teacher.  I’ve taught 3rd grade for two years, high school English for five years, and college English at Utah Valley University for two years.  Teachers often stay neutral on political issues. But the Common Core Initiative affects what millions of children will be taught and what […]

Utah State Board of Education 2012 Candidate Interview Questions Due April 12, 2012, 7:00 AM Name:_____________________________________ Please answer the following questions with a Yes or No answer: District: ___________ • • • Do you support the Utah Core Curriculum Standards? Do you support increased rigor for high school students? Do you support more STEM (science, […]

The Common Core Initiative:  What’s hidden between the lines? by Christel Swasey Ever since I saw Alisa Ellis and Renee Braddy’s “2 Moms Against Common Core,” I’ve barely slept.  My laundry is backed up.  I’m losing weight. All I do is research the Common Core Initiative (CCI). I talk to teachers.  I read think tanks and […]

This letter is a plea for our governor to set Utah free from the restraints and expenses of Common Core.   Alisa, Renee, Kevin and I shared it with the governor last week, in person, as we showed him our findings and he promised to get his legal department working on answering these issues right away. I share […]

  California just passed a bill to protect student privacy.  I want to know why Utah hasn’t done the same thing.  Those few Utah legislators who tried to pass privacy-protecting bills (Jake Anderegg, Brian Greene) were not supported by the majority of Utah politicans. Why?! Do we not care about student privacy? Is privacy not a […]

The story of Common Core and data mining begins as most stories do, with a huge, unmet need. Self-appointed “stakeholder” know-it-alls at the federal level (also at state, corporate, and even university levels) determined that they had the right, and the need, for open access to personal student data– more so than they already had. […]

Mr. Judd, Thank you for taking the time last month to sit down with us as concerned citizens and listen to our concerns.  As I told you last month I would not be expending a lot of energy pushing for public comment about this policy. It’s unfortunate that the board decided to write a “non-policy” […]

Dear Schools, PTA groups, and political groups, I’m a Utah educator and parent. I’m writing to you to volunteer to answer questions publically concerning Utah’s adoption of the Common Core Initiative and what it means to educators, students and parents.  I am happy to present only the “sever ties with Common Core” side, and equally […]

  Dear Utah Senators, Please vote no on HB118. The bill contains five big red flags. 1. The first one is a pawn-off, trading real educational experiences and fair grading, for participation in the big standardized test and an easy grade. That’s a shady trade. See line 13: “allows at teacher to use a student’s score […]

Even though Americans cannot call the White House today (the answering machine says it’s due to the shutdown) we can tweet @POTUS @WhiteHouse @RealDonaldTrump —or send an email. (Scroll to the bottom of this article for easy contact links). Please alert (plead with) President Trump to veto this already passed bill, HR 4174, that Congress passed […]

Many tens of thousands of public school students, whose parents regularly opt out of Common Core testing, may lose the right to do so. When federal ESSA passed in 2015, it claimed veto power for the federal education department– over every state’s educational plan.  Utah humbly asked the feds for a waiver, so that Utah […]

Utah’s state superintendent is unfortunately stonewalling the public on science standards. I’ve sent my  letter  to her twice.  I’ve sent her direct twitter messages, twice. No response.  Others report the same lack of answers. Public stonewalling should kind of be an outrage.  Your paychecks and mine are garnished for taxes to pay Superintendent Dickson   over $300,000 per […]

    National I.D. cards in Rwanda, like the one above, (see PreventGenocide.org) cost hundreds of thousands of innocent people to lose their lives in 1994, since certain tribal affiliation was cause for slaughter by the Rwandan government, and the government had access to all that ID information. This week, in Jamaica, the big news is rollout […]

Here’s hopeful news for freedom lovers. Eight congressmen have banded together to try to restore the constitution by deleting the federal Department of Education. President Ronald Reagan, while in office, aimed to make this happen. Recently, parent and educator groups have been pleading for this to happen. Campaigners have often spoken about this idea, since […]

  In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck stole chickens.  Huck’s father had taught him how to stomach chicken theft. That reminds me of the way the federal CEP (Commission on Evidence Based Policy) stomachs human data theft.  Huck said: … Pap always said, take a chicken when you get a chance, because if you don’t want […]

Judith Pinborough-Zimmerman A news bomb about the theft of student data exploded in Utah’s Deseret News last July, but nobody noticed, apparently. The article’s headline — “Wrongful Termination Lawsuit Puts Spotlight on Utah Autism Rates” — focused primarily on things other than the data theft.  It highlighted former University of Utah research professor Judith Zimmerman’s allegations that university […]

  Betsy DeVos, America’s newly appointed Secretary of Education, is quite adorable.  She interviews like America’s Sweetheart, her name sounds like Betsy Ross, and she says she’s opposed to the Common Core. But the parents who began Stop Common Core in Michigan say DeVos used her Michigan big-funding machine to block, rather than to assist, the Stop Common Core parents’ nearly successful legislation […]

State School Board candidate Dr. Gary Thompson’s tooth-and-nail fight against the Utah State Office of Education, a fight for ethical student testing and protection of student data –a years-long, ongoing fight– was completely omitted in the Salt Lake Tribune’s report yesterday about Dr. Thompson. The Tribune stated that school board candidate Dr. Gary Thompson refused to […]

State School Board elections are coming up fast.  If you don’t know which district is your state school board voting district, click here.  If you want to learn who’s running and what each stands for, check out Sutherland Institute’s page, posted  for all state school board candidates to introduce themselves to voters.  Each candidate who responded answered […]

Student privacy rights are improving in Utah!  Utah HB 358 passed and was funded this legislative session. This is very happy news for many who have been extremely concerned about the lack of proper privacy protections in our state and country.  Although the bill does not provide any opt-out ability for any student from the State […]

Update 3/10/16:  Utah’s legislative session has passed, but HB 358, the student privacy bill, has not been funded.  And so we are stuck, at least for another year, without proper protections for our children.  (If you don’t know why that’s bad, begin by reading a recent article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, by Jane Robbins, […]

At the #AboutTheChild conference in Houston last week, B&L Network speakers said that even in the middle of a struggle we might seem to be losing, we have great power and great hope. Although America is seeing dangerous shifts in who can and who cannot amend tests, in who controls (and does not protect) children’s data;  in who gets to redefine even babies’ “educations” as a collective-economy-purposed thing; while we […]

I know this might be boring. I know there are five hundred things you could be doing.  But this will take awhile. SETRA, or “Strengthening Education Through Research Act,” a federal bill that passed the U.S. Senate on December 17th has not yet passed the House of Representatives, and must not. (Call 202-224-3121 to speak to […]

Parents and Educators Against Common Core Standards posted the following incredibly important video of this week’s “Information Security Review” of the US Department of Education which was led by Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz. Please watch it. Chaffetz opens the discussion (minutes 1-9) showing slides of the US Department of Education getting an “F” in protecting student data –with […]

  Even though I don’t like bumper stickers, I proudly slapped a U.S. Senator Mike Lee bumper sticker on my car because he’s that rare legislator who honors in actions as well as in talk, that priceless treasure, our freedom-friendly U.S. Constitution.  And this week, I waited on the phone for a long time to ask him a question during his virtual town hall meeting this week. I […]

  This article is written by Alpine School Board member Brian Halladay for parents in the Alpine School District.  It is published here with his permission.     The Reality Behind Your Child’s Test   By Brian Halladay, Board Member, Alpine School District, Utah   Sage test results were recently released that showed less than […]

Pray that our politicians and superintendents are interested enough, and honest enough, to see through the Department of Ed, and kick to the curb its lies and false reassignments of authority that hurt our children and our Constitutional power. Jakell Sullivan, a beautiful Utah mom who happens to be one of the most dedicated  researchers on education reform and data […]

  Dr. Gene V. Glass, the award-winning psychometrician who invented the term meta-analysis, made recent news when he announced that he is no longer comfortable in his field.  In a Washington Post column, Dr. Glass summarized the failure of psychometrics (educational measurement using big data) to give accurate information: “Both talent and tasks were too […]

  Senator Hatch’s offices better fasten their seatbelts.  They are in for a bumpy ride after messing with family rights in education.  Sen. Hatch voted against Senator Lee’s “Parental Notification and Opt Out Amendment” to the Every Child Achieves Act, S1177 yesterday. If you call Senator Orrin Hatch’s D.C. offices, or his Salt Lake City offices, you will […]

I’m posting today to draw attention to Cogs in the Machine, an important white paper published last year by Pioneer Institute, written by Jane Robbins, Joy Pullman and Emmett McGroarty.   It’s about public-system-assisted big data collection –and how Americans can protect their kids.  The paper includes specific, effective action points for parents, schools, state- and nationally-elected […]

Before I post Dr. Sandra Stotsky’s most recent testimony, I will tell you why I am a devoted fan of Dr. Stotsky and why I’m a tomato-thrower at the Common Core version of English Language Arts. Despite its charming claims, Common Core deforms –not reforms– the English classroom. Common Core stifles the joy of learning […]

  Are you afraid of freedom?  Are you so afraid of the possibility that, with freedom to choose, some people choose to fail, that you would remove all freedom, even the freedom to soar? A few weeks ago, at the Utah County Republican Convention,  I met a man at our Stop Common Core booth.  He […]

Ever since that dark day three years ago when I received a written response from the State Office of Education saying that the answer to my question was “No,” –NO to the question of whether a student could attend school to simply learn (as opposed to being tracked at school, as “human capital” by the state and […]

The Band of Mothers Tour proudly presents the “Empowering Parents Symposium,” convening to present freedom’s true fight for children this Wednesday, May 13th, at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Have you registered yet?  (Click here!)       Here’s the outline.  Starting at 9:00 a.m., attendees will choose from nine available workshops held in […]

The Vernal and St. George science standards meetings have passed, but you can still attend the Provo, North Logan, and Salt Lake City meetings.  The Utah State Office of Education (USOE) has set them up for parents and teachers to give input or to question the adoption of common, national standards for science for Utah. Here […]

  The Utah State School Board —despite last year’s pushback, despite serious concerns of some of the state school board members–  is now moving to adopt national, common standards for science.  Watch this video to see the documented false promises by the USOE to legislators and local school board members, that Utah would never adopt […]

    1.  THE TESTS HAVE NEVER BEEN VALIDATED.  It is out of the norm for tests to be given to children that never have been validated in a formal, scientific, peer-reviewed way.  Professor Tienken of Seton Hall University calls this “dataless decision making“.  What does it mean to a mom or dad to hear […]

  Utah’s Dr. Gary Thompson wrote an open letter to Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond tonight.   Dear Dr. Hammond: How does placing students in front of an experimental test that has yet to undergo extensive validity measures equate to accountability in the traditional manner in which you speak? Let me answer that question for you in […]

  Senator Howard Stephenson was right when he said on the Rod Arquette Show  that SAGE tests turn our children into guinea pigs and that SAGE should be abandoned immediately, this very minute. He was right when he said that it’s educational malpractice to use a beta-test to judge students and teachers and schools. He was […]

        Last year, on behalf of Early Life Child Psychology and Education Center, Dr. Gary Thompson offered $100,000.00 to the Utah State Office of Education (USOE) for validity reports for Utah’s SAGE Common Core test. He made the offer after Associate Superintendent Judy Park made a public statement regarding the validity of […]

Original source documents arm honest people who want to know the truth about Common Core to take back the reins of control. This is important because proponents are increasing false advertisements about Common Core.  They’re also hiding the Common Core Inititative under different names, such as “Utah Core” or  “Indiana Core“.  Unfortunately, well intentioned people whom […]

Goodbye, recognizable tests; hello, ongoing stealth assessments. Using stealth rather than SAGE tests, states can cater to federal and corporate funders seeking metadata on children while appeasing parental and teachers’ uproar against the time wasting and anxiety of high stakes testing. Stealth (hidden) assessments  perma-test, but imperceptibly,  with assignments and activities recording data beyond the control of […]

By Michelle Malkin Posted with permission from Michelle Malkin; also published at National Review Online.      Bureaucrats and big business can’t make you let your kids take their exams. This is National School Choice Week, but I want to talk about parents’ school choice.  Moms and Dads, you have the inherent right and responsibility to […]

  Once again, we are indebted to Colorado Principal Bob Schaeffer who has collected this list of national news articles about pushback concerning high-stakes tests in the U.S. Before I post the list of news articles, I want to share a concern recently raised by Utah Dr. Gary Thompson: that perhaps the heated, national testing […]

Mark Twain said that it’s easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they have been fooled. Having tried and failed for (going on three) years to persuade Governor Herbert and the State School Board of Utah to withdraw from the Common Core Initiative and its snake oil data mining programs, I […]

The Governor’s new budget plan is making news this week, with most of the tax surplus money planned for Utah “education.” That’s the governor’s pipeline-based definition of education, not education as most of us would define it.  His “education funding” funds the state’s SLDS data-mining aligned programs made palatable to citizens and legislators under the branding of “education.”) […]

Technically, Texas is not in Common Core.  The state rejected the Common Core Initiative while most other states took the bait back in 2010. But Texas has not escaped. (see minute 12:40 to 13:25 on the linked clip.) National, Common Core standards-aligned books and software has taken over most of the United States educational sales market. […]

This is the second in a series of posts to be added by members of Utah’s Common Core SAGE test’s parent review board.  Parent Molly Foster spoke out previously and is joined now by fellow mom Christine Ruiz as a SAGE parent review committee member who also wishes to set the record straight and to expose the […]

Twenty-two of the United States are represented in this list of national news articles about frustrated teachers, parents, professors and psychologists pushing back against Common Core tests. Is Common Core Testing “A Cash-Grabbing Hoax?” http://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/common-core-must-prove-it-s-not-cash-grabbing-hoax More Central Florida Families Consider Opting Out of State Exams http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/27387181/opting-out-becoming-more-popular-option-for-central-florida-families Utah’s Dr. Gary Thompson: SAGE Common Core tests break […]

I sat in the Early Life Child Psychology and Education center this week, watching Dr. Gary Thompson’s presentation about Common Core testing, thinking that Dr. Thompson is the fearless kid in the tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Dr. Thompson stands armed with honesty, science and evidence, pointing out that the Emperor of SAGE/Common Core tests […]

Parents are in charge of their children. It is not for corporations or federal entities to delegate an education  “role” to the state or to schools or parents, like a play director hands out a role or a prop to an actor.  Similarly, it’s not a school’s or any agency’s right to delegate parents as […]

The news report is out:  “Sage Test Results Indicate Majority of Utah Students Not on Track for College”. The  Office of Education’s official comment is: “With the new standards and with the new assessments they will see fewer students actually being proficient, but take that in context…” Thus the USOE readily admitted that the new standards (Common […]

Guest Post by Bob Schaeffer, Colorado Principal   In this week’s stories, all key public education stakeholder constituencies — parents, teachers, administrators, school board members, community activists, and the general public — add their voices to the ever louder call for assessment reform. Too many politicians, however, give little but lip service to the movement’s […]

This article is so easy to read and so well expressed.  I just had to ask permssion of the author to repost it here.   Read the original– and see the great embedded videos– at  The Federalist.   TOP TEN THINGS PARENTS HATE ABOUT COMMON CORE   By Joy Pullmann This is the year new national […]

This three minute video features a beautiful Connecticut public school student making a speech at her local school board meeting. Highlights: “In my honors English class we are focusing more on social studies topics than on English topics.  The texts we have received so far contain subliminal messaging of a leftist view of society.  One quote…’American […]

By Bob Schaeffer   If the issues were not so serious, watching test-and-punish advocates backpedal in the face of the rapidly growing testing resistance movement would be great entertainment. From U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan crying crocodile tears about the impacts of the very policies he advocated, to Rhode Island Commissioner Deborah Grist’s sudden embrace […]

How the College Board Politicized U.S. History By Stanley Kurtz “[A]s on much else, Americans are divided about how best to teach and understand U.S. history. This is precisely why the new, lengthy, and detailed AP U.S. History Framework is such a bad idea….  The College Board has drastically eroded the freedom of states, school districts, […]

Read this week’s powerful letter by Oregon State Representative Dennis Richardson.   Rep. Richardson’s Newsletter August 20, 2014   Common Core. The Answer to Oregon’s Failed Education System?   I flew helicopters for the Army in Vietnam. In flight school it was commonly known that one-third of us Warrant Officer Candidates would “wash-out” and not graduate. […]

Recognizing an American Hero: John Saxon by Nakonia (Niki) Hayes This article, found at Education Views, introduces John Saxon, whose math materials are used by one million home schooled students today.  Saxon’s textbooks are found in Arizona’s BASIS schools, as well as in private schools and some public schools across the country.   Both this article […]

Renee Braddy, a Utah mother and a former elementary school teacher, has given permission to post this letter which she sent to the Utah Educator’s Association office. As of this posting, she has still not heard back from the UEA.   Thank you, Renee. —————————————————————————————————- To Whom it Concerns: I am writing to you first […]

Utah Dad, Oak Norton, made this information-packed presentation last week, entitled “Pulling Back the Curtain:  What’s the Real Agenda Behind Common Core?”       Oak Norton’s educational research story began when he asked his daughter’s third grade teacher why she hadn’t been learning the multiplication tables and was told, “We don’t do that anymore.” […]

Note to Utahns: Utah children are being tested by AIR, not by Pearson.  So why post this article?   It’s no secret that Utah, as well as the federal government, has heavily invested in Pearson/Microsoft‘s philosophy and product.  Pearson leads out in all Common Core implementation and student-data gathering products nationwide, including here in Utah […]

I  love to watch my favorite thinkers from the left and the right wing agree that “college- and career- ready standards” or Common Core– aka ObamaCore –along with its CEDS  data-grabbing plot in cahoots with the CCSSO — is utterly unacceptable and has got to go.   Today I read Stanley Kurtz (conservative writer) who praised Diane Ravitch (liberal writer) for her public call for Congressional hearings […]

A smiling school board member, tired of me and unwilling to fight the Common Core monster, advised me to do what she does: focus on the positive parts of Common Core.  Be an optimist, she said. “The positive parts?  –You mean the lies?” I thought, because I’ve not seen positive parts unless you count the positive–sounding parts. There are lots […]

    I thought this post was so funny (and vital) that I had to ask the author for permission to repost it.   It was previously published at Huffington Post.   How to Pass a Pearson Test or Peeling the Pearson Pineapple by Alan Singer   On Tuesday, June 3, 2014, high school students in New […]

#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 […]

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.htmlStrong Critic of Standardized Testing Elected to Lead Los Angeles, California Teachers Unionhttp://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-caputo-pearl-teachers-union-election-20140429,0,216089.story#axzz30JP8ervuStudents Blow Off California Smarter Balanced Pilot Examshttp://www.scotscoop.com/39589Why My Kids Played Hookey From This […]

The Dying of the Light: How Common Core Damages Poetry Instruction   Published by Pioneer Institute,  a new white paper entitled, “The Dying of the Light: How Common Core Damages Poetry Instruction” — which you can read here— begins by asking whether poetry has a future in the face of Common Core: “The fate of poetry in […]

Let’s not call this research!   This is a fact-checking adventure. This adventure begins because of the FAQ statements about Common Core posted at the Provo  School District website.  (See it on their  website or just scroll to the bottom of the page where I’ve pasted it.) This post is not meant to be accusatory or mean.  Provo District and […]

Go to http://www.resistthetest.org to share upcoming events with allies across the nation. Note, also, that some politicians are beginning to change policies in response to constituent pressure.   http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/15/testing-resistance-movement-exploding-around-country/ The Gathering Resistance to Standardized Testing http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/28_03/edit2283.shtml The Long and Narrow Rut of Standardized Testing http://www.alternet.org/education/long-and-narrow-rut-standardized-testing Testing Season Reveals Big Media Coverage Failures http://educationopportunitynetwork.org/test-season-reveals-americas-biggest-failures/ Is Common […]

  Guest Post by Alma Ohene-Opare “Raise your heads out of the dust and realize that America is great because America bucked against the status quo. Thinking a standardized and common core curriculum is innovative is like discovering water in the ocean and patting yourself on the back for it. This system is not new. Its […]

“I am required to teach key reading comprehension strategies,  the writing process,  information-gathering skills, grammar, vocabulary, etc., etc.  But I also hope to awaken a love of reading and literature, ignite curiosity about our complex world….  “All children are gifted—some just open their presents earlier than others.” I know that every one of my students […]

The Utah teenager and her mother who decided to take a stand last week by taking screen shots and sharing them with the public  –photos of the SAGE/Common Core writing test,  hit some raw nerves.  Over a hundred comments were added here, with more posted on Facebook, and almost a hundred thousand views of those screen shots were logged in […]

First, here’s a list. It’s a smattering of teachers’ names with links to what they have said or spoken.  Their experience and research make a powerful, nearly unarguable case for stopping corporate-federal Common Core.  They are current teachers, retired teachers, and teachers-turned-professors-or-administrators. Malin Williams, Mercedes Schneider, Christy Hooley, Peter Greene, Susan Kimball, Paul Bogush, Laurie Rogers,  Paul Horton, Gerald […]

Yesterday, UT Associate Superintendent Judy Park responded to an open letter  (posted below) that I sent a week ago.  I had sent the letter to support St. George parents who want to opt children out of the standardized testing. Ms. Park’s response was a one-sentence email message that included a link to a graphic, also posted […]

How quickly Common Core has gone from being almost a secret, a truly under-the-news-radar movement, to being a sharp bone of contention and a scorchingly hot topic across the nation as right and left, legislators, parents, teachers and yes,  students— join to fight the erosion of local control of education, and the erosion of high quality […]

This article was originally posted at MindingTheCampus.Com.  It is reposted with permission.    The author is president of the National Association of Scholars.   The SAT “Upgrade” Is A Big Mistake Guest post by Peter Wood   The College Board is reformulating the SAT.  Again. The new changes, like others that have been instituted since the […]

Rep. Brian Greene of Pleasant Grove – His fair and transparent state school board elections bill passed the House vote and may pass into law if the Senate votes yes this week ———————– We are fighting manipulation in education reform. Utah legislators have written multiple bills this year that take important steps to curb it.  Before […]

Two leaders who make judgments for our schools –two whose judgment I wish we were able to trust, each have made statements: that high-stakes tests and data mining are unrelated to Common Core standards. This is a fact-checking post. First, look at their statements: Our governor’s education advisor, Tami Pyfer, was quoted in the  Morgan News:  “while not related to the Common […]

A REPORT ON THIS WEEK’S  STOP COMMON CORE  RALLIES This week, and especially Tuesday night, the Common Core Initiative took some tough hits.  All on the same night,  Florida had a newsmaking Common Core protest while Missouri had its Stop Common Core event,  while here in Utah about 600 people gathered at the Capitol; on […]

What Is Common Core?  This post aims to be as unmistakably direct and documented as possible.    Feel free to use it without asking permission. DOES  COMMON CORE PREPARE STUDENTS FOR COLLEGE? Not for a 4-year university.  It minimally prepares students for the non-collegiate workforce or for non-selective community colleges. A key Common Core creator, Jason Zimba, said […]

  Why Obama’s Education Policies will not Change Guest post by Chicago high school history teacher Paul Horton, also posted at Edweek    Back before the President was elected, he spoke to the 80th annual convention of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). It is useful to compare the President’s speech to the AFT in […]

New York Professor’s Run-in With NY Common Core Promotion Machine Guest Post by Professor Alan Singer This story is posted with permission from Professor Singer, and the article is also posted at the Huffington Post under the title: “Questions about Common Core – NYS Education Officials Do Not Want to Hear About It.” In December 2013, […]

Should parents have the right to opt out of having children essentially stalked by SLDS, the State Longitudinal Database? The State School Board doesn’t think so. Boiling down the  conflict about personal data, we get to two ideas; which one do you value more? It’s either: 1) –  Our Constitutional right to be free from “unreasonable search and seizure” […]

How would you like to be a fly on the wall in a teacher education classroom?  What are colleges training teachers to teach today?  Is it legitimate education? Barry Garelick, a California math teacher, has written a book (his introduction is below) based on his university teacher- education experiences,  and experiences as a student teacher.  Garelick […]

With all the pushback across our country against Common Core standards and testing it’s almost impossible to keep up! Here is an incomplete list with links to some important, recent news stories you may have missed. SOUTH CAROLINA:     Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is taking on the Common Core standards in a draft resolution that he says is “an incentive-based […]

Guest post by Alyson Williams Utah mother Alyson Williams has given permission to post her letter that was written this week to former State School Board member Joel Coleman in response to his suggestion that citizens should “ask the members of the board” to alleviate their concerns about Common Core. ——————— Joel, Joel, many of us in […]

Dr. Terrence Moore of Hillsdale College speaks in this video about the Common Core standards in a college lecture entitled “Story-Killers: How the Common Core Destroys Minds and Souls”. The architects of Common Core, Dr. Moore contends, are deliberately killing stories. But why? First Dr. Moore discusses what Common Core leaves out, in great detail. […]

I am fascinated with the increasing convergence of honest right-wing thinkers and honest left-wing thinkers in the context of protecting legitimate, locally controlled education and fighting Common Core and its data-mining tentacles. Professor Singer points out in his article not only what Pearson is doing in England and in the U.S., but how these “curious […]

Dixie Allen, my State School Board Representative ————————— Sharing a long string of emails between my State School Board representative and me, from this week and last. ————————— Christel- I hope that given the time you have spent the last couple of years discussing this issue, that you would understand that Utah has already adopted […]

This post is long. But I cannot “byte” these pieces apart for easier consumption. They have to be seen as a whole. Thanks for reading –and sharing. Unpaid parents and teachers like me (and there are many of us) —have to report, because the so-called “real” reporters are failing to give us real reports with […]

Utah radio personality Jason Williams of KVNU’s “For the People” has asked the public to submit questions for next week’s Common Core debate, which will take place at Mount Logan Middle School on January 6th, 2014, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in Logan, Utah, at 875 N. 200 E. Submit questions to: jasonthe@gmail.com or kvnuftp@gmail.com. […]

DR. TERRENCE MOORE This week “Grassroots Radio Colorado” hosted two lively, informative Common Core debates. The podcasts are available by clicking here. Hour one features History Professor Terrence Moore of Hillsdale College (opposed to Common Core) versus former school board member Laura Boggs (pro Common Core). Highlights from hour one: At minute 10:45 Laura Moore […]

If you scour the official Common Core websites, ed.gov website, and the official speeches of Secretary Duncan and President Obama and the Pearson CEA on education, as many of us have done, you may at first knit your eyebrows in confusion. It all sounds sweet. How would education reforms that use such pleasant words ever […]

I feel sorry for school guidance counselors. There’s a document out called “Role of the School Counselor in Utah Core” that says: “You [the guidance counselors] are often the first line of defense in honoring the validity of the Utah Core State Standards.” How many school counselors do you think became counselors so that they […]

Carol S. Moss, Utah legislator, caused a bit of a splash when she posted this photo of herself with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on Facebook this week. Rep. Moss must have felt it was an honor to meet Mr. Duncan. Some Utahns feel very differently. If you don’t know much about your U.S. […]

The Stop Common Core movement is gaining tremendous momentum and the proponents of Common Core seem to be slowing down. Some of the leading characters have been so slowed that they have been stopped in their tracks. A recent broadcast by proponent Mike Huckabee said he’s suddenly turned around and is now NOT not a […]

https://whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com/2013/12/05/common-core-movie-building-the-machine-trailer/ I am impressed by the new Common Core movie trailer (that I shared yesterday) and I do hope it gets a million views. So, today I sent out an email link to the new Common Core documentary movie to many people I thought would be interested in it, both friends and foes: The state […]

This article, reposted with permission from Christienken.com, was written to challenge education bureaucrats who are using the latest PISA results to justify their crooked reforms. Diane Ravitch, Yong Zhao, and Rick Hess have excellent posts as well on the topic of PISA. Dr. Tienken’s questions for ed reformers at the end of his article take […]

Secretary of Education displays arrogant, bigoted, anti-parent sentiment. Alas, he speaks for many. by Laurie H. Rogers “It was we, the people, not we, the white male citizens, nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed this Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings or liberty, but […]

Folks, there can be no question that the federal government is using Common Core to take away our freedoms. So why do many people still believe that “there’s no federal control of Common Core”? Because trusted education leaders are not being forthright with –or are not in possession of– the truth. Here in Utah, for […]

Utah Mom Alyson Williams’ razor-sharp wit and use of unarguable facts makes the speech she gave at a Common Core debate (with State School Board member Dixie Allen and two professors) a powerful tool in the national Stop Common Core arsenal. Below are her prepared remarks. The event was filmed and will be posted soon. […]

Countless –countless– men and fathers are publically and boldly standing up against Common Core. It’s not only “white, suburban moms” who oppose Common Core, and it’s not only the right or the left, either– despite what the U.S. Secretary of Education has so absurdly claimed— not by a long shot. A very partial list of […]

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan felt free to slam moms who stand against Common Core –yes, MOMS— during an official speech last week. He lashed out against “white, suburban moms” who stand up against Common Core. The story was reported by Politico and was echoed by Fox News, the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, […]

Recently America met the remakable Patrick Richardson, a teenager from Arkansas, who blasted through Common Core in power point presentations and speeches to his legislators. Now, meet the eloquent Ethan Young of Tennessee, another brilliant teenager whose five minute, out-of-the-ballpark speech, utterly flattens the many false claims of the Common Core. In this video speech […]

Yesterday’s excellent editorial in the Deseret News by JaKell Sullivan translates the four innocent-sounding pillars of Obama’s education reforms into plain English. The article points out: (The electronic links are mine) “The US Department of Education’s website details the four federal education reforms that 46 states are almost done implementing: 1 Adopt College-and-Career Ready standards […]

One hundred thirty two Catholic Professors have taken “the extraordinary step” of signing a letter that asks all Catholic Bishops to stand up and firmly oppose Common Core. The letter says that “Sadly, over one hundred Catholic dioceses have set aside our teaching tradition in favor of these secular standards,” and says that “Common Core […]

Dear Utah Legislator, I’m writing to you as a mother to ask you to put a stop to the use of Utah’s school systems as snooping agents on our children. Corporate and federal partnerships and Utah state data systems and interstate partnerships now watch and track our children without anyone having asked for parental consent […]

Dr. Gary Thompson of the Utah-based Early Life Child Psychology and Education Center traveled to Wisconsin to testify about the damages of Common Core to the Wisconsin Legislature. You can watch his whole testimony by clicking here. Below is a lively commentary by Dr. Thompson about his reasons for testifying boldly against Common Core both […]

Democratic Massachusetts Senator Edward J. Markey has written a vital letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan about the loss of student privacy under new education reforms. The Senator asks the Secretary eight great questions. My favorite is question #2.a): “Should parents, not schools, have the right to control information about their children?” Senator […]

Here are 82 comments written by teachers who commented after this week’s National Education Association (NEA) promo article about Common Core. The article is here. The teachers call the Common Core, and the NEA’s phony poll (that said that teachers love it) and the NEA’s shameless promotion of it, rubbish. ———————————————- 82 Responses to “10 […]

This interview with Indiana Mother Heather Crossin is not to be missed. Speaking to the Civitas Institute, she tells the story of how she got involved with the fight against Common Core: Her third grade daughter came home from her Catholic parochial school with Common Core math worksheets. The worksheets had a “shockingly small amount” […]

I’ve previously displayed the letter that I received from my Utah State School Board, which told me that the answer was no to the question of whether a parent could opt a Utah child out of the State Longitudinal Database System. And today I’m sharing another, very similar letter that was received by a parent […]

My jaw is on the ground. Not only is teen Patrick Richardson’s powerpoint presentation excellent, but as a kid –free of the parental panic that is quite paralyzing to many adults– he finds humor in the horror story of the takeover of U.S. education! For example, at minute 16:48 Patrick says: “How will student data […]

In January 1986 I was a high school student in Orlando, watching out the window as the Challenger Space Shuttle launched about fifty miles away. Christa MacAuliffe, the first teacher in space, was being launched with a seven member crew. Then we all saw the explosion in the sky. The plumes represented total failure and […]

This press release was issued last month by Pittsburgh Catholics Against Common Core, a group of parents dedicated to educating citizens about, and reversing the adoption of, the Common Core in Catholic schools across the country. (Below the press release, see the video-statement about why Catholic K-12 private schools are moving to Common Core, by […]

“All these groups want accountability from our children but I demand accountability from them“ – Debbie Higginbotham, Florida mother ——————————————————————————————————– FLORIDA’S FIGHT FOR EDUCATION: FREEDOM FROM “THE MACHINE” By Debbie Higginbotham In every state across this great nation, parents, grandparents, and great Americans are speaking out loudly against Common Core and the Race to The […]

Jenni White, cofounder of Restore Oklahoma Public Education (R.O.P.E.) is a remarkable mother of five who writes research papers on ed reform with her children at the kitchen table, runs the organization of R.O.P.E., writes a lively education reform blog, creates videos, and also finds time to go (or sends a friend) to monitor each […]

Betty Peters of the Alabama State School Board is fighting for the privacy rights of children in Alabama by requesting documentation about what types of information is currently being disclosed without parental consent, and to whom. Below are draft versions of the requests. For more information about the shredding of parental rights under previously protective […]

Diana McKay is a currently teaching, Utah public school teacher who wrote this poem, “I Became a Teacher– Why?” and the essay “Saturday Musings” below, and also the statement on Common Core below that. She said, “This poem sums up what it is that we want for our educated children and why I went into […]

Reposted with permission from Alan Singer of Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY Gideon, my grandson, is almost nine-years old and starting fourth grade this year. He loves soccer, baseball, online videos, hip-hop, and school because that is where his friends are during the day. His attitude toward homework, and I suspect any school assignment, is to […]

It’s good to see major U.S. Newspapers taking a stand against Common Core, especially after seeing U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan specifically target news editors, asking them to spin Common Core the way that federal power grabbers and corporate monopoly-makers want it spun. This week, the Union Leader said: “More and more parents are […]

The following Common Core informational meetings are scheduled in Utah. — LOGAN: September 24th, 6 p.m. 29 South Main Street, Logan, Utah Speakers: Autumn Cook and Christel Swasey — HEBER: September 24th, 7 p.m. in the Senior Center at the Wasatch County Library Speakers: Alyson Williams and Jakell Sullivan — MANTI: September 26th, 7 p.m. […]

Maryland Dad Robert Small, the Rosa Parks of 2013. Maryland Dad, Robert Small, was forcibly removed from a meeting last night, when he stood to ask questions about Common Core that were not being answered in the preferred written format. The Baltimore Sun, The Blaze, and Examiner.com have all reported on this story. In the […]

Guest Post by Stacie R. Tawbush: mother, math major, and common core opponent from Leeds, Alabama I’m about to be controversial but it’s about damn time somebody be. For more than a year now I’ve talked about the effect that Common Core is having on my family and on my life in general – and […]

A local New Hampshire school board voted yesterday to drop Common Core. According to a Laconia Sun report, one woman cited the N.H. state motto, “Live free or die,” and asked, “why would we want to take federal money? Once you let the government in, you can’t get rid of it. It gets bigger and […]

Reporters from both the Deseret News and ABC Channel 4 t.v. surprised me last week by asking for interviews –on the subject of prayer, which I’d written about a few days earlier. I was really, really surprised to learn that praying is perceived as news. Or, at least, asking people to pray is perceived as […]

The Wunderlich Family of Germany was attacked by their own government yesterday, as armed police stormed into their home and took away their four children. There was no criminal charge of any kind– other than home-schooling. This, in a so-called free nation? Although millions of children are home schooled legally in in many places, including […]

A long list of powerful groups endorse Common Core, despite all evidence that Common Core is academically and constitutionally illegitimate: the U.S. Army endorsed it; the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Harvard University, the national P.T.A., Exxon, Chevron, Jeb Bush’s Foundation, the Bill Gates-Pearson partnership, the National Governors’ Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, […]

On Wednesday, I gave this talk at the Governor Hill Mansion in Augusta, Maine. I spoke alongside Erin Tuttle, Indiana mother against Common Core; Jamie Gass, of Pioneer Institute; Heidi Sampson, board member of the Maine State School Board, and Erika Russell, Maine mother against Common Core. I hope to publish the other speakers’ speeches […]

Dr. Joseph Rella, Superintendent of Comsewogue School District in New York State, spoke to about two thousand parents on Saturday at a rally the superintendent called for, in order to stop Common Core. Parents cheered wildly throughout the speech. One voice shouted out, “You’re our hero, Dr. Rella!” and the crowd broke out into loud […]

At a filmed “Understanding Common Core” forum in Oklahoma a week ago, a passionate elementary school teacher spoke up. This is what she said. (She speaks just after minute 50:08 to 52:00.) “My name is Olivia Goodwin and I’m a first grade classroom teacher. You have used the phrase ‘if Common Core is implemented’ . […]

Even though the columns will be gone and it will be confusing and messy, I’m going to cut and paste a truckload of attributes from the National Data Collection model’s spreadsheet. You can click on the link to see the actual site and its spreadsheet so it’s not confusing or messy. http://nces.ed.gov/forum/datamodel/eiebrowser/techview.aspx?instance=studentElementarySecondary These are the […]

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/on_innovation/2013/08/utah_personalizes_learning_with_portable_records.html This week, an Edweek article focuses on Utah’s “robust” data collection system and portable “backpack” records that track students. The article doesn’t mention the fact that parents were never asked whether they wanted their children to be tracked (stalked) by the government. Nor does it mention the fact that parents have no recourse to […]

I’ve spoken with one of the highest-ranking education leaders in Utah about Common Core. His primary reason for wanting Utah to remain tied to Common Core was to make Utah’s children ready for the altered college testing; ACT and SAT are now aligning to Common Core. I pointed out to this man that lemming-like adherence […]

Common Core Concerns Please click on the links to get to the original source documents that verify Common Core does far more damage than good. The Race to the Top Grant Application – In this, Utah got points toward possibly winning grant money. Points were awarded in this application for the state’s having a student-tracker, […]