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Jeremiah Chaffee.  Gerald Conti.  Kris Nielsen.  Stephen Round.  Paul Horton. Susan Wilcox.  Anonymous Utah Teachers.  Anonymous California Teacher. Paul Bogush.  David Cox.  Chasidy White.  Pat Austin. Stephanie Sawyer. Renee Braddy. Warriors. Heroes. Freedom Fighters. Teachers.

Common Core is a tragedy.  Wake up, America.  Listen to these teachers.

Some teach now; some have retired over Common Core.  Each has spoken out and each needs to be heard. Today I want to highlight Gerald Conti, whose resignation letter was just published in the Washington Post.

It’s heartbreaking.

Gerald Conti’s Letter:

“Data driven education seeks only conformity, standardization, testing and a zombie-like adherence to the shallow and generic Common Core…

Creativity, academic freedom, teacher autonomy, experimentation and innovation are being stifled in a misguided effort to fix what is not broken in our system of public education and particularly not at Westhill…

…The New York State United Teachers union has let down its membership by failing to mount a much more effective and vigorous campaign against this same costly and dangerous debacle…  our own administration has been both uncommunicative and unresponsive to the concerns and needs of our staff and students …

This situation has been exacerbated by other actions of the administration, in either refusing to call open forum meetings to discuss these pressing issues, or by so constraining the time limits of such meetings that little more than a conveying of information could take place. This lack of leadership at every level has only served to produce confusion, a loss of confidence and a dramatic and rapid decaying of morale.

The repercussions of these ill-conceived policies will be telling and shall resound to the detriment of education for years to come. The analogy that this process is like building the airplane while we are flying would strike terror in the heart of anyone should it be applied to an actual airplane flight, a medical procedure, or even a home repair. Why should it be acceptable in our careers and in the education of our children?

… My profession is being demeaned by a pervasive atmosphere of distrust, dictating that teachers cannot be permitted to develop and administer their own quizzes and tests (now titled as generic “assessments”) or grade their own students’ examinations. The development of plans, choice of lessons and the materials to be employed are increasingly expected to be common to all teachers in a given subject. This approach not only strangles creativity, it smothers the development of critical thinking in our students and assumes a one-size-fits-all mentality more appropriate to the assembly line than to the classroom.

Teacher planning time has also now been so greatly eroded by a constant need to “prove up” our worth to the tyranny of APPR (through the submission of plans, materials and “artifacts” from our teaching) that there is little time for us to carefully critique student work, engage in informal intellectual discussions with our students and colleagues, or conduct research and seek personal improvement through independent study. We have become increasingly evaluation and not knowledge driven…

I am not leaving my profession, in truth, it has left me. It no longer exists. I feel as though I have played some game halfway through its fourth quarter, a timeout has been called, my teammates’ hands have all been tied, the goal posts moved, all previously scored points and honors expunged and all of the rules altered.

…

Read the rest.

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• Christopher Tienken – Professor at Seton Hall, NJ –  http://vimeo.com/58461595
• Jane Robbins – American Principles Project – Stop Common Core video series: http://youtu.be/coRNJluF2O4
• Jamie Gass – Pioneer Institute – has been speaking about Common Core for many years; knows why Massachusetts had the best standards in the nation prior to Common Core. http://youtu.be/SBROaOCKN50
• Senator Kurt Bahr – Missouri legislator fighting Common Core http://youtu.be/25NTsQxj-zg?t=1m49s
• Senator William Ligon – Georgia legislator fighting Common Core http://youtu.be/ODz4X0GO-Fk?t=1m37s
• Senator Scott Schneider – Indiana legislator fighting Common Core http://youtu.be/TH9ZxVrn6aA?t=1m10s
• Dr. Bill Evers – Hoover Institute – Stanford University – http://youtu.be/LB014eno1aA
• Robert Scott – Texas commissioner of education – rejected Common Core: http://youtu.be/WcpMIUWbgxY?t=2m25s
• Diane Ravitch – liberal education analyst who just recently came out against Common Core http://youtu.be/ZkZUGpJJWy4?t=13s
• Dr. Sandra Stotsky, who served on the Common Core validation committee and refused to sign off on their adequacy: http://bcove.me/ws77it6d  see min. 55:30
• Ze’ev Wurman, math analyst http://youtu.be/0cgnprQg_O0?t=22s
• Heather Crossin – Indiana mother fighting Common Core http://youtu.be/TH9ZxVrn6aA?t=54s
• Utah moms  Alisa Ellis and Renee Braddy – http://youtu.be/Mk0D16mNbp4
• Jim Stergios – Pioneer Institute –  http://bcove.me/ws77it6d see minute 30:00
• Jenni White – Oklahoma data collection expert –  http://youtu.be/XTbMLjk-qRc and http://youtu.be/JM1CTJFUuzM
• Susan Ohanian – education analyst http://youtu.be/uJHkztNNFNk?t=23s
• Dr. William Mathis of University of Colorado http://youtu.be/46-M1hH0D1Q?t=23s
• Seattle Teachers who boycotted Garfield High School standardized testing. http://youtu.be/N5ODEoqZZHs
• Gary Thompson, clinical psychologist http://www.utahnsagainstcommoncore.com/glenn-beck-on-privacy-and-data-mining-in-common-core/
• Emmett McGroarty, American Principles Project http://youtu.be/wVI78lPCFfs?t=21s
• David Cox, teacher http://youtu.be/W-uAi1I_6Ds?t=22m28s
• Paul Bogush, teacher  http://youtu.be/oaDniHquMVI?t=56s
• Sherena Arrington, political analyst http://youtu.be/QF337nKwx6M?t=6m35s
• Walt Chappell, Kansas Board of Education  http://youtu.be/1S9jjNyXAE4?t=16m55s
• Bob Shaeffer, Colorado Principal /Former Congressman http://youtu.be/Fai4K2ZVauk?t=1m15s
• Lindsey Burke, Heritage Foundation http://youtu.be/1DOCH1YT6Uk
• Oak Norton, Agency Based Education http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_H7ds2Eb70&feature=share&list=PLjUrg_jASxd-BeEivpr4b7z7Ydc5mjGi4
• Neil McClusky – Cato Institute http://youtu.be/DK2kTdDudo4

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There’s an 8th grade teacher by the name of Paul Bogush in Connecticut, who writes a blog called BLOGUSH.  He says:

“I don’t think anyone would teach using a unit on tolerance given to them by the enemies of civil rights.  No teacher would put up with that.

But yet, teachers (including myself) will start off this year fully supporting the Common Core in the classroom.

I feel as though every day when I come home I need to take a shower, because I have spent my day in bed with the enemy.”

Strong words.

Bogush has researched the corporate web of common core promoters, has studied the standards themselves, has felt the pressure of having to teach lessons that feel, he says, more like advertisements than education, and  recently, he’s made a video that expresses his feelings about Common Core.

The video’s funny.  It’s smart.  And it’s sad.

The funny part is when he shows the absurdity of micromanagement on the sports field.  A coach lifts a player up under the armpits to make sure she’s jumping high enough.  A coach runs right behind a soccer dribbler, almost making it impossible for the player to play.  You get the idea.

Then he says:  If micromanagement doesn’t work in the field, why would it work in the classroom?

He points out that Common Core standards tell a teacher what, when, and how to teach –and it comes from people who are not teachers, and who don’t know HIS kids.  This, he notes, also comes with 13 years of continuous testing of the little ones.  Sad music plays as the video ends.  Worth watching.