UPDATE: Opt-Out of Common Core Now for the 2014-2015 School Year + WI Grassroots Leaders to Elected Officials: You Now Own Common Core

Wisconsin Grassroots Leaders to Elected Officials: You Now Own Common Core | Truth in American Education:

Opt-Out of Common Core Now for the 2014-2015 School Year

Parental rights to raise children to respect the parent’s traditions and values have been under attack from many fronts including the U.S. Department of Education. The implementation of Common Core Standards undermines parental rights to make educational decisions for their children.  Now is the time for parents to protest this intrusion by opting their child out of Common Core for the 2014-2015 s

by Karen Schroeder / 12min 

Wisconsin Grassroots Leaders to Elected Officials: You Now Own Common Core

Filed in Common Core State Standards, Education at State Level by Shane Vander Hart on April 23, 2014 • 0 Comments

An open letter that was signed by 45 grassroots leaders across the state representing 42 organizations was delivered to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and every member of the Wisconsin State Assembly and Wisconsin State Senate today.

Here is the text of the letter:

At the beginning of April, the Wisconsin State Legislature concluded its 2014 floor sessions. Yet, Common Core State Standards (CCSS)—the single most prominent issue of the last year in Wisconsin politics—remains unaddressed. As leadership has announced that the legislature will now take a nine-month hiatus, CCSS is unlikely to see any serious opposition at the state level until at least January of 2015.

With CCSS presently retaining status as official state standards, and Smarter Balanced assessments scheduled to roll out this fall for the 2014-2015 school year, the legislature’s failure to act means that total implementation of CCSS is now imminent in Wisconsin. Smarter Balanced assessments are the enforcement mechanism that will be used to ensure compliance with CCSS and aligned curricula.

Because Smarter Balanced assessments have not been in place in Wisconsin up to now, our state has not yet experienced the full reality of CCSS. This fact has allowed several individuals in key positions on both sides of the aisle to tout the standards’ alleged benefits in a manner that few in Wisconsin currently have the experience or the courage to refute. The haze created by this well funded and heavily marketed campaign of misinformation has resulted in confusion, inaction, and even active pro-CCSS entrenchment on the part of many state legislators, district and school administrators, the business community, and even some parents and teachers. Meanwhile, the informed parents, teachers, and taxpayers who have explored CCSS beyond the superficial talking points have been championed only by a small but dedicated coterie of legislators. Those legislators who did understand and make an effort to jettison or undercut CCSS found themselves effectively sidelined by those with greater influence and higher positions of authority.

Well done, then, to Wisconsin’s state-level CCSS advocates. You’ve won this round. You successfully convinced many that rejection of CCSS was just an issue of the “fringe” Tea Party. Despite the wishes of constituents, you ensured that a true CCSS kill-bill never saw the light of day. You ensured that other legislation that might help to undermine CCSS was Wisconsin Grassroots Leaders to Elected Officials: You Now Own Common Core | Truth in American Education: