Declare Your Independence: Opt Out. Refuse Corp. Ed. Reform | United Opt Out National

Declare Your Independence: Opt Out. Refuse Corp. Ed. Reform | United Opt Out National:

Declare Your Independence: Opt Out. Refuse Corp. Ed. Reform

What is Opting Out?

Def: (verb)To opt out is to take any and all actions to end corporate reform of public education.

Actions include: Refusing to participate in high stakes testing which is the life’s blood of the destruction of public education.

Also see: refuse, reject, oppose and resist.

Webster’s Dictionary defines it as “to choose not to participate in something.”

United Opt Out has created state by state guides that offer parents, teachers, and students the information necessary to “choose not to participate in” standardized, high stakes, and field-based (or corporate sponsored) testing. We believe that the quickest and most effective way to END the harmful practices being forced upon our children and our teachers, and to disrupt the corporate takeover of public education, is to refuse the tests. Just imagine if every child and teacher opted out of high stakes testing? The harm to children, schools and communities would STOP, and the democratic right of all children to a quality and meaningful public education could begin. Opting out sounds the end of destruction and invites a new beginning for more humane, sustainable and necessary educational possibilities.

In keeping with the theme of “Independence Day” as we celebrate July 4th, 2013, we ask you to join us in declaring OUR SHARED AND COLLECTIVE INDEPENDENCE from all forms of corporate greed, corruption, and mismanagement of our basic human and fundamental rights to declare our refusal of corporate-run testing, curriculum, and schools.

OPT OUT. If it worked in 1776, it can work in 2013. JOIN US TODAY.

Read United Opt Out National’s Declaration of Independence HERE.

State Opt Out/Refusal Guides found HERE.

Get Tough Guide (a supplement to all opt out/refusal guides) can be found HERE.

HASHTAGS: #donttestonme #optout #refusethetest

Please review our website for additional information on opting out/refusing the test under Flyers & Handouts and Readings & Resources

Disclaimer: All documents on this website are for informational purposes only and do not substitute as legal advice or legal counsel. The information contained in all documents on this website may or may not reflect the most current developments in education policy within our nation or within each state. Information shared here is not guaranteed to be correct or complete and UOO disclaims all liability in respect to actions taken or not taken based on any or all contents of this website.

UPDATE: Fred Said @NEARA2013 - Fred Klonsky

New Business Item 12. | Fred Klonsky:

Why I will vote to raise dues tomorrow.

It is no news to anyone in the Atlanta convention center that educators, our bargaining rights, our union and public education are under ferocious attack. In Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has closed 50 schools – the largest shutdown of public schools in American history. Our brothers and sisters up the road from Chicago in Milwaukee no longer have collective bargaining rights thanks to Governor Scott

by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association President Bob Peterson: “Sometimes those hands must become fists.”

Bob Peterson, President of the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association. NEA bylaw amendment 1 would increase annual NEA membership dues by three dollars and allocate the increase to a fund to assist NEA affiliates to, in the words of the proposal, “advance great public schools for all students.” Bob Peterson, President of the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association took the mic to speak in favo

by Fred Klonsky / 

New Business Item 12.

NEA will send a letter to the National Conference of State Legislatures urging legislators of its member states to take the standardized tests of the state in which they live, especially when such tests are required as part of a “high stakes” environment in which portions of teacher evaluations are based on student test scores. The letter will emphasize that legislators should take the test under

by Fred Klonsky / 27min 

Dear Senator Biss.

Dear Senator Biss,   As a retired teacher, I very much appreciate your update.   Especially on this date, I am reminded of how important it is to respect our Constitution – both the responsibilities and rights it affords us. I sincerely hope your committee does, indeed “respect(s) this clause,” as you note, and does not focus on finding a letter of the law means to circumvent such an important pro

by Fred Klonsky / 33min 

Senator Biss revises?

July 3, 2013 Dear Friends,   Thank you very much for contacting me in my capacity as a member of the pension conference committee. A small number of legislators are charged with crafting a bill that will impact hundreds of thousands of public workers across the state, and I take very seriously my responsibility to consider the opinions and concerns of all Illinois citizens.   As you know, our

by Fred Klonsky / 35min 

YESTERDAY

Black history.

  Me, Reg Weaver, Bob Kaplan and Pearl Mack. “How was your evening?” I asked Pearl Mack as she sat down in the IEA Retired section of the Illinois Caucus this morning. “Oh, I was at the Human Rights Dinner. I always go. It celebrates the merger of the ATA and the NEA.” One of the benefits of sitting in the retired section is that if you listen and if you ask you will learn some history that you w

by Fred Klonsky / 16h 

Stormy Atlanta outside. Anger and common sense from the delegates inside.

The pounding of thunder outside the Atlanta convention center was so loud it could be heard inside the room where 7,000 delegates and 3,000 non-delegates met in the first large session of the RA. From the preliminaries I was concerned that a push by the national leadership and President Dennis Van Roekel of the Common Core standards would cause a big unfortunate fight. I had written earlier about

by Fred Klonsky / 19h 

JUL 02

Linda Darling-Hammond at the NEA RA.

by Fred Klonsky / 2d 

Short day.

Day two of the RA is a short one. At least in terms of formal meetings. I’m just back from the two-hour Illinois Caucus meeting. And that’s it for the day. The first general session isn’t until tomorrow at 10:30 AM. Apparently the big dogs have met to revisit what Dennis Van Roekel speechwriter Melinda Anderson calls the “intended messaging.” When the NEA Board of Directors’ member from New Jersey

by Fred Klonsky / 2d 

Revenue. The gorilla in the room.

Subscriptions to Jim Broadway’s Update can be found here. Broadway wrote this as part of his report on last week’s Illinois General Assembly Pension Committee public meeting: Which brings us to the unspoken idea – the revenue side of the equation. Rep. Lou Lange (D-Chicago) broached the topic at last week’s committee meeting, suggesting that the temporary income tax increase of 2011 should be mad

by Fred Klonsky / 2d 

Differences emerging on the Common Core at the NEA RA.

I will be heading down to the second state caucus meeting of the Illinois delegation in a few minutes. NEA Board of Director Rainy Kaplan reminded me that when I said Bylaw Amendment #1 was presented to the caucus yesterday, that wasn’t precisely true. It was distributed, but the presentation of it will be today. So far the IEA steering committee takes no position on it and the caucus has yet to h

by Fred Klonsky / 2d 

Fire all the teachers.

  Which one is John Tillman, CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute? - By Todd Mertz Yes–fire all Illonois teachers and public employees.  I am not kidding.  More on that in a minute. The Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) calls themselves a “leading independent research organization.” Far from the truth. They are a right-wing, conservative group with very serious agendas to influence Illinois law and

by Fred Klonsky / 2d 

TRS board of trustee Bob Lyons on the first meeting of the Committee of Ten.

“As other reports on the first meeting of the conference committee on pensions have already been circulated, I will only add some personal observations.  First, I will agree with all of those that have said there is no reason to expect they will have a well thought-out bill to be introduced for possible passage on July 9, the date the Governor expects a special session to “at long last to solve th

by Fred Klonsky / 2d 

JUL 01

Roll the video tape and the mysterious three dollar assessment.

It’s twenty-four hours since I wrote a post on NEA President Dennis Van Roekel’s remarks to the NEA Retired Conference. I reported what I heard. DVR positioned advancing the fight for collective bargaining on one side of an equation. Quality and the Common Core on the other. He said that the NEA would be focused on quality and Common Core implementation. I was reprimanded for quoting what DVR said

by Fred Klonsky / 2d 

Jack Tucker. IEA Retired.

by Fred Klonsky / 3d 

Shut up and go to bed.

Who is Melinda Anderson? On Twitter she describes herself as writer for @NEAPresident. On her blog she is described as “the creative force behind opinion-editorials, blogs and articles on behalf of a great cause. Ghostwriting pays the bills, but makes it easy to get lost in the shadows. An oversized ego told her it’s time to elevate her own voice. She is a bundle of contradictions. Cynical and hop

by Fred Klonsky / 3d 

JUN 30

DVR’s speechwriter: “This is a gross misinterpretation.”

Melinda D. Anderson  This is gross misinterpretation of Dennis Van Roekel’s remarks easily avoided if you had simply ASKED him what he meant!    ‏@fklonsky Were you there? Melinda D. Anderson ‏ I was not, yet well aware of pre-conf messaging and your “take” is way off-base. Again, did you ASK meaning when you had chance?   ‏@fklonsky He left the hall Melinda. Announced he was late and had

by Fred Klonsky / 3d 

Quality control at the NEA RA.

The Retired Conference is over and now I have moved to an upper story room at the Omni at CNN Center. Tomorrow afternoon is the first Illinois and other state caucus meetings. The first general meeting of the NEA RA will be Tuesday. This morning retirees listened to speeches by VP Lily Eskelsen and NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. I posted on Facebook about DVR’s remarks. And it has caused somethi

by Fred Klonsky / 3d mark as read  //  save

Changing room.

Mae Smith is an energetic woman who is membership chair of NEA Retired. She’s from Illinois. Michigan before that. When we met the other day she greeted me like we knew each other for years. “Oh, I read your columns,” she said with a smile. She was polite enough not to say whether she agreed with them or liked them. But that’s her way. Her job is building membership among retired educators in the

by Fred Klonsky / 4d 

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst is a Shining Example of NonProfit Abuse | Crooks and Liars

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's  StudentsFirst is a Shining Example of NonProfit Abuse | Crooks and Liars:

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's  StudentsFirst is a Shining Example of NonProfit Abuse

By karoli

[Marcel Neergaard taking a stand over StudentsFirst's recognition of a homophobic state representative as "reformer of the year."]
If ever there was an organization that stands out as one that should never have been granted nonprofit status and doesn't deserve to continue having it, it's StudentsFirst. One look at their 2011 tax disclosures reveals a fat, political, ideological organization. StudentsFirst not only crosses the line, they stomp on it and erase it for their own benefit.
Even though Rhee didn't meet her fundraising goal of $1 billion in the first year, she still had a hefty haul. Donations were $15 million from July 2011 to July 2012, compared to $4.6 million the year before. In the current year, we know the Walton Foundation kicked in $8 million, which will help with the goalsetting for this year, but still falls far short of Rhee's lofty claims. No disclosures are available at this time for sister organizations StudentsFirst Institute and Great New England Public Schools Alliance, which could bump the

Common Core Standards: Who’s in Charge? | Scathing Purple Musings

Common Core Standards: Who’s in Charge? | Scathing Purple Musings:

Common Core Standards: Who’s in Charge?

Posted on July 4, 2013by Bob Sikes

 

 

 

 

 

 

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American Enterprise Institute scholar Mike McShane illustrates in US News & World Report how the implementation of common core standards and its assessment infrastructures are creating problems. One of these is unfolding now in several states. McShane points out that no one is really in charge.

The standards were developed by two organizations, the National  Governors  Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers,  and they, along  with a group of affiliated non-profits and foundations,  worked to get the  standards adopted. None of the  organizations has  any teeth to ensure that states live up to their  commitments. If states  lower their cut  scores (PARCC or Smarter Balanced)  for students on the aligned assessments, who  will hold them to  account? Ceding state power to an  organization that  could would be the very thing local control advocates 

Jersey Jazzman: Should "The Star-Spangled Banner" Be Our National Anthem?

Jersey Jazzman: Should "The Star-Spangled Banner" Be Our National Anthem?:

Should "The Star-Spangled Banner" Be Our National Anthem?

Diane Ravitch posted the lyrics to "America, The Beautiful" this morning in celebration of Independence Day. That sparked a debate in the comments about the relative merits of various patriotic songs, and whether any would serve us better than "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the National Anthem.

Let me weigh in here as a music teacher on some of the choices:


The Star Spangled Banner

Pros: As far as I know, no other nation uses this melody for its national anthem. The story of Francis Scott Key's visit to the British flagship during the Battle of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812 is a compelling tale. I've always liked that the anthem ends in an evocative question: is the flag still waving? That's led to some wonderful discussions with my students over the years about patriotism, the power of symbols, and the meaning of the flag.

Cons: It really is impossibly hard to sing: an octave and a fifth, and the highest notes land on really bad vowels ("glare," "free" - yuck). And too often, it's performed in B-flat, which makes the highest note F, which is just way, way too high. The lyrics also glorify war a bit 

Ed Notes Online: George Schmidt Rakes Over Paul Vallas: Liar, Crook, Racist

Ed Notes Online: George Schmidt Rakes Over Paul Vallas: Liar, Crook, Racist:

George Schmidt Rakes Over Paul Vallas: Liar, Crook, Racist

It may have been that the truth got shelved for Vallas's lies (and of course the bigger lies of corporate reform that went to Washington with Barack Obama and Arne Duncan) for a time, but the facts don't change over time despite the massive work of the liars.

Vallas had publicly compared himself and his talents to Michael Jordan and then trashed Rahm Emanual. Anyone who wants to know why the ruling class dumped Vallas in Chicago in 2001 can see from this the WHY.

Corporate America then put the Vallas show on the road, and Philadelphia and New Orleans suffered as a result..... George Schmidt 

Due mostly to the work of George Schmidt in Substance, Ed Notes (modeld on Substance) has been reporting on Paul Vallas for well over a decade most recently