RNC Passes Resolutions on APUSH Changes & Stop Common Core Victories | Truth in American Education

RNC Passes Resolutions on APUSH Changes & Stop Common Core Victories | Truth in American Education:

RNC Passes Resolutions on APUSH Changes & Stop Common Core Victories

Filed in Common Core State Standards by Shane Vander Hart on August 12, 2014 • 1 Comment

The Republican National Committee passed two resolutions concerning education during their summer meeting.  The first deals with the rewrite of the AP U.S. History framework.  This was sponsored by Tamara Scott, National Committeewoman from Iowa, and was written with the help of Jane Robbins from American Principles Project.  It had six co-sponsors and it passed the committee unanimously.

Resolution Demanding Implementation Delay, and Rewrite, of AP U.S. History Framework

WHEREAS, almost 500,000 U. S. students take the College Board’s Advanced Placement U. S. History (APUSH) course each year; and

WHEREAS, the APUSH course has traditionally been designed to present a balanced view of American history and to prepare students for college-level history courses; and

WHEREAS, the College Board (a private organization unaccountable to the public) has recently released a new Framework for the APUSH course; and

WHEREAS, the new APUSH Framework reflects a radically revisionist view of American history that emphasizes negative aspects of our nation’s history while omitting or minimizing positive aspects; and

WHEREAS, the Framework includes little or no discussion of the Founding Fathers, the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the religious influences on our nation’s history, and many other critical topics that have always been part of the APUSH course; and

WHEREAS, the Framework excludes discussion of the U. S. military (no battles, commanders, or heroes) and omits many other individuals and events that greatly shaped our nation’s history (for example, Albert Einstein, Jonas Salk, George Washington Carver, Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King, Tuskegee Airmen, the Holocaust); and

WHEREAS, the Framework presents a biased and inaccurate view of many important events in American history, including the motivations and actions of 17^th-19^th-century settlers, American involvement in World War II, and the development of and victory in the Cold War; and

WHEREAS, the Framework describes its detailed requirements as “required knowledge” for APUSH students, and the College Board admits that the APUSH examination will not test information outside this “required knowledge”; and

WHEREAS, because the Framework differs radically from almost all state history standards, so that APUSH teachers will have to ignore their state standards to prepare students for the AP examination, the Framework will essentially usurp almost all state history standards for the best and brightest history students; and

WHEREAS, the College Board is not making its sample examination available for public review, thus maintaining secrecy about what U. S. students are actually being tested on;

RESOLVED, the Republican National Committee strongly recommends that the College Board delay the implementation of the new APUSH Framework for at least a year, and that during that time a committee be convened to draft an APUSH Framework that is consistent both with the APUSH course’s traditional mission, with state history standards, and with the desires of U. S. parents and other citizens for their students to learn the true history of their country; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, the Republican National Committee requests that state legislatures and the U. S. Congress investigate this matter; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Republican National Committee request that Congress withhold any federal funding to the College Board (a private non-governmental organization) until the APUSH course and examination have been rewritten in a transparent manner to accurately reflect U. S. history without a political bias and to respect the sovereignty of state standards, and until sample examinations are made available to educators, state and local officials, and the public, as has long been the established practice; and be it

FINALLY RESOLVED, that upon the approval of this resolution the Republican National Committee shall promptly deliver a copy of this resolution to every Republican member of Congress, all Republican candidates for Congress, and to each Republican state and territorial party office.

Respectfully submitted by:

Tamara R. Scott

National Committeewoman for Iowa

The second resolution commend parent activists on Anti-Common Core victories.  It was sponsored by Ellen Barrosse, National Committeewoman from Delaware, had several sponsors and RNC Passes Resolutions on APUSH Changes & Stop Common Core Victories | Truth in American Education:

Looking Back (Part 3) | Taking Note

Looking Back (Part 3) | Taking Note:

Looking Back (Part 3)

by JOHN MERROW on 12. AUG, 2014 in 2014 BLOGS

(For the past two weeks I have been writing about my own experiences as a young education reporter. Here’s another segment.)

In my mind’s eye, I can still picture the vast, dimly-lit room. About half the size of a football field, it was filled with men, women and children strapped into wheelchairs or otherwise restrained. If I close my eyes, I can hear the wailing and moaning, rising and falling in a cacophony of animal sounds that I never would have imagined humans were capable of making.

This ‘snake pit’ was in New Mexico’s main facility for handicapped children and adults, the Las Lunas Hospital and Training School. How I ended up there in 1979 with my tape recorder requires some explanation.

When I arrived in Washington in 1974, handicapped [1] children were the center of attention. The Congress had become aware of our failure to educate some children simply because of their mental and physical differences.  Out of the estimated eight million handicapped children, one million were receiving no formal education at all; some were kept at home, while others, abandoned by their families, were doomed to spend their lives in institutions like the one in New Mexico. Still more handicapped children went to special schools, which often provided little more than custodial care, or were isolated in regular schools.

Legislation was working its way through House and Senate committees. In the White House, Gerald Ford (our new President after Richard Nixon’s resignation) was hoping it would not pass, because, as a Republican, he felt that education was a state responsibility.

Despite Ford’s objections, Public Law 94-142, “The Education of All Handicapped Children Act,” passed easily in 1975 [2].  It told states they must provide a ‘free and appropriate public education’ for these children [3] in what was described as ‘the least restrictive environment.’  Schools must prepare an IEP, an individualized education plan, for every handicapped child, with the involvement of parents, and Looking Back (Part 3) | Taking Note:

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 8-12-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

RHEE TAKES OVER (Husband’s) CHARTER MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION

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A picture = 1000 words -or- Entrepreneurial algebra for visual learners

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ACCUSE, TWEET, DELETE: Johnson campaign accuses McKenna of buying Jesse Jackson’s endorsement

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4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 8-11-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: George McKenna for LAUSD School Board District 1Home | George McKenna for LAUSD School Board District 1: LA County Democratic Party Endorses George McKenna For LAUSD District 1JULY 09, 2014The campaign of retired superintendent and decorated educator George McKenna for the vacant LAUSD District 1 school board seat got a huge boost Tuesday night with the

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GEORGE MCKENNA FOR LAUSD DISTRICT 1

Click here to go to Web Site

George McKenna For LAUSD District 1

The George McKenna Story / Hard Lessons

Because of his success, Dr. McKenna’s programs have been widely modeled throughout the nation. In addition, his story of advocacy, commitment, and dedication to education has been documented in the award-winning CBS television movie entitled, “The George McKenna Story” starring Denzel Washington. Denzel Washington as George McKenna plays a school principal in a tough inner city Los Angeles high school out to rid it of drugs, gangs, low teacher moral, and restore educational values.

Watch It

Why Is the FBI Investigating Charter Schools Run by a Secretive Islamic Movement? - The Atlantic

Why Is the FBI Investigating Charter Schools Run by a Secretive Islamic Movement? - The Atlantic:

Why Is the FBI Investigating Charter Schools Run by a Secretive Islamic Movement?

Across the U.S., followers of a Turkish cleric are operating 120 public schools. Now, several of them are under legal scrutiny—for reasons that have nothing to do with religion and everything to do with the charter school movement itself.

It reads like something out of a John Le Carre novel: The charismatic Sunni imam Fethullah Gülen, leader of a politically powerful Turkish religious movement likened by The Guardian to an “Islamic Opus Dei,” occasionally webcasts sermons from self-imposed exile in the Poconos while his organization quickly grows to head the largest chain of charter schools in America. It might sound quite foreboding—and it should, but not for the reasons you might think.

You can be excused if you’ve never heard of Fethullah Gülen or his eponymous movement. He isn’t known for his openness, despite the size of his organization, which is rumored to have between 1 and 8 million adherents. It’s difficult to estimate the depth of its bench, however, without an official roster of membership. Known informally in Turkey as Hizmet, or “the service”, the Gülen movement prides itself on being a pacifist, internationalist, modern, and moderate alternative to more extreme derivations of Sunni Islam. The group does emphasize the importance of interfaith dialogue, education, and a kind of cosmopolitanism. One prominent sociologist described it as “the world’s most global movement.”

Much of the praise for the Gülen movement comes from its emphasis on providing education to children worldwide. In countries like Pakistan, its schools often serve as an alternative to more fundamentalist madrassas. Gülen schools enroll anestimated two million students around the globe, usually with English as the language of instruction, and the tuition is often paid in full by the institution. In Islamic countries, where the Gülen schools aren’t entirely secular: The New York Times reported that in many of the Pakistani schools, “…teachers encourage Islam in their dormitories, where teachers set the example in lifestyle and prayers.” But the focus is still largely on academics. Fethullah Gülen put it in one of his sermons, “Studying physics, mathematics, and chemistry is worshipping Allah.”

In Western countries such as the United States, Germany, and France, there isn’t any evidence whatsoever that the nearly 120 Gülen charter schools in America include Islamic indoctrination in their curriculum. The schools are so secular that singling out the Gülen schools as particularly nefarious, simply for being run predominantly by Muslims, smacks of xenophobia.

However, these schools might be suspect for reasons that are completely unrelated to Islamic doctrine to be skeptical of Gülen charter schools. One of their most troubling characteristics is that they don’t have a great track record when it comes to financial and legal transparency. In Utah, a financial probe launched by the Utah Schools Charter Board found the Beehive Science and Technology Academy, a Gülen-run charter school, to be nearly $350,000 in debt. Furthermore, as the Deseret News reported, the school’s administrators seemed to be reserving coveted jobs for their own countrymen and women: “In a time of teacher layoffs, Beehive has recruited a high percentage of teachers from overseas, mainly Turkey.”

Even more unnervingly, the school’s money—public funds from the local community—was being donated to Gülen-affiliated organizations and used to pay the cost of bringing teachers to Utah from Turkey. To illustrate the level of fiscal Why Is the FBI Investigating Charter Schools Run by a Secretive Islamic Movement? - The Atlantic:

8-12-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

About the radio show

Join Drs. Shaun Johnson and Tim Slekar 

LIVE Sundays at 6PM EST and Wednesdays at 7PM EST 

on Blog Talk Radio for progressive, pro-public education talk radio. 

Call in to speak live with Tim and Shaun during the show, (805) 727-7111. 

You can also listen to our Monday "Sunday-Replay" at 7PM EST, and re-broadcasts of the archives every Tuesday and Thursday at 7PM EST.

Visit the @ the Chalk Face radio main page for more information on the show and syndication.

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Full interview here on Blog Talk Radio.

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Why I Do Not #supportthecore. I will not ‘BGUTI’. | Missouri Education Watchdog

Why I Do Not #supportthecore. I will not ‘BGUTI’. | Missouri Education Watchdog:

Why I Do Not #supportthecore. I will not ‘BGUTI’.

A clever meme for the day pointing out the corporate support for the Common Core State Standards Initiative comes by way of twitter.

The BGUTI reference in the tweet is from the linked article and means ‘Better Get Used to It’.  This was written in 2005 before the advent of Common Core State Standards. You may disagree with some of Kohn’s premises but pay attention to his definition of BGUTI:

In addition to forcing educators to teach too much too early, the current Tougher Standards craze has likewise emphasized a vertical rationale – in part because of its reliance on testing.  Here, too, we find that “getting them ready” is sufficient reason for doing what would otherwise be seen as unreasonable.   Child development experts are nearly unanimous in denouncing the use of standardized testing with young children.  One Iowa principal conceded that many teachers, too, consider it “insane” to subject first graders to a 4½-hour test.  However, she adds, “they need to get used to it” – an imperative that trumps all objections.  In fact, why wait until first grade?  A principal in California uses the identical phrase to justify testing kindergarteners:  “Our philosophy is, the sooner we start giving these students tests like the Stanford 9, the sooner they’ll get used to it.”

Kohn wonders if education reform in 2005 is ‘conservatism masquerading as realism’. I wonder if it can be expanded in 2014 since this reform is supported by an administration never described as conservative. Education reform circa 2014 is about Return on Investment.  Could it now be named ‘grooming human capital for the workforce masquerading as education reform’?  Do the various education suppliers even care what is being taught?  Or are they just enjoying the fruits of the system put in place for the privatization/standardization of public education?

Does BGUTI in education reform circa 2014 encompass a non-partisan definition that is uttered at those questioning CCSSI?  Is it that whoever owns the power and control doesn’t owe Why I Do Not #supportthecore. I will not ‘BGUTI’. | Missouri Education Watchdog: